Robert Sale Major General Sir Robert Henry Sale GCB ( 1782 – 21 December 1845 ) was a British Army officer who commanded the garrison of Jalalabad during the First Afghan War and was killed in action during the First Anglo - Sikh War . He entered the 36th Regiment of Foot in 1795 , and went to India in 1798 , as a lieutenant of the 12th Foot . His regiment formed part of Baird ' s brigade of Harris ' s army operating against Tippoo Sahib , and Sale was present at Malavalli and the Battle of Seringapatam , subsequently serving under Colonel Arthur Wellesley in the campaign against Dhundia . A little later the 12th was employed in the difficult and laborious attack on Paichi Raja . Promoted captain in 1806 , Sale was engaged in 1808 - 1809 against the Raja of Travancore , and was at the two actions of Quilon , the storm of Travancore lines and the battle of Killianore . In 1810 he accompanied the expedition to Mauritius , and in 1813 obtained his majority . After some years he became major in the 13th Regiment of Foot , with which regiment he was associated for the rest of his life . In the First Burmese War he led the 13th in all the actions up to the capture of Rangoon , in one of which he killed the enemy ' s leader in single combat . In the concluding operations of the war , being now lieutenant - colonel , he commanded a brigade , and at Malown ( 1826 ) he was severely wounded . For these services he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) . In 1838 , on the outbreak of the First Anglo - Afghan War , Brevet - Colonel Sale was assigned to the command of the 1st Bengal brigade of the army assembling on the Indus . His column arrived at Kandahar in April 1839 , and in May it occupied the Herat plain . The Kandahar force next set out on its march to Kabul , and a month later Ghazni was stormed , Sale in person leading the storming column and distinguishing himself in single combat . The place was well provisioned , and on its supplies the army finished its march to Kabul easily . For his services Sale was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( KCB ) and received the local rank of major - general , as well as the Shah ' s order of the Durrani Empire . He was left , as second - in - command , with the army of occupation , and in the interval between the two wars conducted several small campaigns ending with the action of Parwan which led directly to the surrender of Dost Mahommed Khan . By this time the army had settled down to the quiet life of cantonments , and Lady Sale and her daughter came to Kabul . But the policy of the Indian government in stopping the subsidy to the frontier tribes roused them into hostility , and Sale ' s brigade received orders to clear the line of communication to Peshawar . After severe fighting Sale entered Jalalabad on 12 November 1841 . Ten days previously he had received news of the murder of Sir Alexander Burnes , along with orders to return with all speed to Kabul . These orders he , for various reasons , decided to ignore ; suppressing his personal desire to return to protect his wife and family , he gave orders to push on , and on occupying Jalalabad at once set about making the old and half - ruined fortress fit to stand a siege . There followed a close and severe investment rather than a siege , and the garrison ' s sorties were made usually with the object of obtaining supplies . At last General Pollock and the relieving army appeared , only to find that the garrison had on 7 April 1842 relieved itself by a brilliant and completely successful attack on Akbar Khan ' s lines . His wife , who shared with him the dangers and hardships of the Afghan war , was among Akbar ' s captives . Lady Sale and her daughter were rescued by the general in person , advancing into hostile territory at the head of a detachment of cavalry . Amongst the few possessions she was able to keep from Afghan plunderers was her diary ( Journal of the Disasters in Afghanistan , London , 1843 Sir Robert Sale was promoted within the Order of the Bath to Knight Grand Cross ( GCB ) ; a medal was struck for all ranks of defenders , and salutes fired at every large cantonment in India . Pollock and Sale after a time took the offensive , and after the victory of Haft Kotal , Sale ' s division encamped at Kabul again . At the end of the war Sale received the thanks of parliament . In 1845 , as quartermaster - general to Sir Hugh Gough ' s army , Sale again took the field . At Moodkee ( Mudki ) he was mortally wounded , and he died on 21 December 1845 . The city of Sale , Victoria , Australia was named after Sir Robert Sale in 1851 .