Robert Warburton Colonel Sir Robert Warburton , KCIE , CSI ( 11 July 1842 – 22 April 1899 ) , was an Anglo - Indian soldier and administrator . Ancestry . Warburton was the son of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Warburton ( 1812 - 1863 ) , a younger son of Richard Warburton , of Garryhinch , Queen ' s County , Ireland . The latter ' s father , John Warburton MP , served under General Wolfe at Quebec in 1759 . Early life . Warburton ' s father , then in service with the Bengal Artillery , was taken prisoner at Kabul in 1842 . His mother was an Afghan lady , sometimes said to be a " niece " of Dost Mahommed Khan , the Amir of Afghanistan , but there is no evidence for this assertion ; it is common in Afghanistan to refer to a person of importance as " uncle . " She had a son by a previous marriage , Jan Dad Khan ( 1840 - 1919 ) , who later took the surname of his stepfather , and became John Paul Warburton . It is likely that the lady escaped from her Afghan husband and was given asylum by the British . These British interferences with Afghan women ( rather than cases of outright lechery , which must have been exceedingly rare ) were a major factor in inflaming Afghan sentiments and precipitating the revolt against the British . Warburton ' s date of birth would indicate that the wedding ( invalid according to Islamic law ) is likely to have taken place precisely around the time of the massacre of Sir Alexander Burnes and his party in November , 1841 . Jan Dad ( John Paul ) was a distinguished detective of the Punjab police , received the CIE , and was the model for Rudyard Kipling ' s character Strickland . Warburton was educated at Kensington Grammar School , Addiscombe Military College ( one term ) and the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich ( two terms ) , after which he was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in December 1861 . He took part in the Abyssinian War of 1867 - 68 , and then joined the Bengal Staff Corps . He served with distinction in the expedition against the Utman Khel in 1878 and in the Second Anglo - Afghan War of 1878 - 80 . Soon after the British government had made permanent arrangements for keeping open the Khyber Pass , Warburton was appointed as political officer for the district . He held this post from 1879 to 1882 with intervals of other duty , and continuously from 1882 until 1890 , discharging its duties with conspicuous ability . He turned the rude levies which formed the Khyber Rifles into a fine corps , ready to serve the Indian government wherever they might be required . He made the road safe , kept the Afridis friendly , and won the thanks of the Punjab government for his good work , expressed in a special order upon his retirement . When the Afridis began to cause anxiety in 1897 , Colonel Warburton was asked by the government of India if he would assist in quieting the excitement amongst them . He declared himself ready to do so , but in the meantime the trouble had come to a head and control over the Khyber Pass was lost . Colonel Warburton took part in the campaign which followed ; at its close his active career ended . Later life . He occupied his leisure in retirement by writing his memoirs . He died at Kensington on 22 April 1899 , and is buried in Brompton Cemetery . He married and has descendants .