A NOTABLE SOLDIER.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 307, 27 December 1924, Page 4

A NOTABLE SOLDIER.

LIEUT.-COLONEL POTTINGER

Lieut.-Colonel F.Mrtvl Pottinger, D.5.0., F.R.G.S., is at present in Wellington, and incidentally is visiting Now Zealand for the first time, says the '•Dominion." The Pottingere arc ii well-known North of Ireland family, one of the most thickly populated parts of Belfast bearing that name. The property was mortgaged by Lieut.Colonel Pottinger's great-grandfather to raise money to help William of Orange when he landed in Ireland, anil Colonel Pottinger is the proud possessor of a pair of silver candelabra, which William 111. presented as a thanks offering. Travel and exploration run in the Pottinger blood, for as far back as IK 11 was published "Travels in Scind and Balchuistan," by Henry Pottinger. who, after joining the diplomatic service in Persia, was England's first Ambassador to China, and annexed Hong Kong to the British Empire. His son, .Sir Frederick Pottinger, was head of the New South Wales police in the 'sixties, and was buried in Randwick churchyard, Sydney. Sir Henry's nephew, of Herat fame, was the man who forced the Persians in 1841 to raise the siege of Herat. In the following year, owing to an unwise policy on the part of the British leaders angering the Afghans, it was decided, in opposition to Pottinger's advice, to withdraw the British army to India. Impeded as they were with women and children, insufficient supplies, and in the depths of winter, the army fell an easy prey to the treacherous Afghans as soon as they entered the Khyber Pass. Of the fighting forces, which included Pottinger's brother, only one survivor reached the British force at .Tellalabad, a Dr. Bryden. His arrival there has been immortalised by Lady Butler's famous picture, "The Remnants of an Army."

Meanwhile Pottinger negotiated a treaty by which the Afghans should receive several lac of rupees if the British women and children were saved. To ensure the payment of this money, the Afghans insisted that he himself— though badly wounded—should accompany the women and children aa a hostage. When the avenging army from India entered Afghanistan, orders were given for all the women and children to be massacred, but Pottinger, by promises of bribes, persuaded the local tribes to oppose the Amir's forces and escort these helpless people back to India, where they eventually arrived safely. He received the C.B. for his services, and, weakened by wounds and hardships, died shortly after, at the early age of 35. Lust for Travel. All this, and much more concering this history of this fighting family a "Dominion" reporter gleaned in an interview with Lieut.-Colonel Pottinger. Colonel Eldred Pottinger"s own life history reads like a romance. At the age of twelve, he won a mathematical scholarship at Cheltenham College, and from there he went to the Military Academy at Woolwich. On being commissioned he went to India, and spent all of his military service in Asia, with the exception of two periods in Africa. "My desire for travel," said Lieut.Colonel Pottinger, "soon brought mc in touch with the Intelligence Department, and in less than two years of Army service, I started on my first exploration in Persia, covering most of the country between the Persian Oulf and the Caspian Sea. Pretending to be a photographer saved mc from serious trouble when caught in that country using a theodolite." Other journeys were undertaken in Baluchistan, Assam, Burma, Thibet, the Shan States, and China. During these years Colonel Pottinger passed in five different Oriental languages. "Amongst my exciting experiences," said Colonel Pottinger, "was a journey 1100 miles up the Yangtze River from Shanghai, and then overland to Burma. When the tribesmen started to attack my party, I procured an escort of 50 Chinamen, who after a fortnight's training proved excellent and most faithful soldiers. I was surveying to see if it was possible to connect Burma and China by a railway. By fighting my way through. I completed the survey, and at the same time, by appearing before the Chinese Governor in all my gold-laced dress uniform, bluffed him into believing I was a most important person, and extracted from him £700 hard cash, as an indemnity for the way I had been insulted and molested. Kidnapping an Empress. "I was then offered," proceeded Lieut.Colonel Tottingcr, "£IO,OOO by the Chinese Reform Party to undertake a plot to kidnap the late Dowager Empress of China. , The negotiations eventually broke down, because we could not come to terms as to whether she was to he handed over at Shanghai or on board the steamer at Taku." Aftre travelling for two years in Canada, and a similar period" of time in Africa, Colonel Pottinger tried his hand at lecturing about his travels, and did this for three winters in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, spending the summers in travel through the new republic in Finland, Esthonia. Latvia ! Lithuania and Poland. Colonel pottingpr lias just completed a tour through Australia and Tasmania. During the Great War Lieut.-Colonel Pottingcr was in command of an annv field artillery brigade in France, and! for a time was attached to the corps I commanded by General Sir Charles Fergusson. now Governor-General of Kew Zealand.