William Brydon studied medicine at University College London and at the University of Edinburgh.
12 Facts About William Brydon
1.
2.
William Brydon subsequently was appointed as a surgeon in the Bengal Army of the British East India Company.
3.
William Brydon recorded in his diary that as early as the first night of the retreat many of his sepoys were crippled by frostbite and had to be abandoned in the snow.
4.
Surgeon William Brydon was one of twelve mounted officers who had become separated from the remnants of the main column before the final stand at Gandamak.
5.
All but William Brydon were killed, one by one, further along the road as their horses became exhausted.
6.
William Brydon became widely, if inaccurately, known as being the only survivor of the entire army.
7.
The episode was made the subject of a famous painting by the Victorian artist Lady Butler, who portrayed William Brydon approaching the gates of the Jalalabad fort perched on his exhausted horse which, according to William Brydon, collapsed and died when put in a stable after arrival in the city.
8.
William Brydon narrowly escaped death from an enemy shell during this campaign.
9.
William Brydon fought in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, when Rangoon was taken.
10.
At the time of the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, William Brydon was still serving as a surgeon of the Bengal Army.
11.
William Brydon was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in November 1858.
12.
William Brydon died at his home Westfield near Nigg in Ross-shire on 20 March 1873, and is buried in Rosemarkie churchyard alongside his brother-in-law Donald MacIntyre VC.