Vincent Eyre (1811 - 1881)

Vincent Eyre

Vincent Eyre was a British Indian Army officer, major general and artist.

Vincent Eyre arrived in India in 1829, serving in Afghanistan as Commissary of Ordnance. In January 1842, Eyre and his family were among over a hundred military men who were captured by Akbar Khan as the British retreated from Kabul during the First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842). Vincent Eyre spent about nine months in captivity, during which time he kept a diary and took portraits of his comrades. The captives were rescued in September 1842 when Major General Sir George Pollock's army of retribution entered Kabul.

Eyre's manuscript with his illustrations was published in England under the title Military Operations in Kabul (1842). The book contains a set of 32 color lithographs based on watercolor portraits of British prisoners.