Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 46.djvu/73

 cess. The fortified town of Istálif was carried by assault, and Amír Ullah forced to fly. Charíkar and some other fortified places were destroyed, and the force returned to Kábul on 7 Oct.

On 9 Oct. Pollock instructed his chief engineer, Captain (now Major-general Sir Frederick) Abbott, to demolish the celebrated Char Chutter (or four bazaars), built in the reign of Aurungzebe by the celebrated Ali Mardan Khan, where the head and mutilated remains of the British envoy, Sir William Macnaghten, had been exhibited. On 12 Oct. Pollock broke up his camp, and started on his return to India. He took with him as trophies forty-four pieces of ordnance and a large quantity of warlike stores, but, for want of carriage, was obliged to destroy the guns en route. He also removed with him two thousand natives, sepoys and camp followers of Elphinstone's army, who had been found in Kábul. Pollock, with the advanced guard under Sale, reached Gandamak on 18 Oct., with little opposition; but McCaskill had some fighting, and the rear column under Nott was engaged in a severe affair in the Haft Kotal. On the 22nd the main column arrived at Jalálábád, McCaskill arriving on the 23rd, and Nott on the 24th. On 27 Oct. the army commenced to move from Jalálábád, having during the halt there destroyed both the fortifications and the town. Pollock reached Daka on the 30th, and Ali Masjid on the 12th Nov. Having during the whole of his march exercised the greatest caution, he met with no difficulty in any of the passes. McCaskill's division met with much opposition in the Khaibar, and suffered severely. His third brigade, under Wild, was overtaken at night in the defiles leading to Ali Masjid, and lost some officers and men. Nott arrived at Jamrúd with the rear division on 6 Nov. The whole army encamped some four miles from Pesháwar. On 12 Nov. it moved from Pesháwar, and crossing the Punjab arrived, after an uneventful march, on the banks of the Satlaj, opposite Firozpúr. Here they were met by the governor-general and the commander-in-chief, who, with the army of reserve, welcomed them with every circumstance of pomp. On 17 Dec. Sale, at the head of the Jalálábád garrison, crossed the bridge of boats into Firozpúr. On the 19th Pollock crossed, and was received by the governor-general; and on the 23rd Nott arrived. Banquets and fêtes were the order of the day. Rajah Shen Singh presented to Pollock, through the governor-general, a sword of honour. Pollock was made a G.C.B. and given the command of the Dánápúr division. In the session of parliament of 1843 the thanks of both houses were voted to Pollock, and Sir Robert Peel dwelt eloquently on his services.

In December 1843 Nott, who had been appointed political resident at Lucknow, resigned on account of ill-health, and Pollock was appointed acting resident, an office which he held until the latter part of 1844, when he was appointed military member of the supreme council of India. On his arrival at Calcutta he was presented with an address, and a medal was instituted in commemoration of his services, to be presented to the most distinguished cadet at the East India Company's military college at Addiscombe on each examination for commissions. This medal, which has the head of Pollock on the obverse side, has since the abolition of Addiscombe been transferred to the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. Pollock was compelled to resign his appointment and leave India in 1846 in consequence of serious illness.

On his return to England the directors of the East India Company conferred upon Pollock a pension of 1,000l. a year; the corporation of London voted their thanks to him and presented him with the freedom of the city; the Merchant Taylors conferred on him the freedom of their company. On 11 Nov. 1851 he was promoted lieutenant-general. He was appointed colonel-commandant of the C brigade of the royal horse artillery. On the initiation of the volunteer movement in 1861 he accepted the honorary colonelcy of the 1st Surrey rifles. On the institution in 1861 of the order of the Star of India, Pollock was made one of the first knights grand cross.

In April 1854 Pollock was appointed by Sir Charles Wood the senior of the three government directors of the East India Company, under the act of parliament passed in the previous year. The appointment was for two years. Pollock resided at Clapham Common, and, after the expiration of his two years of office, did not again undertake any public post. On 17 May 1859 he was promoted general. On 24 May 1870 he was gazetted field-marshal. One of the last occasions on which he appeared in public was on 17 Aug. 1871, at the unveiling of the memorial of Outram. On the death of Sir John Burgoyne in 1871, Pollock was appointed to succeed him as constable of the Tower of London and lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the Tower Hamlets. In March 1872 the queen created him baronet as ‘of the Khyber Pass.’ He died at Walmer on 6 Oct. 1872, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His remains received a public funeral. His portrait was painted by Sir