‘Charsu, the point to which the roads from the principal gates converge [and] the scene...

‘Charsu, the point to which the roads from the principal gates converge [and] the scene of Captn Wallis’ murder by a Ghazi’, 1880. Photograph by Benjamin Simpson (1831-1923), 2nd Afghan War (1878-1880), 1880. Kandahar, in south-east Afghanistan, had been captured by the British without a struggle on 8 January 1879. Until the summer of 1880 the occupation was relatively uneventful, but there were still occasions of shocking violence. One such occurred on 15 January 1879 here at Chaharus in the centre of Kandahar, where the roads from the city’s four main gates converged, when 22-year old Lieutenant Herbert Valiant Willis of the Royal Artillery was assassinated by a Ghazi (religious fanatic). From album of 34 photographs.