A RELATIVE of the only survivor of an infamous massacre believes she may be his last descendant in the region.

Janet Tunstall is related to Dr William Brydon, who was believed to be the only survivor of a disastrous attempt to withdraw from Kabul to Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in 1842.

In January of that year, a British and Indian force, after a two-month siege in Kabul and the killing of the British representative, began withdrawing towards the Khyber Pass and Peshawar, in British India.

On January 6, about 16,500 British and Sepoy troops -Indians who had joined the British Army -as well as civilians, wives, children, and camp followers left Kabul. On January 13, Dr. Brydon rode, alone, up to the gates of Jalalabad.

Mrs Tunstall, whose surname was Brydon before she married, lives at Startforth, near Barnard Castle, County Durham, and believes she is his last descendant in the region.

Dr Brydon, whose family lived in the Hartlepool area and who had a practice near Malton, North Yorkshire, was in a column of more than 16,000 troops and followers that set off from Kabul.

Along the way, the column was attacked constantly and Dr Brydon was the only person left when his horse limped into the fort at Jalalabad more than a week later, just before the animal collapsed and died.

The scene of him arriving was captured in a large oil painting titled The Remnants of an Army, by Lady Elizabeth Butler. It became famous at the time when horrific accounts of the story were published.

Mrs Tunstall has obtained a copy of the picture from the Somerset Light Infantry's museum after she found out that the original hangs in the military gallery of the Somerset County Museum.

She said: "I heard stories about William when I was young, but now I want to find out more details, such as exactly where he was born, his family life and where he is buried."

She and her husband, Cliff, plan to search through records and contact relatives in Australia to see if they have details.

The picture has an inscription telling how during the first Afghan war, the British Army sent the column of 4,500 troops and 12,000 followers from Kabul to find safety 60 miles away.

But it came under continuous attacks and was split up. Eventually, the doctor, of the Army Medical Service, was left in a party of seven officers and six soldiers. Further attacks left him alone with one lieutenant, who then died.

In another attack, his sword was broken, his hand wounded and his horse shot, but it struggled on to reach the fort.

He was said to be the only survivor, but it was later reported that about 100 people had been taken prisoner during fighting between Kabul and Jalalabad.

Mrs Tunstall, who used to be a sister at Richardson Hospital, Barnard Castle, said: "It was such an amazing incident that I feel I have to learn more about the doctor."