On this day, Philip Anstruther of the British Indian Army, who had sailed to China in command of the detachment of Madras Artillery to take part in the First Opium War that had broken out between China and Britain in 1839, was captured by the Chinese.

Anstruther was a distinguished army man whose contributions to military journals were regarded highly.

According to the account of one of his contemporaries, Thomas John Lucas, Anstruther “was one of the three persons taken captive by the Chinese in their first war with England and was, with Captain and Mrs. Douglas, his companions in captivity, carried up the country. They were cooped up in bamboo cages and, after a prolonged endurance, were restored to liberty only at the conclusion of hostilities.”

The Chinese captured Anstruther in Tinghai, the main town of Chusan.

Anstruther won medals for his service in various parts of the world, including the Cape, China, “the Punjab”, and Burma, now Myanmar. He retired with the rank of major-general.

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