# Louis Cavagnari > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Louis_Cavagnari > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Louis_Cavagnari.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Cavagnari > Source revision: 1341901731 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) 19th-century Italian-British military officer Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari **Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari** [KCB](/source/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath) [CSI](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_the_Star_of_India) (4 July 1841 – 3 September 1879) was a British soldier and military administrator. Cavagnari was the son of Count Louis Adolphus Cavagnari, of an old family from [Parma](/source/Parma) in the service of the [Bonaparte](/source/House_of_Bonaparte) family, by his marriage in 1837 with an [Anglo-Irish](/source/Anglo-Irish) woman, Caroline Lyons-Montgomery. Cavagnari was born at [Stenay](/source/Stenay), in the [Meuse](/source/Meuse_(department)) [département](/source/D%C3%A9partement), [France](/source/France), on 4 July 1841.[1][2] He was killed on 3 September 1879 during the [siege of the British Residency](/source/Siege_of_the_British_Residency_in_Kabul) (then at [Bala Hissar](/source/Bala_Hissar%2C_Kabul)) in [Kabul](/source/Kabul) in [Afghanistan](/source/Afghanistan). He was educated at [Christ's Hospital](/source/Christ's_Hospital) school, starting at the age of 10 years.[1] He had obtained [naturalization](/source/Naturalization) as a [British subject](/source/British_people), and entered the military service of the [East India Company](/source/British_East_India_Company). After passing through college at the [Addiscombe Military Seminary](/source/Addiscombe_Military_Seminary), he served through the [Oudh](/source/Awadh) campaign against the mutineers in 1858 and 1859. In 1861 he was appointed an assistant commissioner in the [Punjab region](/source/Punjab_region) of [British India](/source/British_India), and in 1877 became deputy commissioner of [Peshawar](/source/Peshawar) (now in [Pakistan](/source/Pakistan)) and took part in several expeditions against the [Pashtun tribes](/source/Pashtun_tribes).[1][2] His character was described as "a man of rash and restless disposition and overbearing temper, consumed by the thirst for personal distinction, and as incapable of recognizing and weighing the difficulties, physical and moral, which stood in the way of the attainment of his end".[3] Cavagnari sitting with a group of Afghan tribesmen. Mohammad Yaqub Khan with British officers in May 1879 Queen's Own Corps of Guides Memorial, Cavagnari's Arch in [Mardan](/source/Mardan) In September 1878 he was attached to the staff of a British mission to [Kabul](/source/Kabul), [Afghanistan](/source/Afghanistan), which the [Afghans](/source/Pashtuns) refused to allow to proceed through the [Khyber Pass](/source/Khyber_Pass). In May 1879, after the [British-Indian forces had invaded Afghanistan](/source/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War), and the death of Afghan [Emir](/source/Emir) [Sher Ali Khan](/source/Sher_Ali_Khan), Cavagnari negotiated and signed the [Treaty of Gandamak](/source/Treaty_of_Gandamak) with Sher Ali Khan's son and successor, [Mohammad Yaqub Khan](/source/Mohammad_Yaqub_Khan). With this treaty, the Afghans agreed to admit a British representative to Kabul, and the post was conferred on Cavagnari, who also received the [Star of India](/source/Order_of_the_Star_of_India) and was made a [KCB](/source/Order_of_the_Bath). He took up his residence in July 1879. On 3 September 1879, Cavagnari and the other European members of the mission, along with their guards who were made up of [The Guides](/source/Corps_of_Guides_(British_India)), [were killed](/source/Siege_of_the_British_Residency_in_Kabul) after he refused the demands of mutinous Afghan troops. Cavagnari married in 1871 Mercy Emma Graves.[1][2] After her husband′s death, Lady Cavagnari was allowed the use of apartments in [Hampton Court Palace](/source/Hampton_Court_Palace) by [Queen Victoria](/source/Queen_Victoria).[4] ## See also - [European influence in Afghanistan](/source/European_influence_in_Afghanistan) - [Siege of the British Residency in Kabul](/source/Siege_of_the_British_Residency_in_Kabul) - [The Great Game](/source/The_Great_Game) - [Sir Alexander Burnes](/source/Sir_Alexander_Burnes) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Dey_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Dey_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Dey_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-Dey_1-3) Dey, Kally Prosono (1881). [*The life and career of Major Sir Louis Cavagnari*](https://archive.org/details/lifecareerofmajo00deykrich). Calcutta, J. N. Ghose & co. Retrieved 23 February 2016. 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-EB_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-EB_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-EB_2-2) [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm), ed. (1911). ["Cavagnari, Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon"](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Cavagnari,_Sir_Pierre_Louis_Napoleon). *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)*. Vol. 05 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Hanna, H. B. (1899). [*The Second Afghan War, 1878–79–80: Its Causes, Its Conduct and Its Consequences*](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.284489). Vol. 1. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 119–120. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** "Court Circular". *The Times*. No. 37005. London. 16 February 1903. p. 9. - This article incorporates text from a publication now in the [public domain](/source/Public_domain): [Chisholm, Hugh](/source/Hugh_Chisholm), ed. (1911). "[Cavagnari, Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Cavagnari,_Sir_Pierre_Louis_Napoleon)". *[Encyclopædia Britannica](/source/Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica_Eleventh_Edition)* (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. ## External links - [Works by or about Louis Cavagnari](https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Cavagnari%2C%20Pierre%20Louis%20Napoleon%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Pierre%20Louis%20Napoleon%20Cavagnari%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Cavagnari%2C%20Pierre%20Louis%20Napoleon%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Pierre%20Louis%20Napoleon%20Cavagnari%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Cavagnari%2C%20P%2E%20L%2E%20N%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Pierre%20Louis%20Napoleon%20Cavagnari%22%20OR%20description%3A%22Pierre%20Louis%20Napoleon%20Cavagnari%22%29%20OR%20%28%221841-1879%22%20AND%20Cavagnari%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at the [Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive) Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND FAST WorldCat National United States Other SNAC --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Louis Cavagnari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Cavagnari) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Cavagnari?action=history)). 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