Private William Clappe (sometimes spelt Clapp) of the 41st Foot, served with the service number 1036, he was born in circa 1816/17 at Warbrugh, Derbyshire, occupation "Twist Lace Maker". He enlisted at age 17 at Nottingham in the 45th Foot, transferred on 1st Nov 1836 to the 41st Foot and served until 30th October 1855, reaching the rank of Sergeant, discharged at Templemore on 11 October 1855. He was tried by court-martial once on 1st April 1844 for being drunk on duty, becoming a Chelsea Out Pensioner. He married Sarah Butcher and together they had (8) children per info on ancestry. He died in January 1885 at Burngreave, Sheffield, Yorkshire.
The 41st Foot's many battlesand services in the war are recounted in great detail in the book “A History of the services of the 41st (The Welch) Regiment (Now 1st Battalion the Welch Regiment) from its Formation in 1719 to 1895” written by David Alexander Napier Lomax in 1899.
During 1842, the 41st Foot, aka the Welch Regiment, as they were known since 1881, were deployed from India to Afghanistan to fight in the first Anglo-Afghan War.
The 41st became part of the so called “Avenging Army” or “Army of Retribution” who were tasked with getting revenge for the massacred troops who fell in the November 1841 retreat from Kabul through the Khyber Pass, in which the enemy killed many men, women and children.
The Avenging Army arrived to take part in a full scale invasion of Afghanistan in March 1842.
