Kelly’s 12 Christmas Days – No 9, Rawalpindi 1922

Thomas Kelly’s life changed dramatically after the First World War as he married and quickly had two daughters, Brigid and Rosemary, both born in India. He had also managed to serve in another war – the 3rd Afghan War in 1919.

After visiting the UK and Ireland on leave with his new family in 1922, they were back in India by Christmas at home at 2 The Mall, Rawalpindi. He was Commanding Officer of all the Indian Army hospitals in that part of India (now Pakistan).

He was contemplating another move, this time to Lahore where he took up the post of Commanding Officer of the Indian hospitals in January 1923. His status and reputation also earned him an appointment as Honorary Surgeon to The Viceroy, by now Lord Reading, the former Rufus Issacs who had served as Attorney-General in the pre-war Liberal government. This would have taken him and his wife, Gertrude, to many government functions at Delhi and Simla, especially after his promotion to full Colonel later that year.

The Kelly story is told in Fighting for the Empire.

Follow his remarkable life through 12 Christmas Days.

Next: No 10, Jersey 1926

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