author

Arthur Johnston

1778–1824

A British Army officer in Ceylon, he turned one of his hardest campaigns into a vivid first-hand narrative. His writing offers a rare, on-the-ground view of the 1804 expedition to Kandy and the strains of imperial warfare.

1 Audiobook

Narrative of the Operations of a Detachment in an Expedition to Candy, in the Island of Ceylon, in the Year 1804

Narrative of the Operations of a Detachment in an Expedition to Candy, in the Island of Ceylon, in the Year 1804

by Arthur Johnston

About the author

Born in County Tyrone in 1778, Arthur Johnston was an Irish-born British Army officer whose surviving fame rests mainly on his military memoir. Sources connected with his burial inscription describe him as having served in the 19th Regiment of Foot, the 2nd Ceylon Battalion, and later the Royal Corsican Rangers, and as assistant commandant at the Royal Military College at Farnham.

Johnston is known as the author of Narrative of the Operations of a Detachment in an Expedition to Candy, in the Island of Ceylon, in the Year 1804, first published in 1810. The book draws on his experience commanding an expedition to Kandy in Ceylon, and it has remained of interest as a firsthand account of British campaigning in Sri Lanka during the early nineteenth century.

A memorial inscription states that the hardships of his Ceylon service led to years of illness and that he died on June 6, 1824, aged 45. He married Martha Smith in 1817. I could confirm his published work and broad military career, but detailed personal information appears limited in easily available reliable sources.