In laying the following pages before the public, I do so with a feeling
that they will be read with interest, not only by those who knew the
writer, but those to whom the scenes described therein are known, and
also those who appreciate a true description of a country which they may
never have the good fortune to see. We are all familiar with Kashmir in
the "fanciful imagery of Lalla Rookh," at the same time may not object
to reading an account--with a ring of truth in it--of that lovely land,
lovely and grand, beyond the power of poets to describe as it really
is, so travellers say. Readers will see that Mr. Foster intended to have
published this Diary himself had he been spared to reach England, he has
offered any apology that is necessary, so I will say nothing further
than to state, the daily entries were kept in a pocket-book written in
pencil, occasionally a word is not quite legible, that will account for
any little inaccuracy. After being two years at Elizabeth College,
Guernsey, under the Rev. A. Corfe, Mr. Foster entered St. George's
Hospital, as Student of Medicine, he received there in his last year the
"Ten Guinea Prize" for General Proficiency. From St. George's he went to
Netley, and on leaving that he served for a short time in Jersey, with
the 2nd Battallion 1st Royals, and 1st Battallion 6th Royals, after
which he embarked for India, where from February, 1868, to the beginning
of 1869, he served with the following Regiments, &c., 91st Highlanders,
at Dum Dum; F Battery C. Brigade Royal Horse Artillery, at Benares; 27th
Inniskillings, at Hazareebagh, Bengal Depôt, Chinsurah; Detachment 58th
Regiment, at Sahibgunge; Head-Quarters 58th Regiment, at Sinchal, again
at the Bengal Depôt Chinsurah; Head-Quarters 107th Regiment, at
Allahabad; Detachment 107th Regiment, at Fort Allahabad; G Battery 11th
Brigade Royal Artillery, at Cawnpore; Left Wing 36th Regiment,
Moradabad; Head-Quarters 36th Regiment, Peshawur, from whence
ultimately we find he started for Kashmir in the hope of regaining his
health, a vain hope as events proved, as he died on the passage home at
Malta. During the course of publication I have received many letters
from people who were personally acquainted with Mr. Foster who had met
him at home and abroad, from the tone of which letters I gather he was
held in the highest possible estimation as a friend, a medical man, and
an officer. I am indebted to the kindness of his father, Dr. John L.
Foster, of this island, for being allowed to publish these interesting
memorials of one who had now passed "To where beyond these voices there
is peace."
LIZZIE A. FREETH.
Montpellier, Guernsey, Nov. 1873.