William McKay received a medal for the Afghan Campaign. It says so in his military record. Henrietta and the other military wives, no doubt deserved medals for their efforts in keeping home fires burning and raising the children while their husbands were involved in the conflict. Did the women exchange blood chilling tales about the fate of the women and children who were directly involved in the First Afghan Campaign? Thankfully they were at a remove from the action this time.
The Second Afghan Campaign ended in September of 1880. Corporal McKay must have returned to India soon after that as, according to baptism records found on Find My Past, his next daughter, Martha Alice, was born July 1, 1881. The family was now living in Bangalore and the couple chose to have their latest daughter baptised at St. Andrew's Church, a church that many of the Scottish officers and men attended. William McKay's father had been born in Scotland, perhaps joining this congregation was a sign that William considered himself Scottish as well.
The couple continued to take their children to St. Andrews for their baptisms. After Martha Alice, Margaret came along in 1885, born on August 14; then Bertha in 1887, born on May 29. William McKay's rise in rank can be tracked through each subsequent baptism. In 1881 he was a Corporal, for Margaret's baptism in 1885, he had become a Serjeant and, when it was Bertha's turn William's rank was Company Serjeant Major of the Royal Engineers. He had come a long way from his disgrace in 1876 but he and his family had a long way to travel yet.
Sources:
Find My Past – British Army Service Records 1760-1915 Records of William McKay enlisted 23rd July, 1863
Second Anglo-Afghan War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Afghan_War
St. Andrew’s Church, Bangalore https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Andrew%27s_Church,_Bangalore
Images:
By C. H. Doveton, of 34 Infantry Road, Bangalore - http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=File:Bangalore-_St_Andrew's_Church.jpgOriginally from Doveton's book Picturesque Bangalore, published by The Times Press, Bombay., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=38513900
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