“Thomas Lane was born in Cork, County Cork, Ireland in May 1836. He enlisted with the 47th Regiment of Foot and served with them throughout the Crimean War (1854-1856). He then enlisted in the 67th Regiment of Foot. In 1860, Lane’s regiment was posted to China as part of an expedition for the closing stages of the Second Opium War (also known as the Second China War, the Second Anglo-Sino War and even the Arrow War – named after the ship (not HMS Arrow but a merchant ship registered in Hong Kong and under the British flag) boarded by Chinese soldiers at the outbreak of the war). Fought between October 1854 and October 1860, the war was fought between Britain and France against the Qing Dynasty over the rights to import Opium into China.”

This episode was written by Murray Dahm.

Murray is an ancient and medieval military historian from New Zealand, living in Australia. He has written more than 100 articles on various aspects of ancient and medieval military history and other historical topics from all periods. He is the author of Macedonian Phalangite vs Persian Warrior, Athenian Hoplite vs Spartan Hoplite and Leuctra 371 BC, all from Osprey Publishing. He is a regular on the Ancient Warfare Podcast.