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Field Marshal 'Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley'
KP OM GCB GCMG VD PC (
4 June 1833–
25 March 1913) was a
British army officer. He served in
Burma, the
Crimean War, the
Indian Mutiny,
China,
Canada, and widely throughout
Africa - including his brilliantly executed
Ashanti campaign (
1873 -
'74).
Education and the Second Burmese War
He was the eldest
son of
Major Garnet Joseph Wolseley of "the King's Own Borderers" (
25th Foot.), he was born at Golden Bridge,
County Dublin. Educated in
Dublin, he obtained a
commission as
ensign in the
12th Foot in March of
1852, and was transferred to the
80th Foot. with which he served in the
Second Burmese War. He was severely wounded on the nineteenth of March,
1853, in the attack of
Donabyu, was mentioned in despatches, and received the war medal. Promoted to "
lieutenant" and invalided home, Lt. Woseley exchanged into the
90th Light Infantry, then stationed in Dublin.
The Crimea
He accompanied the regiment to
the Crimea, and landed at
Balaklava in the December of
1854. He was selected to be an assistant
engineer, and served with the
Royal Engineers in the
trenches during the
Siege of Sevastopol. He was promoted to "captain" in January of
1855 after less than three years' service, and served throughout the siege. Capt. Wolseley was wounded at "the Quarries" on
June 7, and again in the trenches on
August 30.
After the fall of
Sevastopol, the Captain was employed on the
quartermaster-general's staff, assisted in the embarkation of the troops and stores, and then one of the last to leave the Crimea in July of
1856. For his services he was twice mentioned in dispatches, was noted for a
brevet majority, received the war medal with clasp, the 5th class of the French ''
Légion d'honneur'', the 5th class of the Turkish ''Mejidie ''and the Turkish medal.
After six months' duty with the 90th Foot at
Aldershot, he went with it in March of
1857, to join the expedition to China under Major-General Ashburnham. Capt. Wolseley embarked in the transport "Transit," which was wrecked in the
Strait of Banka. The troops were all saved, but with only their arms and a few rounds of ammunition, and were taken to
Singapore; whence, on account of the
Indian Mutiny, they were dispatched with all haste to
Calcutta.
The Indian Rebellion
Capt. Wolseley distinguished himself at the relief of
Lucknow under Sir
Colin Campbell in November of
1857, and in the defence of the Alambagh position under Outram, taking part in the actions of
December 22, 1857, of
January 12 and
January 16, and also in the repulse of the grand attack of
February 21. That March, he served at the final
siege and capture of Lucknow. He was then appointed
deputy-assistant quartermaster-general on the staff of Sir
Hope Grant's
Oudh division, and was engaged in all of the operations of the campaign, including; the actions of
Bari,
Sarsi,
Nawabganj, the capture of
Faizabad, the passage of the
Gumti and the action of
Sultanpur. In the
autumn and
winter of
1858 he took part in the
Baiswara, trans-
Gogra and trans-
Rapti campaigns ending with the complete suppression of the
rebellion. For his services he was frequently mentioned in dispatches, and having received his Crimean majority in March of 1858, was, in April of
1859, promoted to be a
lieutenant-colonel, and received the
Mutiny medal and clasp.
1882 caricature from Punch
Lt.-Col. Wolseley continued to serve on Sir Hope Grant's staff in Oudh, and when Grant was nominated to the
command of the
British troops in the
Anglo-French expedition to China of the year
1860, accompanied him as the deputy-assistant quartermaster-general. He was present at the action at
Sin-ho, the capture of
Tang-ku, the storming of the
Taku Forts, the
Occupation of Tientsin, the
battle of Pa-to-cheau and the entry into
Beijing (during which the destruction of
Chinese Imperial Old Summer Palace was begun ...). He assisted in the re-embarkation of the troops before the winter set in. He was mentioned, yet again, in dispatches, and for his services did receive the medal and two clasps. On his return home he published the ''
Narrative of the War with China'' in the year 1860.
Canada
In November of
1861, Wolseley was one of the special service officers sent to
Canada in connection with the
''Trent'' incident. When the matter was amicably settled he remained on the
headquarters staff in Canada as assistant-quartermaster-general. In
1862, shortly after the battle of
Antietam, Lt.-Col. Wolseley took leave from his military duties and went to investigate the
American Civil War. He befriended
Southern sympathizers in
Maryland, who found him passage into
Virginia with a
blockade runner across the
Potomac River. He met with the Generals
Robert E. Lee,
James Longstreet, and
Stonewall Jackson, all of whom impressed him tremendously.
In the year
1865, he became a brevet
colonel, was actively employed the following year in connexion with the
Fenian raids from the
United States, and in the year
1867 was appointed deputy quartermaster-general in Canada. In
1869 his ''
Soldiers' Pocket Book for Field Service'' was published, and has since run through many
editions. In the year
1870, he successfully commanded the
Red River Expedition to establish Canadian
sovereignty over the
Northwest Territories and
Manitoba. Manitoba had entered
Canadian Confederation as the result of negotiations between Canada and a provisional
''Métis'' government headed by
Louis Riel. The only route to
Fort Garry (now
Winnipeg), the
capital of
Manitoba (then an outpost in the
Wilderness), which did not pass through the United States was through a network of rivers and lakes extending for six-hundred
miles from
Lake Superior, infrequently traversed by non-
aboriginals, and where no supplies were obtainable. The admirable arrangements made and the careful organization of the transport reflected great credit to the commander, who upon his return home was made a
KCMG and a
CB. However, it should be noted that the
English speaking troops under Col. Wolseley's command in effect laid a reign of terror on ''Metis'' families in the
Red River, with harassment, beatings, and threats of death perpetuated by the rowdy and sometimes drunken
soldiers.
Appointed assistant
adjutant-general at the
War Office in the year
1871 he worked hard at furthering the
Cardwell schemes of army reform, was a member of the localization
committee, and a keen
advocate of short service, territorial
regiments and linked
battalions. From this time until he became
commander-in-chief, Col. Wolseley was the
prime mover in practically all of the steps taken at the War Office for promoting the
efficiency of the
army, under the altered conditions of the day.
Ashanti
In the year
1873, he commanded the expedition to
Ashanti, and, having made all his arrangements at the
Gold Coast before the arrival of the troops in January of
1874, was able to complete the campaign in two months, and re-embark them for
home before the unhealthy season began. This was the campaign which made him a household name in
England. He fought the
battle of Amoaful on
January 31 of that year, and, after five days' fighting, ending with the
battle of Ordahsu, entered
Kumasi, which he burned. He received the thanks of both houses of
Parliament and a grant of £25,000 was promoted to be a
major general for distinguished service in the field, received the medal and clasp and was made GCMG and KCB. The
freedom of the city of
London was conferred upon him with a
sword of honour, and he was made honorary DC.L of
Oxford and LL.D of
Cambridge universities. On his return home he was appointed
inspector-general of
auxiliary forces, but had not held the post for a year when, in consequence of the indigenous unrest in
Natal, he was sent to that
colony as
governor and general-commanding.
In November of
1876, he accepted a seat on the
council of India, from which in
1878, having been promoted lieutenant-general, he went as high-commissioner to the newly acquired possession of
Cyprus, and in the following year to
South Africa to supersede
Lord Chelmsford in command of the forces in the
Zulu War, and as governor of
Natal and the
Transvaal and the
high commissioner of
South-East Africa. But, upon his arrival at
Durban in July, he found that the war in
Zululand was practically over, and, after effecting a temporary settlement, he went on to the Transvaal. Having reorganized the administration there and reduced the powerful
chief,
Sikukuni, to submission, he returned home in May of
1880 and was appointed quartermaster-general to the forces. For his services in South Africa he received the
Zulu medal with clasp, and was made a GCB.
Egypt
In the year
1882, the Major General was appointed adjutant-general to the forces, and, in August of that year, given command of the British forces in
Egypt to suppress the
Urabi Revolt. Having seized the
Suez Canal, he then disembarked his troops at
Ismailia and, after a very short and brilliant campaign, completely defeated
Arabi Pasha at the
battle of Tel al-Kebir, thereby suppressing yet another rebellion. For his services, the Major General received the thanks of Parliament, the medal with clasp, the
bronze star, was promoted ("general") for distinguished service in the field, raised to the
peerage as
Baron Wolseley of
Cairo and
Wolseley, and received from the
Khedive the 1st class of the
order of the Osmanieh.
In the year
1884, the now full general, Baron Wolseley was again called away from his duties as adjutant-general, to command the
Nile Expedition for the relief of
General Gordon and the besieged garrison at
Khartoum. The expedition arrived too late; Khartoum had fallen, and Gordon was dead. In the
spring of
1885, complications with
Imperial Russia over the
Panjdeh Incident occurred, and the withdrawal of that particular expedition followed. For his services there, the Baron received two clasps to his Egyptian medal, the thanks of Parliament, and was created a
viscount and a
knight of St Patrick.
Gen. Viscount Wolseley continued at the War Office as adjutant-general to the forces until the year
1890, wherein he was given the command in
Ireland (at that time ''de jure'' a part of the
UK under the
Act of Union which had created the
United Kingdom but, by the
1880s, had begun down the path to
Irish political
independence with the policies of
Premier Gladstone, in particular the
First Home Rule Bill). He was promoted to be a
field marshal in the year
1894, and was nominated "colonel" of the
Royal Horse Guards in
1895, in which year he was appointed by the
Unionist government to succeed the
Duke of Cambridge as "commander-in-chief of the forces". This was the position to which his great experience in the field and his previous signal success at the War Office itself had fully entitled him. Field Marshal Viscount Wolseley's powers in that
office were, however, limited by a new
order in council, and after holding the appointment for over five years, he handed over the command-in-chief to his fellow field marshal,
Earl Roberts, at the
commencement of the year
1901. The unexpectedly large force required for
South Africa, was mainly furnished by means of the system of reserves which Lord Wolseley had originated; but the new conditions at the War Office were not to his liking, and, upon being released from responsibilities he brought the whole subject before the
House of Lords in a
speech.
Lord Wolseley was appointed
colonel-in-chief of the
Royal Irish Regiment in the year
1898, and, in
1901, was made
goldstick in waiting. He was married, in the year
1867, to Louisa, the daughter of one Mr. A. Erskine, and his only
child, Frances, being
heiress to the viscountcy under
special remainder.
Publications
A frequent contributor to
periodicals, he also published ''
The Decline and Fall of Napoleon'' (1895), ''
The Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough to the Accession of Queen Anne'' (1894), and ''
The Story of a Soldier's Life'' (1903), giving, in the last-named work, an account of his career down to the close of the Ashanti War.
He died on
March 26,
1913, at
Mentone on the
French Riviera.
In recognition of his success, an expression arose (see Eric Partridge, "A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English," 1961): "'all Sir Garnet'" meaning; that everything is in good order. Garnet Wolseley was also the inspiration behind the celebrated
Gilbert and Sullivan character "Major-General Stanley" (from
The Pirates of Penzance), who was
"' ... the very model of a modern Major-General ...'".
Memorials
Wolseley Barracks, at
London, Ontario, is a Canadian
military base (now officially known as
ASU London), established in the year
1886. The site of ''
Wolseley Hall'', the first building constructed by a
Canadian Government specifically to house an element of the newly created, in
1883,
Permanent Force. ''Wolseley Barracks'' has been continuously occupied by the
Canadian army since its creation, and has always housed some element of ''
The Royal Canadian Regiment''. At present, ''Wolseley Hall'' is occupied by
''The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum'' and ''the Regiment's'' 4th Battalion, among other
tenants. ''Wolseley'' is also the name of a
Senior Boys house at the ''
Duke of York's Royal Military School'', where, just like
''Welbeck'' college, all houses are named after prominent military figures.
''
Wolseley Avenue'' is a
street in
Montreal West, a part of
Montreal which was lain out in the early years of the
twentieth century.
References
★
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
See also
"All Sir Garnet; a life of Field-Marshal Lord Wolseley" by Joseph H Lehmann; London, J. Cape, 1964.
"Sir Garnet Wolseley : Victorian Hero" by Halik Kochanski; London, Hambledon Press, 1999.
External links
★ Erik Ringmar,
''Fury of the Europeans: Liberal Barbarism and the Destruction of the Emperor's Summer Palace''
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