Personalities, Surname A

Abbott, Lieutenant Augustus Wathen John Frederick

Born November 16, 1873, and joined the Army Service Corps in 1901. He served in the Boer War in 1899-1900 (QSA with three clasps).

Abercorn (James Hamilton), Duke of, PC, KG, CB

Was born in 1838. He succeeded the first Duke in 1885, and is looked upon nowadays as an Irish magnate, but, of course, his family is of purely Scottish origin, his oldest title being that of Baron Paisley, created by James the Sixth in 1S87, and now borne as a courtesy designation by the Duke's grandchild, Lord Hamilton's little son. The Duke of Abercorn is one of the three nobles who enjoy peerages in all three divisions of the United Kingdom. He owns property in more than one Scottish county, besides his large estate in Ireland; but his only possession in England is his house in Mayfair, the lease of which he holds of the Duke of Westminster. He is also Knight of the Danneburg Order, of St Anne of Russia, and of the Iron Crown of Austria. The Duke of Abcrcorn is the son of one of the most remarkable and interesting personages in the British peerage. His mother, Dowager, who only died in 1905, at the age of ninety-two, was the second daughter of the sixth Duke of Bedford. She lived in five reigns, and had over two hundred descendants, almost half the peerage being thrown into mourning by her death. The family is a long-lived one, the grandfather of Duchess having been born 195 years before her death. She had seven sons and seven daughters, of whom there were still living at the time of her death the present Duke of Abercorn, Lord Claud Hamilton, Lord George Hamilton, Lord Frederick Hamilton, Lord Ernest Hamilton, Harriet Countess of Lichfield, the Duchess of Buccleuch, the Countess Winterton, the Marchioness of Blandford, and the Marchioness of Lansdowne. Her sons were all famous in one field or another, with the exception of the fourth and fifth, both of whom died young. The second son, Lord Claud, held many posts under the Government, and is chairman of the Great Eastern Railway Company. Her third son, Lord George, has been First Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary of State for India, and chairman of the London School Board. The sixth son, Lord Frederick, was a diplomatist, and is also a well-known literary man; while the seventh, Lord Ernest, is also a politician and novelist. The late Duchess was hostess at Dublin Castle when the King was installed as Knight of St Patrick in 1868. She was again at Dublin Castle from 1874 to 1876, when her husband resigned the Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland because of the state of health of the Duchess. She saw five sons in Parliament at the same time-one in the Lords and four in the Commons. Three of her grandsons—the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of Durham, and the Earl of Lichfield—sit in the Lords, with three of her sons-in-law, the Duke of Buccleuch, the Marquis of Lansdowne, and Lord Mount-Edgcumbe, while no fewer than twenty-two of her descendants fought in the Boer War. She was the grand­daughter, the daughter, the wife, the mother, and the grandmother of dukes, and their titles represented all the three countries which comprise the United Kingdom. These are the Duke of Gordon, the Duke of Bedford, the first Duke of Abercorn, the present Duke, the Duke of Marlborough, and the Duke of Leeds. She was also half-sister to Lord John Russell. The present Duke of Abercorn was educated at Harrow and Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated MA He was Hon Colonel of Donegal Militia from 1860-91; represented Donegal as Conservative MP from 1860-80; was Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales from 1866-86; and is President of the Ulster Assoc. For many years, which date from the inception of the Company, the Duke of Abercorn has taken a strong personal and political interest in the Chartered Company, of which he is president, lending the full weight of his influence and a great deal of his time to the development of Rhodesia. He has travelled through the country and is in no sense merely a figurehead, his counsel and advice always carrying great weight with the directors and shareholders. The Duke has also lately become a trustee for the debenture-holders of the Victoria Falls Power Company, which is destined to be the largest electrical power transmission company in the world. The story of the occupation and settlement of Rhodesia is one which suggests much romance, not a little tragedy, and a great deal of live comedy, and much of this may be gleaned from various biographical references in this book. But a few further remarks concerning Rhodesia—a country larger in area than France, Germany, Austria, and Italy combined—may not inaptly be given in connection with the Duke of Abercorn's name. At a time when more than one European Power was anxious to establish itself in Africa, the British Imperial Parliament could not undertake the vast responsibilities involved in the acquisition of such an extensive territory as that which has for years borne the name of Rhodesia; and had it not been for the foresight and patriotic enterprise of Mr Cecil Rhodes and his associates in the formation of the Chartered Company, Matabeleland and Mashonaland would probably have fallen to either one of these Powers, or would have become part of the South African Republic. Early in 1888 Lobengula entered into a treaty with Great Britain, and the Royal Charter was granted just a year later. The company having decided to open up Mashonaland first, organised a pioneer expedition under Major Frank Johnson (June, 1890), consisting of about 200 Europeans and 150 native labourers. The aim of the expedition was to cut a road 400 miles long from Macloutsie, passing through the south of Matabeleland and terminating at Mount Hampden, in Mashonaland. This was duly accomplished, and having founded Fort Salisbury at a spot twelve miles south-east of Mount Hampden (September 12,1890), the column was disbanded, and immediately set to work prospecting and occupying the country. Much was done by the company in the next four years to develop the country, there being then about 1,000 white men in the country. Mining commissioners were appointed, townships laid out, roads constructed to different parts, a postal system inaugurated, and measures taken generally for the settlement of the country. For the protection of the community forts were built, at Tuli, Victoria, Charter, and Salisbury-, and a military police force was enrolled. The strength of the force in 1891 reached 650, but was reduced as soon as possible to 140 whites and 1 5 native police, and a volunteer force ('Mashonaland Horse') 500 strong, raised locally by Major Forbes, took its place; the remainder of the settlers forming a burgher force in case of need. The Chartered Company arranged for the extension northwards of the Cape telegraph and railway from Mafeking, and the surveys for the Beira Railway, connecting Mashonaland with the East Coast, were begun in 1891. A commission of prominent South African farmers came up in 1891 to look into the agricultural prospects of the country, and gave a most satisfactory report, resulting in the organisation of the 'Moodic trek' of farmers with their families, which left the Orange Free State in May, 1892, and founded the settlement of Melsetter, in Gazaland, early in 1893. The first sign of native trouble was in 1893, when Lobengula's young bloods crossed the Mashonaland border in defiance of the white man. Dr Jameson's pioneers were but a handful, but the sturdy and disciplined adventurers who had made light of the hardships of the early occupation made less of the Matabele hordes who faced their fire, and in three months these descendants of Tshaka surrendered Matabeleland to the representatives, by proxy, of Britain, one regrettable incident only having occurred-the massacre of Major Alan Wilson and his gallant fellows at the Shangani River. But the peace was short-lived, and in 1896 a series of massacres by the natives led to the war which was prolonged well into 1897. These, however, were not the only troubles that retarded the progress of Rhodesia. Rinderpest had practically denuded the country of cattle, unprecedented swarms of locusts laid bare the fields, and no sooner were these difficulties overcome, than the Boer War practically closed the country for three years. In spite of these serious drawbacks, however, Rhodesia is now making marked headway. A regular output of gold—steadily increasing, if not magnificent—is being recorded, and considerable attention is now being devoted to agriculture. Much invaluable experience has been accumulated, which is now available for a settler's guidance. Experts have studied the conditions under which he can cultivate semitropical products of high commercial value, such as tobacco, oil, cotton, fibre, and (in special districts) rubber. Fruit­growing has been established as a remunerative branch of farming. The conditions under which the farmer can raise grain of all kinds, both European and indigenous, are far better understood than they were ten years ago, and an important point lies in the fact that by the completion of the Trunk Railway System of Southern Rhodesia, and the establishment of through communication between the port of Beira on the Indian Ocean, the Cape ports and the Victoria Falls, South African as well as external markets have now been opened to local produce. In this short sketch it is impossible to refer even briefly to all that has been achieved in Rhodesia, or to all the sources of wealth that await its further development. Those, who have but a superficial idea of these interesting possibilities may have their imagination stirred by the vivid pictures photographed by the Cape to Cairo Bioscope Expedition, the Rhodesian section of which was privately shown at the Palace Theatre in Feb 1907, at the invitation of the Duke of Abercorn and the Directors of the Chartered Company, the subjects representing a most varied and instructive collection of incidents which the general public will have many opportunities of enjoying during the current year. The financial position of the Chartered Company is now more sound than ever before, and it is, of course, very largely interested in the huge electrical power scheme at the Victoria Falls, the possibilities of which are immense. His Grace married in 1889 Lady Mary Anna Curzon, daughter of the first Earl Howe.

Abinger (4th Baron), James Yorke Macgregor Scarlett, Captain 3rd Battalion Queen's Own (Cameron Highlanders).

Acheson (Viscount), Archibald Charles Montagu Brabazon, Lieutenant  2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards.

Acworth, Captain G P A, Royal Engineers

Major Acworth was commissioned 18th Feb 1886.  On the 1st April 1896 he was appointed assistant instructor in Submarine Mining at Chatham.  He embarked for South Africa and served in Cape Colony.  He was later invalided home.  Once home he became chief instructor of submarine mining and held this post until he retired in 1905.

QSA (1) CC.  Military Antiques Nov 06 £285.

Adams, Major William Augustus, 5th Lancers

Born in Dublin, May 27, 1865, and is eldest son of the Reverend B W Adams, DD. He was educated at Harrow, Dublin University, and Sandhurst, taking first honours in Classics and Modern History; Senior Moderator and Gold Medallist in Modern Languages and Literature. Major Adams was gazetted in 1887, obtained his majority in 1905, and has passed Staff College. He is an interpreter in Russian, French, Hindustani, etc., and has served in India, Canada, West Indies, and South Africa, going through the Boer War, 1899-1902, and taking part in the defence of Ladysmith (QSA with four clasps and KSA with two clasps). He was on special service in Japan in 1903-S, and he published Rus Dirinum, Norae Fugaces, The Lonely Way, and Japanese Conversation in Six Months. Recreations, rowing, polo, travelling, tennis, literature, etc. Unmarried.

Adye, Major Walter, Royal Irish Rifles

Walter Adye was born in November 1858, the son of Major-General Goodson Adye of Milverton, Warwick, and was educated at Leamington College and Sandhurst. Commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 83rd Regiment (The Royal Irish Rifles) in January 1878, he was advanced to Lieutenant at the end of the same year, and quickly witnessed active service in the Second Afghan War.

Adye was, in fact, detached for special duties, and ‘served throughout the second campaign, firstly as Transport Officer on the Kandahar line, having charge, for six months, of the stations of Dozan and Darwaza in the Boland Pass, and afterwards as Brigade Transport Officer, 1st Division, Kandahar Field Force, at Kandahar.  Performed garrison duty throughout the siege.  During the retirement of troops from the sortie to Deh Khwaja distinguished himself by carrying, under a heavy fire, two of the wounded to places of safety.  Was present in the reconnaissance of 31 August 1880, and the battle of Kandahar.  Proceeded to India in November 1880, to rejoin his regiment prior to embarkation for Natal.  Recommended by the Commander-in-Chief, and by General Primrose, for the Victoria Cross’ (Shadbolt refers): Adye actually descended by a rope ladder from the Kabul Gate when sallying out to rescue the second man.

Having witnessed further active service - back with his regiment - in the First Boer War 1881, Adye was advanced to Captain in November 1884 and served as Adjutant of the Auxiliary Forces 1885-1890.  Further promotion followed in March 1893, with his appointment as Major, and by the eve of the Boer War he was serving as DAAG to the Army.

He subsequently joined Sir George White’s staff out in Natal at the commencement of hostilities, and quickly made his mark with his senior, being described by him as a ‘capital officer’ who knew ‘every inch fo the ground’, the latter accolade presumably on the back of his earlier experiences in the First Boer War 1881. Be that as it may, and having witnessed the costly affair at Lombard’s Kop, Adye was instrumental in persuading White to let him take a column to Nicholson’s Nek to protect the west flank of the infantry assigned the storming of Pepworth, and to block off the enemy’s line of retreat. In the event, the column was commanded by Adye’s regimental C.O., Lieutenant-Colonel Carleton, which from a career point of view was probably as well, for the whole met with disaster:

‘ ... From earliest daybreak Boer scouts were reconnoitring, and about 8 o’clock mounted Boers could be seen galloping in small groups to the cover at the reverse of the hill on the west.  Later two strong parties of mounted men took position on the far side of the two hills commanding the kopje from the west.  About 9 o’clock these two parties had crowned the hills and opened a heavy fire at short ranges right down upon the plateau.  Our men made a plucky attempt to return this fire, but it was impossible; they were under a cross-fire from two directions, flank and rear.  The two companies of Gloucesters holding the self-contained ridge were driven from their shelter, and as they crossed the open on the lower plateau were terribly mauled, the men falling in groups.

The Boers on the west had not yet declared themselves, but about 200 marksmen climbed to the position which the two companies of Gloucesters had just vacated.  These men absolutely raked the plateau, and it was then that the men were ordered to take cover on the steep reverse of the kopje.  As soon as the enemy realised this move, the men on the western hill teemed on to the summit and opened upon our men as they lay on the slope.  They were absolutely hemmed in, and what had commenced as a skirmish seemed about to become a butchery.  The grim order was passed round - “Faugh-a-Ballaghs, fix your bayonets and die like men!”  There was the clatter of steel, the moment of suspense, and then the “Cease Fire” sounded.  Again, and again it sounded, but the Irish Fusiliers were loth to accept the call, and continued firing for many minutes. Then it was unconditional surrender and the men laid down their arms ... ’ (The Transvaal War refers).

Adye was one of 954 officers and men to be taken prisoner that day, a bitter blow to Sir George White, a day that one famous historian has described as ‘the most humiliating in British military history since Majuba’: it is said that the officers of the Royal Irish Rifles were ‘so exasperated at the exhibition of the white flag that they set to work and smashed their swords rather than give them up’.

Adye was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette 8 February 1901 refers) and, on being released, served as DAAG at Army HQ from July 1900 until February 1904.  He was advanced to Lieutenant Colonel in the latter year, when he was appointed a General Staff Officer, and thence to substantive Colonel in October 1907.  Appointed CB in 1909, he served briefly as Deputy Assistant Inspector of Remounts, Eastern Command, from 1914 until his death in September 1915.

CB (mil), Afghan (1) Kandahar (Lt, Trans Dep), QSA (1) Natal (Major, R Irish Rifles), 1902 Coronation. 

DNW Dec 05 £3,200.  Photograph courtesy of DNW.

 

Airey, Lieutenant Colonel H P Airey, DSO.

This officer commanded the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen.

Airlie (8th Earl of), David William Stanley Ogilvy, Baron Ogilvy of Airlie.

Aitkens, Ferdinand, JP

Was born at Bournemouth, Jan 14, 1861; was educated at Bedford Grammar School and Cambridge University (non-collegiate). He was a Lieutenant, in the 3rd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles 1878-80, served in the Louis Riel Rebellion in Canada in 1885, Captain in the Salisbury Field Force in the Matabele Rebellion in 1896, joined Mr Coryndon's expedition to Barotseland in 1897, was Assistant to the BSA Company's representative in Barotseland in 1898, and received his present appointment as District Commissioner Barotse District in 1900. He is JP for NW Rhodesia. Unmarried.

Alderson, Lieutenant Colonel E A H, Royal West Kent Regiment

Entered 1878; Brevet Lieutenant Colonel, 1897. Staff service: Special Service South Africa, 1896-97; DAAG, Aldershot, 1897-99; Commanding Mounted Infantry Cavalry, 1st Brigade, South Africa, 1899. War service: Boer War, 1881; Egyptian Expedition 1882 (medal with clasp; bronze star); Sudan Expedition 1884-83 (2 clasps); Operations in South Africa, 1896 (Despatches; Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel); Boer War, 1899-1900; Commanding Corps of Mounted Infantry.

Aldworth, Lieutenant Colonel W

Commanding 2nd Battalion Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry.

Alexander, Lieutenant Colonel H

10th Hussars. Entered 1880; Lieutenant Colonel, August 1900. Staff service: Adjutant Yeomanry Cavalry, 1890-95. War service: Boer War, 1899-1900; twice wounded (once severely).

Alexander, Lieutenant Colonel Honourable W P

Royal Scots Greys. Cor. 2nd Dragoons, 1869; Brevet Colonel, July 1900. Staff service: Adjutant Auxiliary Forces, 1884-89. War service: South African War, 1899-1900.

Allen, Major General Ralph Edward

AAG South African Field Force. Entered 1865; Colonel, 1896. Staff service:  Brigade Major, Belfast, 1884; DAA and QMG, South Africa, 1884-85; Brigade Major, Eastern District, 1886-87; DAAG, Chatham, 1887; AAG, Curragh, 1896-97; AAG, South Africa, 1899-1900. War Service: Bechuanaland Expedition, 1884-85 (honourably mentioned; Brevet of Lieutenant Colonel); South African War, 1899-1900; on Staff. Major General Alien, born in 1846, was the son of Major R Shuttle worth Alien, JP, DL, and the daughter of Sir Samuel Cunard, Baronet.

Allin, Lieutenant Colonel W B

AMS, PMO, Natal Field Force; Lieutenant Colonel RAMC, 1893. War service: Afghan War, 1878-1880 (medal); Sudan Expedition 1884-85 (Despatches, 1885; medal with clasp; bronze star; promoted Surgeon-Major); Isazai Expedition 1892; Boer War, 1899-1900.

Altham, Colonel Edward Altham

CB, (1904), CMG (1901), 3rd Class Order of the Sacred Treasure (Japan), of 114, Earl's Court Road, London, SW, and of the Junior Naval and Military Club, Lond; was born Apr 13, 1856, at Wilton, Somersetshire, and is the second son of Major W S Altham, of Bridgwater. The Althams are a very old family. A younger son was Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Queen Elizabeth's reign, and a daughter of one of the Altham line was wife of Sir John Bankes, who pluckily held Corfe Castle—under historic circumstances—against a siege by Roundheads during the Civil Wars. Colonel Altham was educated at Winchester, and Christ Church, Oxford. He joined the Royal Scots in 1876, and was employed with the MI Company of that regiment through Sir Chas. Warren's Bechuanaland expedition in 1884-5; was District Adjt., Cape Town, 1885-7; PSC, 1889; DAAG, I NW District 1893-6, and was employed in the Intelligence division of the War Office from 1896 to 1899, except from July, 1896, to Mar, 1897, when he was Military Secretary, to the GOC in South Africa, Sir W Goodenough. During the Boer War Colonel Altham served as AAG for Intelligence on Sir George White's staff up to the relief of Ladysmith, and subsequently on Lord Methuen's staff in the OFS (medal with four clasps, and promoted Lt. Colonel); was appointed AQMG of the strategic branch of the War Office on the re-organisation of the HG Staff in 1901, and retired on half-pay in 1904. Colonel Altham married in 1880 Emily Georgina, daughter of W Macpherson Nicol, of Inverness.

Amery, Leopold Charles Maurice Stennett, MA

Was born in India, November 22, 1873, and is son of C F Amery, of the Indian Forest Service. He was educated at Harrow, and Balliol College, Oxford (Exhibitioner, BA, took a first-class in Moderations, 1896; Fellowship at All Souls' College, 1897). He gained the Ouseley Scholarship for knowledge of Turkish at the Imperial Institute in 1895. He acted as private sec. to the Rt Hon L H Courtney, MP, in 1896-7, and travelled in Europe and the Near East in 1897-8, contributing articles on travel and politics to the Times, Manchester Guardian, and Edinburgh Review. He joined the regular staff of the Times in 1899 as Assistant foreign editor, and acted as correspondent in Berlin for part of that year, subsequently going out to South Africa. He was in the Boer laager at Sandspruit when the war broke out, and was sent back by General Joubert to Cape Town, where he was appointed by the Times to organise and direct their staff of correspondents during the war. He edited the Times history of the war, in six volumes, leaving South Africa in 1900 for that purpose. After completing Vol. II he revisited South Africa at the close of war, in order to examine battlefields. He is on the council of the Imperial South African Association, and contested East Wolverhampton as Unionist candidate. He was champion of the gymnasium at Harrow; ran for Oxford against Cambridge in the cross-country race in 1896; is also a keen mountaineer; and is fond of boat sailing and travelling.

Amphlett, Captain Charles Edward

Was born November 30, 1879, and joined the 6th Dragoons in Aug, 1898, as 2nd Lieutenant, becoming Captain in 1902. He served in the Boer War in 1899-1901, taking part in the operations in the Orange Free State in 1900, including the actions at Vet River and Zand River; the operations in the Transvaal in May and June, 1900, and being present at the actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Diamond Hill; the operations in the Transvaal cast of Pretoria, including the actions at Riet Vlei and Belfast; the operations in Cape Colony south of the Orange River, including the actions at Colesberg in Jan and Feb, 1901; and the subsequent operations in the Transvaal (QSA with five clasps).

Amphlett, George Thomas, FRCI

Of Uhlenhorst, Rondebosch, Cape Colony, and the Imperial Colonies Club, was born in London Jan 1, 1852; was educated at the Philological School, Marylebone, and King's College, London. He was one of the only two who passed the first exam, of the English Bankers' Inst., and is Secretary, in Cape Town of the Standard Bank of SA He won the sculling championship of Hamburg in 1874, and is Vice-President of the Mountain Club of SA In February, 1902, he rescued three NCOs from a perilous position on Devil's Peak, Cape Town, after 55 hours' detention on a narrow ledge, receiving the thanks of the Chief Army Paymaster and Staff with a presentation. During the Boer War he was Captain in the Town Guard, Cape Town. He is an Assoc, of the Inst, of Bankers; member of the Philosophical Society (Cape Town); member of the SA Assoc, for the Advancement of Science, and is Past Grand Warden of the Provincial Grand Lodge of South Africa.

Aptharp, Major KP

Was educated at Charterhouse, and entered the Royal Irish Regiment in 1881. He took part in the Nile Expedition in 1885 (medal with clasp and Khedive's star); the Black Mountain Expedition in 1888 (medal with clasp); acted as ADC to the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab from 1889-91, Special. Service Officer at Lucknow from 1892-94, and Adjutant in the Oudh Light Horse from 1894-99; served in the Boer War in 1900-1, including the operations in the Orange Free State and Cape Colony (despatches, medal with two clasps and Kings medal). In 1900 he was appointed a District Commissioner in the Orange River Colony; joined the South African Constabulary in 1901; appointed Secretary, of the ORC Land Settlement Board in 1901, and Director of Land Settlement in 1905.

Armstrong, Lieutenant Colonel F W

This officer rendered valuable service with the East Griqualand Mounted Volunteers.

Arthur, Sir George Compton Archibald, 3rd Battalion Herts Yeomanry Cavalry

Lieutenant, 2nd Life Guards, 1880-86. War service: Egyptian Campaign, 1882; Nile Expedition, 1885. Born 1860.

Ashmore, Sir Alexander Murray, KCMG

After serving in Ceylon, the Gold Coast, and Cyprus, was appointed Government Secrctary of British Guiana in 1900, and administered the Government of that Colony in 1901. Sir Alexander also acted as Commissioner to inquire and report on the Transvaal Concessions in 1900. He was created KCMG on the occasion of the King's birthday, 1905.

Athlumney, 2nd Baron James Herbert Gustavus Meredyth Somerville

He was born 23 Mar 1865 in Somerville House, near Navan, County Meath, Ireland.  He was the son of Sir William Meredyth Somerville, 1st Baron Meredyth and Maria Georgiana Elizabeth Jones.  He married Margery Boan, daughter of Henry Boan, on 30 Jul 1919 in Wellington Barracks, Guards Chapel, Westminster, London, England.  He died 8 Jan 1929 at age 63 in Somerville without issue.  He was educated at Harrow and gained the rank of Lieutenant in 1882 in the 5th Battalion, Royal Canadians.  He was promoted Lieutenant in 1886 in the Coldstream Guards.  He fought in the Dongola Expedition in 1896, where he was mentioned in despatches.  He fought in the Boer War in 1900, and was awarded the QSA (4).   He succeeded to the title of 6th Baronet Somerville, of Somerville, county Meath, 2nd Baron Athlumney, of Somerville and Dollarstown, county Meath and 2nd Baron Meredyth, of Dollardstown, county Meath on 7 December 1873.

Ava (Earl of), Archibald James Leofric Temple Blackwood (late 17th Lancers)

Son of 1st Marquis of Dufferin and Ava.