Alan Maxwell Boisragon (22 January 1860 – 18 March 1922) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer, and author, and was Captain Superintendent of the

Shanghai Municipal Police The Shanghai Municipal Police (SMP; ) was the police force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control. Initially composed of ...

from 1901 to 1906.

Life

Born in Bengal, India, on 22 January 1860, the son of an army officer of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

ancestry, Major-General Theodore Boisragon, CB, A. M. His father divorced his wife, Margaret Emma Boisragon (born Gerrard), in 1864 after she ran off with Charles William Moore, a judge in Bengal. Charles and Margaret's children included Ethel Moore, his half-sister, who was born in 1867. Boisragon entered the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

in 1878, and served in the Royal Irish Regiment—with seven years in India, and action in the 1884-85

Nile expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–85), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan af ...

—until 1891, when he retired. He joined the colonial service in the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, where he initially served as Assistant Inspector of Constabulary. In 1894 he was appointed Commandant of the newly established Niger Coast Protectorate Force, in which position he came to know

Roger Casement Roger David Casement ( ga, Ruairí Dáithí Mac Easmainn; 1 September 1864 – 3 August 1916), known as Sir Roger Casement, CMG, between 1911 and 1916, was a diplomat and Irish nationalist executed by the United Kingdom for treason during Worl ...

. In January 1897 he was only one of two survivors of a small British expedition to Benin which was attacked and defeated, the incident prompting the

Benin Expedition of 1897 The Benin Expedition of 1897 was a punitive expedition by a British force of 1,200 men under Sir Harry Rawson in response to the ambush of a previous British party under Acting Consul General James Phillips, of the Niger Coast Protectorate. ...

. Boisragon published his account of the incident as ''The Benin Massacre'' in 1897. He then rejoined the Royal Irish Regiment as a captain in the 3rd Battalion, its

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

battalion. In early 1901 Boisragon was seconded from the army, and appointed Captain Superintendent of the

, arriving in March 1901 to take over command. He was forced to resign in the aftermath of the 1905 Shanghai

Mixed Court Riot Mixed is the past tense of ''mix''. Mixed may refer to: * Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category), an ethnicity category that has been used by the United Kingdom's Office for National Statistics since the 1991 Census * Mixed (album), ''Mixed'' ...

. In 1915 Boisragon published a book for boys, ''Jack Scarlett Sandhurst cadet: A story for boys'', with illustrations by J. F. Campbell. He died in London on 18 March 1922.

Family

He married Ethel Rosling on 9 January 1893 at

South Nutfield Nutfield is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It lies in the Weald immediately south of the Greensand Ridge and has a railway station at South Nutfield which is one stop from Redhill, on the Redhill to Tonbr ...

, Christ Church, Surrey, England. Their son Leslie Alan Maxwell Boisragon was born in 1909 in Shanghai, China. Boisragon's first cousin

Guy Hudleston Boisragon Brigadier Guy Hudleston Boisragon VC (5 November 1864 – 14 July 1931) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ...

was awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

in 1891.

References

(Citing this Record "England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005," database, FamilySearch) (Citing this Record "England and Wales Census, 1911," database, FamilySearch)

Bibliography

Captain Alan Boisragon, ''The Benin Massacre'' (London: Methuen, 1897)

External links

*
Artist's proofs and correspondence for 'Jack Scarlett' by Major Alan Boisragon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boisragon, A.M. British colonial officials Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Royal Irish Regiment (1684–1922) officers British Army personnel of the Mahdist War Gold Coast (British colony) people 1860 births 1922 deaths