General Sir Charles Pyndar Beauchamp Walker, (7 October 1817 – 19 January 1894) was a senior officer in the British Army.

Military career

He was born the eldest son of Charles Ludlow Walker of Redland, near Bristol, educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and commissioned as an ensign in the 33rd Foot on 27 February 1836. He was promoted lieutenant in 1839 and captain in 1846. He served with the regiment at Gibraltar, the West Indies and North America before transferring to the

7th Dragoon Guards The 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1688 as Lord Cavendish's Regiment of Horse. It was renamed as the 7th (The Princess Royal's) Dragoon Guards for Princess Charlotte in 1788. ...

in 1849. In 1854 he was in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

as Aide-de-Camp to

Lord Lucan Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 – disappeared 8 November 1974, declared death in absentia, declared dead 3 February 2016), commonly known as Lord Lucan, was a British Peerages in the United Kingdom, peer who di ...

, commander of the cavalry division. After being present at the battles of

Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

, Balaclava, and

Inkerman Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is ''de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but ''de jure'' within Ukraine. It lies 5 ...

, he was transferred aboard ship as ADC to

Lord George Paulet George Paulet CB (12 August 1803 – 22 November 1879) was an officer of the Royal Navy. He entered the navy shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars and after some years obtained his own command. He served off the Iberian Peninsula durin ...

and was present aboard HMS ''Bellerophon'' for the naval attack on

Sebastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

. He was awarded the

Crimea Medal The Crimea Medal was a campaign medal approved on 15 December 1854, for issue to officers and men of British units (land and naval) which fought in the Crimean War of 1854–56 against Russia. The medal was awarded with the British version of th ...

with four clasps, the Turkish medal, and the

Order of the Medjidie Order of the Medjidie ( ota, نشانِ مجیدی, August 29, 1852 – 1922) is a military and civilian order of the Ottoman Empire. The Order was instituted in 1851 by Sultan Abdulmejid I. History Instituted in 1851, the Order was awarded in fi ...

(fifth class). In 1854, he was promoted major and left the Crimea the following year to serve as Assistant Quartermaster-General (AQMG) in Ireland as a lieutenant-colonel. In 1858 he joined the 2nd Dragoon Guards to help put down the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

, commanding a field force in

Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...

which successfully engaged the rebels at Bangaon and seeing action at the Jirwah Pass under Sir

James Hope Grant General Sir James Hope Grant, GCB (22 July 1808 – 7 March 1875) was a British Army officer. He served in the First Opium War, First Anglo-Sikh War, Indian Rebellion of 1857, and Second Opium War. Early life Grant was the fifth and younge ...

. In 1860, he was posted to China as AQMG of cavalry in Sir Hope Grant's expedition and was present at the actions of Sinho, Chankiawan, and Palikao, narrowly escaping death in an ambush when reconnoitring for a campsite outside Peking. He became a colonel in the army the same year. He returned home in 1861 to be AQMG at

Shorncliffe Army Camp Shorncliffe Army Camp is a large military camp near Cheriton in Kent. Established in 1794, it later served as a staging post for troops destined for the Western Front during the First World War. History The camp was established in 1794 when t ...

but in 1865 was appointed military attache to the embassy at Berlin, a post he held until 1876. During the Austro-Prussian war of 1866 and the Franco-German war of 1870-1 he acted as British military commissioner to the Crown Prince of Prussia's army and was present at the battles of Weissenburg, Wörth, Sedan and the Siege of Paris. He was promoted major-general in 1873 and lieutenant-general in 1877. He left the post in Berlin to be Inspector-General of military education until 1884, when he retired with the honorary rank of full general. He was awarded KCB in 1881 and later that year given the colonelcy of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, a position he held until his death. He died in London on 19 Jan 1894, and was buried in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...

. He had married Georgiana, daughter of Captain Richard Armstrong of the 100th Foot. Extracts from his letters and journals during active service were published after his death under the title "Days of a Soldier's Life".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Charles Pyndar Beauchamp British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 British military personnel of the Second Opium War British Army generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) officers Duke of Wellington's Regiment officers 7th Dragoon Guards officers 1817 births 1894 deaths Burials at Brompton Cemetery Military personnel from Bristol People educated at Winchester College