General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir Edward Francis Chapman (14 November 1840 – 12 May 1926) was a senior

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 who commanded the Army in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and was the ceremonial head of the

Royal Regiment of Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Military career

He was commissioned into the Bengal Artillery in 1858, which was later amalgamated into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He quickly caught the attention of

Sir Frederick Roberts Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, (30 September 1832 – 14 November 1914) was a British Victorian era general who became one of the most successful British military commanders of his time. Born in India to an Anglo-Iri ...

who predicted that Chapman would "make his mark". He was duly selected to fight in the

British Expedition to Abyssinia The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, ...

between 1867 and 1868 as the commander of No. 5 Battery, 21st Brigade. He was present at the action of Arogee and at the fall of Magdala, working as aide-de-camp to Brigadier-General Petrie and being mentioned in dispatches for his services. Chapman was part of a mission to Yarkand in China in 1874. He served in the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

from 1878 to 1880, and was Sir Frederick Roberts' Chief of Staff during the march from

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Kandahar Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...

. He was appointed Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, India in 1881 and went on the Burma expedition in 1885. He was Quartermaster-General for India from 1885 to 1889, and introduced a system of organised native brothels for British other ranks in the hope of reducing the incidence of

venereal disease Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), also referred to as sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and the older term venereal diseases, are infections that are Transmission (medicine), spread by Human sexual activity, sexual activity, especi ...

s. He became the second Director of Military Intelligence at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in 1891. He was aide-de-camp to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

in 1891. As an active member of the Royal Geographical Society, he presented several lectures and wrote numerous papers on the effects of physical geography on the tactics and success of military operations. Additionally, he wrote several books about military geography and the history of the British Indian Army. He was promoted to

major-general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1889, lieutenant-general in 1892, and

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

in March 1896. Chapman was made Commander Scottish District in 1896, a post he held until 1901. He was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

in 1905 and retired in 1906. He was

Master Gunner, St James's Park The Master Gunner St James’s Park’s appointment goes back to 1678 and has generally been held by a senior officer in the Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially k ...

, the ceremonial commander of the Royal Artillery, between 1919 and 1926.

Personal life

On 3 December 1886 he married Georgiana Bayley, daughter of

Edward Clive Bayley Sir Edward Clive Bayley (17 October 1821 – 30 April 1884), was an Anglo-Indian civil servant, statesman and archæologist. Early life Bayley was the only son of Edward Clive Bayley, of Hope Hall, Eccles, Lancashire, and Margaret Fenton. He was ...

. He lived at

Limpsfield Limpsfield is a village and civil parish in Surrey, England, at the foot of the North Downs close to Oxted railway station and the A25.

in Surrey.The Templehouse Papers
/ref> He was an Esquire of the

Venerable Order of Saint John The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of ...

and a member of the

Athenaeum Club, London The Athenaeum is a private members' club in London, founded in 1824. It is primarily a club for men and women with intellectual interests, and particularly (but not exclusively) for those who have attained some distinction in science, engineerin ...

. The Anglican priest and

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

member the Rev Hugh Boswell Chapman was a younger brother.Hughes-Hughes, WO, ''The Register of Tonbridge School from 1820 to 1893'', (1893: Richard Bentley) p 141.

References

External links

* Edward Francis Chapman photographs of Yarkand and Kashgar, 1873-1874,

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.R.16. The album of 90 photographs documents the information gathering mission from Leh, India to Yarkand (Shache) China led by Sir T. D. Forsyth in 1873. The photographs portray the southern branch of the Silk Road and its routes, and are the first photographic record made of the indigenous inhabitants of Chinese Turkistan. , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Edward 1840 births 1926 deaths Bengal Artillery officers British Army generals British historians British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Afghan War Esquires of the Order of St John Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Military personnel from Kolkata Royal Artillery officers British military personnel of the Abyssinian War British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Burmese War Military personnel of British India