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 Stedman, (27 July 1842 – 25 June 1914) was a senior British Indian Army officer who served as

Military Secretary to the India Office The Military Secretary to the India Office was responsible for the recruitment of British and other European nationals to the officer ranks of the Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian A ...

from 1899 to 1907.

Military career

Stedman was commissioned into the

Bengal Staff Corps Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

in 1860. By 1885 he was appointed Commanding Officer of the

3 Gorkha Rifles The 3rd Gorkha Rifles or Third Gorkha Rifles, abbreviated as 3 GR is an Indian Army infantry regiment. It was originally a Gurkha regiment of the British Indian Army formed in 1815. This regiment recruit mainly Magars and Khas/Chhetri tribes. ...

and was strongly commended for his leadership in

Upper Burma Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...

by Major General Sir George Stuart White, Commanding the Upper Burma Field Force. Later that year Stedman was made Inspector-General of Police in Upper Burma. Stedman joined the

Chitral Expedition The Chitral Expedition (Urdu:چترال فوجی مہم) was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral, which was under siege after a local coup following the death of the old ruler. An interv ...

in 1895 as second-in-command and General of Communications. He was appointed

in 1899. Stedman was appointed 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 the

1902 Coronation Honours The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list shou ...

list published on 26 June 1902, and invested as such by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

at Buckingham Palace on 24 October. Ha was promoted to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 19 June 1911. Stedman was also

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

of the 23rd Sikh Pioneers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stedman, Edward 1842 births 1914 deaths British Indian Army generals British military personnel of the Chitral Expedition Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire People from Bloomsbury Military personnel from London Bengal Staff Corps officers