Sir Henry William Barnard (1799 – 5 July 1857) was an officer of the
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 ...
. He served during the
First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession d ...
and the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, rising to the rank of
lieutenant-general.
Family and early life
Barnard, the son of the Reverend William Henry Barnard of
Water Stratford,
Buckinghamshire, and great-grandson of
William Barnard,
bishop of Derry
The Bishop of Derry is an episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, b ...
, was born at Westbury,
Buckinghamshire, in 1799. He was educated at
Westminster School
(God Gives the Increase)
, established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560
, type = Public school Independent day and boarding school
, religion = Church of England
, head_label = Hea ...
and
Sandhurst, and obtained a commission in the
Grenadier Guards
"Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it."
, colors =
, colors_label =
, march = Slow: " Scipio"
, mascot =
, equipment =
, equipment ...
in 1814. He served on the staff of his uncle,
Sir Andrew Francis Barnard during the occupation of Paris, and afterwards on that of
Sir John Keane in Jamaica. Later he was with his battalion in Canada, and filled various staff appointments at home.
Crimean War
A newly made major-general on the outbreak of the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
, Barnard landed in the Crimea in 1854, in command of a brigade of the
3rd, or
Sir Richard England's, division of the army, with which he was present during the winter of 1854–5. When General
James Simpson succeeded to the chief command on the death of
Lord Raglan
Baron Raglan, of Raglan in the County of Monmouth, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 20 October 1852 for the military commander Lord FitzRoy Somerset, chiefly remembered as commander of the British troops ...
, Barnard became his chief of the staff, a position he held at the
fall of Sevastopol in September 1855. Afterwards he commanded the
2nd division of the army in the Crimea.
India
After brief periods of command at
Corfu,
Dover, and
Shorncliffe, Barnard was appointed to the staff in
Bengal
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 ...
, and reached
Umballa
Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala has two sub-area ...
, to take over the Sirhind division, towards the end of April 1857, when rumours of impending unrest were gathering fast. On 10 May occurred the outbreaks at
Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
and
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders ...
, the vague tidings of which reaching Umballa were at once sent on by Barnard, and gave the first warning of the
Indian Rebellion of 1857
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 ...
to the commander-in-chief, General
George Anson, then at
Simla
Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, th ...
. Upon Anson's death at
Kurnaul a fortnight later, Barnard received in charge the scanty force available for the movement against Delhi, and at its head he struck a heavy blow at the mutineers, at the
Battle of Badli-ki-Serai
The Battle of Badli-ki-Serai was fought early in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or ''First War of Indian Independence'' as it has since been termed in Indian histories of the events. A British and Gurkha force defeated a force of sepoys who had ...
, on 8 June following, taking up his position on the ridge commanding the north-west front of the city of Delhi the same evening, and
laying siege to the city.
The military historian
John William Kaye commented that the value of Barnard's victory was not to be measured by returns of killed and wounded or captured ordnance.
'It gave us an admirable base of operations—a commanding military position—open in the rear to the lines along which thenceforth our reinforcements and supplies and all that we looked for to aid us in the coming struggle were to be brought. And, great as this gain was to us in a military sense, the moral effect was scarcely less; for behind the ridge lay the old cantonments, from which a month before the British had fled for their lives. On the parade-ground the British headquarters were now encamped, and the familiar flag of the Feringhees was again to be seen from the houses of the imperial city.'
Four weeks of desultory and unprofitable fighting followed, the besieged defenders, underestimated by most, outnumbering Barnard's force by six to one in men and four to one in guns. Barnard, like his predecessor Anson, was taken ill with
cholera, and died on 5 July 1857, eleven weeks before the fall of the city. He was considered to have left behind him "the name of an officer, skilful, if little versed in Indian warfare, and a brave and chivalrous gentleman."
See also
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Henry William
1799 births
1857 deaths
English knights
People from Oxfordshire
People educated at Westminster School, London
Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
British Army lieutenant generals
British Army personnel of the Crimean War
British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Deaths from cholera
Infectious disease deaths in India
Grenadier Guards officers
British military personnel killed in the Indian Rebellion of 1857