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.". O ...

Sir Henry Brackenbury, (1 September 1837 – 20 April 1914) 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 Gurkha ...

officer who was assistant to

Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (4 June 183325 March 1913), was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential and admired British generals after a series of successes in Canada, W ...

in the 1870s and became part of his ' Ring' of loyal officers. He also wrote several books of military history and memoirs.

Life and career

Henry Brackenbury was born in Bolingbroke, Lincolnshire on 1 September 1837Henry Brackenbury at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> and was a younger brother of

Charles Booth Brackenbury Charles Booth Brackenbury (7 November 1831 – 20 June 1890) was a British major general and military correspondent, part of a Lincolnshire family whose members fought in nearly all of Britain's wars of the 19th century. He saw service in the Crim ...

. Henry was educated at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

and Eton, then at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of S ...

. He joined the

in 1856, served in the Central Indian Campaign in 1857–58 and observed the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–71. After making Wolseley's acquaintance, Brackenbury offered to join his Ashanti Campaign (1873–74) at which time he became part of the ''

Wolseley ring The Wolseley ring was a group of 19th century British army officers loyal to Garnet Wolseley and considered by him to be clever, brave, experienced and hard-working. After the Crimean War Wolseley started to keep a note of the best officers he met ...

'', and later acted as his military secretary in the

Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coup ...

of 1879–80. Wolseley thought highly of his talents and helped advance his career. However, Brackenbury was unpopular with other colleagues and with Lady Wolseley. He became Private Secretary to the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

in 1880, acted as British

Military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

between 1881 and 1882, and then became assistant Under-Secretary to the

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

. He had a senior role in the River Column in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in 1884–85. 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 ...

for distinguished service in the field, then became director of Military Intelligence in 1886. From 1891 he was a member of the Council of the Viceroy of India, and in 1896 became president of 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 ...

Ordnance Committee until 1899. He was made colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery in 1897, and promoted to the rank of a full

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.". O ...

on 26 September 1901. He was appointed Director-General of Ordnance in 1899, and as such was responsible for army ordnance (including the reserves of arms, ammunitions, clothing and other equipment) throughout the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

, which took place in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

from October 1899 to June 1902. For his service during the war, he was promoted to a Knight Grand Cross 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) a ...

(GCB) in the April 1901 South African War honours list. Following the end of the war, he gave evidence to the Elgin Commission on the conduct of the war. Towards the end of his career Brackenbury was a patron of

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Place ...

and helped arrange his appointment to do intelligence work at the War Office.Woodward 1998, p3 Brackenbury retired in 1904 and was made a

Privy Councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

. His married first in 1861 Emilia Halswell (who died in 1905, when they had long been separated), and secondly in 1905 Edith Desanges. He died on 20 April 1914 in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Decorations

Most Honourable 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 on ...

* Companion, CB 1880 * Knight Commander, KCB 1894 * Knight Grand Cross, GCB, 29 November 1900, ''in recognition of services in connection with the Campaign in South Africa 1899-1900''

Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander ( GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointmen ...

* Knight Commander, KCSI 1896 ''for service as Member of Council in India''

Publications

* ''The Last Campaign of Hanover'', 1870 * ''The Tactics of the Three Arms'', 1873 * ''Narrative of the Ashantee War'' (2 vol.) 1874 * ''The River Column'', 1885 * ''Some Memories of My Spare Time'', 1909

Life and career

Decorations

Publications

See also

References

Sources

Further reading