Lieutenant-General Sir John Plumptre Carr Glyn (11 January 1837 – 28 March 1912) was a British general who saw active service in 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 ...

and the

Anglo-Ashanti War The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African allies. Though the Ashanti emerged victori ...

Early life

John Plumptre Carr Glyn was born

Witchampton Witchampton is a village and civil parish in East Dorset, England, situated on the River Allen north of Wimborne Minster. The 2011 census recorded a population of 398. Witchampton lies close to where the dip slope of the chalk hills of Cran ...

, east

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

.1901 Census of England
/ref>

Military career

He joined the Rifle Brigade in August 1854 just before the opening of hostilities 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 ...

. He saw active service during the second year of the campaign and was present at

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 ...

from 17 June until the fall of the fortress on 11 September 1855. He was promoted from

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

to lieutenant without

purchase Purchasing is the process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary greatly between ...

on 29 December 1854. He next saw active service, in 1874, as a major in the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, under Colonel Sir Garnet Wolseley during the

Third Anglo-Ashanti War The Anglo-Ashanti wars were a series of five conflicts that took place between 1824 and 1900 between the Ashanti Empire—in the Akan interior of the Gold Coast—and the British Empire and its African allies. Though the Ashanti emerged victorio ...

. He was personally involved in the Battle of Amoaful on 31 January 1874 and five days later when the fighting ended with the Battle of Ordashu. He was also present at the capture of the capital,

Kumasi Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie, usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in the Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region near Lake Bosomtwe, and is t ...

, which had been abandoned by the Ashanti. The Ashanti War gave him his brevet of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

on 1 April 1874. The only mention, found to date, of his involvement in the Anglo-Zulu Wars is the following: Lt-Col Bengough arrived in Natal with the

77th Foot The 77th (East Middlesex) Regiment of Foot (The Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line regiment of the British Army, raised in 1787. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot to form the Duke of Cam ...

in December 1878. He was placed in command of the 2nd Battalion

Natal Native Contingent The Natal Native Contingent was a large force of auxiliary soldiers in British South Africa, forming a substantial portion of the defence forces of the British colony of Natal. The Contingent saw action during the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War. The Natal ...

, which formed part of Durnford's Column, and which was left to protect the frontier at Kranz Kop on the departure of that force to join Glyn's Column. He was promoted to the rank of

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 ...

in 1879. On 16 December 1884, while on half pay, he was gazetted to be Lieutenant-Colonel, to command the 22nd Regimental District (the Cheshire Regiment). In 1892 he succeeded Sir Evelyn Wood as the General Officer Commanding the Eastern District at home and held the post until 1896. He was promoted to the rank of

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 and to lieutenant-general in January 1898. The 1901 Census of England indicates that he had retired and was living in the parish of

Holt, Dorset Holt is a village in east Dorset, England, north of Wimborne Minster. The village had a population of 1,265 in 2001. The electoral ward of the same name had a population of 2,286 at the 2011 census. It also includes Hinton Martell and Horton ...

. He was appointed Colonel Commandant of the

Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Ri ...

on 18 January 1903.

The Ashanti Ring

The Ashanti Ring, also known as the Wolseley ring, was a group of 19th century

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 ...

officers loyal 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 ...

and considered by him to be clever, brave, experienced and hard-working. The 'ring' itself was rooted in Wolseley's appointments for the Ashanti Campaign of 1873–4, in which Wolseley led British troops to take control of the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

. After the

Wolseley started to keep a note of the best officers he met, and began gathering a network of able military men loyal to him. There were other circles around other military leaders; later these would dwindle as more formal selection and promotion procedures became established. Men from this group accompanied Wolseley on his various projects for about a decade. They are sometimes called the Ashanti Ring, or, in a

pun A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...

ning reference to Wolseley's first name, the

Garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. All species of garnets possess similar physical properties and crystal forms, but differ in chemical composition. The different s ...

Ring. Later they were the ''Africans'' against the ''Indians'' of the rival Roberts Ring of Lord Roberts and

Herbert Kitchener Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a senior British Army officer and colonial administrator. Kitchener came to prominence for his imperial campaigns, his scorched earth policy against the Boers, h ...

during the

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 Sou ...

Family life

Glyn's father was Rev. Carr John Glyn (1799–1897), who was a godfather and namesake to

Handley Carr Glyn Moule Handley Carr Glyn Moule (23 December 18418 May 1920) was an evangelical Anglican theologian, writer, poet, and Bishop of Durham from 1901 to 1920. Biography Moule was schooled at home before entering Trinity College, Cambridge in 1860, where ...

, a theologian and bishop of Durham. On 11 September 1866 John Glyn married Ellen (d. 20 April 1928), eldest daughter of James Robert Dalton Dewar of Kent. In the 1901 Census, Ellen is listed as a Belgium British subject. *Their daughter Ada Carr-Glyn was baptised at The Church of the Holy Rood Buckland Newton in Dorset on 9 December 1870. She married Lt-Col Dudley Granville Richard Ryder, son of Dudley Henry Ryder and Georgiana Emily Calcraft, on 24 October 1889. She died in 1950.The Peerage.com
/ref> *Daughter, Nellie Georgiana Carr married Sir George Henry Sutherland (d. 11 May 1937) on 11 June 1890. She died on 18 April 1891. *Son John Carr Glyn was unmarried. Glyn died on 28 March 1912.

Honours

Lt-Genl Sir John Plumptre Carr-Glyn was invested as a

Knight Commander Commander ( it, Commendatore; french: Commandeur; german: Komtur; es, Comendador; pt, Comendador), or Knight Commander, is a title of honor prevalent in chivalric orders and fraternal orders. The title of Commander occurred in the medieval mili ...

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB).

Early life

Military career

The Ashanti Ring

Family life

Honours

References

Further reading