General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir Richard England, (1793 – 19 January 1883) 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 Gurk ...

officer, born at

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

, which was then part of

Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

he saw active service in

Walcheren Walcheren () is a region and former island in the Dutch province of Zeeland at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Eastern Scheldt in the north and the Western Scheldt in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus. The two ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and at Waterloo, before commanding regiments and divisions 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 de ...

and in India.

Early life and family

England was the son of Lieutenant General Richard G. England of Lifford,

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, a veteran of the

War of American Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

, colonel of the 5th Regiment, lieutenant-governor of Plymouth, and one of the first colonists of

Western Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...

, by Anne, daughter of James O'Brien of Ennistyen, a cadet of the family of the

Marquess of Thomond A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

. He was born at

Fort Detroit Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a fort established on the north bank of the Detroit River by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the Italian Alphonse de Tonty in 1701. In the 18th century, Fre ...

, then part of

, in 1793, and after being educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and the

Royal Military College, Great Marlow The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

,Charles Edward Buckland, ''Dictionary of Indian Biography'' (1906), p. 139 entered the army as an ensign in the 14th Regiment on 25 February 1808.

Career

England was promoted to lieutenant on 1 June 1809, and served in that year in the expedition to the

and in the attack on Flushing. He was employed in the adjutant-general's department in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

in 1810 and 1811, and served in the defence of Tarifa as a volunteer on his way to take up his appointment. He was promoted captain into the 60th Regiment on 11 July 1811, and exchanged into the 12th on 1 January 1812. In that year he went on leave to Canada to join his father, after whose death he returned to England, married Anna Maria, sister of Sir J. C. Anderson, in 1814, and in 1815 joined his regiment at Paris after the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

. He remained in France until the withdrawal of the army of occupation in 1818, and after serving as aide-de-camp to Major General Sir Colquhoun Grant, commanding at Dublin from 1821 to 1823, he was promoted major into the 75th Regiment of Foot on 4 September 1823, and on 29 October 1825 took command of the regiment with the rank of lieutenant colonel, in the place of the

Duke of Cleveland Duke of Cleveland was a title that was created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The dukedoms were named after Cleveland in northern England. The first creation in 1670 (along with the barony ...

. He kept this commanded for many years and led the regiment to the Cape in 1833. On the outbreak of the

Kaffir War The Xhosa Wars (also known as the Cape Frontier Wars or the Kaffir Wars) were a series of nine wars (from 1779 to 1879) between the Xhosa Kingdom and the British Empire as well as Trekboers in what is now the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Th ...

in 1836, Lieutenant General Sir Galbraith Cole, who was then in command at the Cape, chose Colonel England to command the eastern frontier with the temporary rank of brigadier general, and he served throughout the campaigns of 1836 and 1837 in this rank. For his services he received a medal, and on 28 June 1838 was promoted full colonel. In 1839 England was transferred to the command of the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot and appointed to command the Belgaum district of the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

with the rank of brigadier general. Immediately on his arrival he lost his wife. From this place he was summoned in 1841 to take command of the

Bombay Army The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three presidencies of Presidencies and provinces of British India, British India. It was established in 1662 and governed by the East India Company until the Government of India A ...

division despatched to the relief of Colonel Palmer at Ghuznee and General

William Nott Major-General Sir William Nott (20 January 1782 – 1 January 1845) was a British military officer of the Bengal Army, East India Company in British India. Early life Nott was born in 1782, near Neath in Wales,Lloyd (1958), pg 686. the seco ...

at Kandahar. He failed to reach Ghuznee in time, but, after one repulse, forced his way through the Pishín valley, and reached Kandahar in time to join Nott, and as second in command to that general assisted in the defeat of Akbar Khan on the Khojak Heights. He remained at Kandahar till the close of 1842, when it was decided to abandon that place, and he was then placed in command of the force which retired through the Bolan Pass into Sind, while Nott marched with seven thousand picked troops on Ghuznee and Cabul. It cannot be said that England had greatly distinguished himself during these operations. Nott complained greatly of him, and though he did what he was appointed to do, and had relieved Kandahar, his operations were not considered as successful as they might have been, and he had suffered reverses, which were very like defeats, from the Balúchís both during his advance and his retreat. Nevertheless, 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 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 ...

on 27 September 1843, and then threw up his command, returned home, and settled at Bath. England remained unemployed until 1849, when he received the command of the Curragh brigade, and he was promoted major general on 11 November 1851. In 1854 the censure passed on his behaviour in Afghanistan seemed to be forgotten, and he was placed in command of the 3rd Division in the Crimean expedition. At the

battle of the Alma The Battle of the Alma (short for Battle of the Alma River) was a battle in the Crimean War between an allied expeditionary force (made up of French, British, and Ottoman forces) and Russian forces defending the Crimean Peninsula on 20Septemb ...

his division was not so severely engaged as the guards or the light division; but at

Inkerman Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is ''de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but ''de jure'' within Ukraine. It lies 5 ...

England was one of the generals first upon the scene of action, and though he was never in actual command there, his promptitude in sending up his troops at the critical moment to the assistance of the hard-pressed battalions on the Inkerman Tusk greatly contributed to the success of the day. It was during the trying winter of 1854–55 that England chiefly distinguished himself. He suffered the greatest privations with his troops, but yet he never applied to come home and was the last of the original general officers who had accompanied the army to the Crimea to leave it. Before he did return, he directed the attack on the Redan on 18 June 1855, and it was not his fault that the result of that day's hard fighting was not a great success. In August 1855 he was, however, obliged to obey the doctor's orders and return to England. For his services he was promoted lieutenant general, and appointed 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) as one ...

, a grand officer of the Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, and a knight of the first class of the

Order of the Medjidie Order of the Medjidie ( ota, نشانِ مجیدی, August 29, 1852 – 1922) is a military and civilian order of the Ottoman Empire. The Order was instituted in 1851 by Sultan Abdulmejid I. History Instituted in 1851, the Order was awarded in fi ...

. England never again saw active service. He was made colonel of the 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment in 1854 and transferred as colonel to the 41st Regiment of Foot on 20 April 1861. he was promoted full general on 6 July 1863, and placed on the retired list in 1877. He died at St. Margaret's,

Titchfield Titchfield is a village in southern Hampshire, by the River Meon. The village has a history stretching back to the 6th century. During the medieval period, the village operated a small port and market. Near to the village are the ruins of Titch ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, on 19 January 1883.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:England, Richard 1793 births 1883 deaths 41st Regiment of Foot officers British Army generals British Army personnel of the Crimean War British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British military personnel of the First Anglo-Afghan War Graduates of the Royal Military College, Great Marlow Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath People educated at Winchester College People from British Detroit Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie, 1st class Suffolk Regiment officers West Yorkshire Regiment officers