Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Hieram Sankey (22 March 1829 – 11 November 1908) was an officer in the Royal (Madras) Engineers in the East India Company's army in British India, later transferring to the British Army after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the assumption of

Crown rule in India The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

.''Dictionary of National Biography'', 1901-1911. Volume III. Smith-Elder London 1912 Page 267-8
See also

Sankey Tank Sankey tank (Kannada:ಸ್ಯಾಂಕಿ ಕೆರೆ), a manmade lake or tank, is situated in the western part of Bangalore in the middle of the neighbourhoods of Malleshwaram, Vyalikaval and Sadashivanagar. The lake covers an area of about ...

which he constructed to meet the water demands of Bangalore is named after him. The high court building in Bangalore, ''Attara Kacheri'', was designed by him and built by Arcot Narrainswamy Mudaliar.

Early life

Richard Sankey was born in 1829 at Rockwell Castle, County Tipperary, Ireland on 22 March 1829. He was the fourth son of Eleanor and Matthew Sankey. Eleanor was herself from a family of military men, her father being Colonel Henry O'Hara, J.P of O'Hara Broom, County Antrim. Matthew Sankey was a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

at Bawnmore, Co. Cork and Modeshil, Co. Tipperary. Richard Sankey did his schooling at Rev. Flynn's School on Harcourt Street in Dublin and entered the East India Company's military seminary at Addiscombe in 1845. At Addiscombe he was awarded for his excellence at painting.

Career in India

He was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the Madras Sappers in November 1846, he was then trained in military engineering with the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

at Chatham from 1 January 1847 (holding temporary rank as an ensign in the British Army). He then arrived in India in November 1848. After two years of service at Mercatur, he officiated in 1850 as Superintending Engineer at Nagpur. During this time he made a small collection of fossils of '' Glossopteris'' from the Nagpur district and wrote a paper on the geology of the region in 1854. The collection was moved from the Museum of Practical Geology to the British Museum in 1880. In 1856, he was promoted as the superintendent of the East Coast Canal at Madras. In May 1857, he was promoted Under-Secretary of the Public Works Department under Col.

William Erskine Baker General Sir William Erskine Baker KCB (29 November 1808 – 16 December 1881) was a senior British Indian Army officer, who became Military Secretary to the India Office. Early life William Erskine Baker was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, ...

in Calcutta. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he was commissioned as the captain of the Calcutta Cavalry Volunteers, but was soon despatched to

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

where he led the construction of several embankments and bridges across the Yamuna and Ganges. He was involved in the construction of shelters to advancing troops along the Grand Trunk Road to aid the quelling of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He arrived in course of this work at Cawnpore (now Kanpur) a day before the attack by Tantya Tope ( Second Battle of Cawnpore). He also was involved in crucial civil works that aided the quelling of the rebellion by bridging the Gogra and Gomti rivers at Gorakhpur and Phulpur that enabled the Gorkha regiment to cross these rivers. He received several commendations from his commanders here and later in the taking of the fort at Jumalpur, Khandua nalla and Kaisar Bagh, vital actions in the breaking of the

Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief att ...

. For his actions at Jumalpur he was recommended for the Victoria Cross, although he did not receive this honour. He received the a medal for the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and was promoted to second captain on 27 August 1858, and given

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

promotion to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

the following day for his services in the quelling of the rebellion. He was sent to the Nilgiris due to ill-health during this time. AttaraKacheriPlan

He spent a year in Burma as the executive engineer and superintendent of the jail at Moulmein. On 29 June 1861, he was promoted to substantive

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and was posted as the

Garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

Engineer at Fort William, Calcutta and later as the assistant to Chief Engineer, Mysore until 1864, when he was made the chief engineer at Mysore. During this period he created a system within the irrigation department to deal with old Indian water catchment systems, surveying the catchment area and determining the area drained and the flows involved. Due to the reorganisation of the armed forces following the assumption of

he was transferred to the Royal Engineers on 29 April 1862. In Mysore, he was involved in public works and built several roads, buildings, tanks and canals. In 1870, at the request of the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

Colonial Government, in view of his experience with hydrological studies in Mysore, he was invited to be chairman of the Board of Enquiry on Victorian Water Supply. During this visit, he also gave evidence to the Victorian Select Committee on Railways, as well as reports on the Yarra River Floods, and the Coliban Water Supply, and later contributed to the report on the North West Canal. While in Australia, he was also invited to the Colony of South Australia to report on the Water Supply of Adelaide. He was brevetted

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 colone ...

on 14 June 1869, and substantive promotion followed on 15 October 1870 (without him ever having held the substantive rank of major), he was brevetted colonel on 15 October 1875. He was appointed as an under-secretary to the Government of India in 1877. which earned him the Afghanistan Medal. In 1878, he was promoted as the secretary in the public works department at

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, and was promoted substantive colonel on 30 December. He was appointed

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

on 25 July 1879, and also commanded the Royal Engineers on the advance from Kandahar to Kabul during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. For about five years he was in Madras, where became a member of the legislative council in Madras and was elected as a Fellow of the Madras University. He also helped in the creation and improvements of the Marina, the gardens and the Government House grounds. He was promoted major general on 4 June 1883, and retired from the army on 11 January 1884 with the honorary rank of lieutenant general. He also received the distinguished service award in India. High Court of Karnataka, Bangalore MMK

Sankey married Sophia Mary, daughter of William Henry Benson of the Indian Civil Service, at Ootacamund in 1858. After her death in 1882 he married Henrietta, widow of Edward Browne JP, at Dublin in 1890.

Contributions to Bangalore

St. Andrew's Church, Bangalore St. Andrew's Church'' consecrated in 1866, is a Presbyterian church, located on Cubbon Road, Bangalore. Initially knows as St. Andrews's Kirk, it was a Church of Scotland church till 1959 when it became part of the Diocese of Central Karnataka ...

(1864) * Cubbon Park (1864) *

(1860) * Bangalore Museum (1877) * Mayo Hall (designed in 1870)

Return to Ireland and death

After retirement, he went back to Ireland, where he became the chairman of the Board of Works. He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 25 May 1892 for his work in Ireland. He also undertook projects in Mexico. Later he settled in London where he died at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

in 1908 and was interred at Hove,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. Sankey is memorialised in Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland. A circle of trees bears the name Sankey's Wood. A plaque (dated 1894) lies half-hidden in the undergrowth there.

References

External links