General Sir Robert Maclagan (14 December 1820 – 1894) 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 and military engineer. He served most of his career in India.

Life

He was born on 14 December 1820 the son of Jane Whiteside and her husband, the eminent Edinburgh physician

David Maclagan David Maclagan FRSE (8 February 1785 – 6 June 1865) was a prominent Scottish medical doctor and military surgeon, serving in the Napoleonic Wars. He served as President of both the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh and the Royal Coll ...

. His childhood home was 22 George Street in the centre of Edinburgh’s New Town. He was educated at the

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Edinburgh and the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

but did not graduate. He then went to Addiscombe Military Seminary near

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He joined the Honourable

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1839. He then went to the School of Military Engineering in Chatham, to specialise as an engineer. He arrived in

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 ...

in India in 1842. He was in charge of the engineering works for the defence of

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city ...

in March 1846. Following severe illness he was given more sedate duties, including running the Civil Engineering College at

Rurki Rurki is a town located in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located in Lahore District at 31°11'0N 73°11'0E with an altitude of 175 metres (577 feet). Neighbouring settlements include Ghator Ghator is a town located in the Punjab province ...

aged 27. In the Mutiny of 1857 he successfully defended Rurki against the rebel forces. In his military career he rose to the rank of General, first in the Bengal Engineers then in the Royal Engineers. In 1853 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This socie ...

his proposer being Sir Robert Christison. From 1861 he ran the Public Works Department for all of the

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...

created him a Knight of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) for his efforts. He retired in 1879. He spent most of his final years between Edinburgh and London. He died in 1894.

Family

His brothers included

Andrew Douglas Maclagan Sir Andrew Douglas Maclagan PRSE FRCPE FRCSE FCS FRSSA (17 April 1812, in Ayr – 5 April 1900, in Edinburgh) was a Scottish surgeon, toxicologist and scholar of medical jurisprudence. He served as president of 5 learned societies: the Royal ...

and Rev

William Maclagan William Dalrymple Maclagan (18 June 1826 – 19 September 1910) was Archbishop of York from 1891 to 1908, when he resigned his office, and was succeeded in 1909 by Cosmo Gordon Lang, later Archbishop of Canterbury. As Archbishop of York, Macla ...

, Archbishop of York. His children included Robert Smeiton Maclagan CIE, Sir Edward Douglas Maclagan KCIE. He was uncle to Robert Craig Maclagan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclagan, Robert 1820 births 1893 deaths Military personnel from Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish people British Army generals Scottish engineers Royal Engineers officers British East India Company Army generals Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Bengal Engineers officers British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857