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.". OED ...
Sir Bindon Blood, (7 November 1842 – 16 May 1940) 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 ...
commander who served in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
,
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
Military career
Bindon Blood was born near
Jedburgh
Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in s ...
, Scotland, to
William Bindon Blood
William Bindon Blood (20 January 181731 January 1894) was an Irish civil engineer.
Life
He was born on the family estate in Cranagher,[Thomas Blood
Colonel Thomas Blood (1618 – 24 August 1680) was an Anglo-Irish officer and self-styled colonel best known for his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671. Described in an American source as a "no ...]
, who attempted to steal the
Crown Jewels in 1671. He attended the Royal School,
Banagher
Banagher ( or ''Beannchar na Sionna'') is a town in Ireland, located in the midlands, on the western edge of County Offaly in the province of Leinster, on the banks of the River Shannon. It had a population of 3,000 at the height of its econ ...
,
Queen's College, Galway
The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...
, and the
Addiscombe Military College. He was commissioned in 1860 in the
Royal Engineers as a temporary lieutenant in charge of signalling and
pontoon bridge
A pontoon bridge (or ponton bridge), also known as a floating bridge, uses floats or shallow-draft boats to support a continuous deck for pedestrian and vehicle travel. The buoyancy of the supports limits the maximum load that they can carry.
...
construction in India, and for brief periods in
Zululand and South Africa. Promoted to captain in 1873, he served with British forces in the
North-West Frontier (Jowaki). In 1879 he was sent back to Africa for the
Anglo-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, cou ...
. He went on to fight in the
Second Anglo-Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...
and the
Battle of Tell El Kebir. By 1882 he was a
brevet lieutenant colonel.
The following year, 1883, Blood married Charlotte E. Colvin, second daughter of
Sir Auckland Colvin, a distinguished colonial administrator in India from a
well-connected family. Then he returned to India and took command of the
Bengal Sappers and Miners
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
in 1885. After seven years he reached the rank of brigadier general, serving in the garrison at
Rawalpindi, and then in the relief force known as the
Chitral Expedition
The Chitral Expedition (Urdu:چترال فوجی مہم) was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral, which was under siege after a local coup following the death of the old ruler. An interv ...
. He then commanded the
Malakand Field Force and the
Buner
Buner District ( ps, بونیر ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district in Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. Before becoming a district in 1991, it was a tehsil within Swat District.
History
The Buner Valley lies bet ...
Field Force, relieving the garrison during the
siege of Malakand
The siege of Malakand was the 26 July – 2 August 1897 siege of the British garrison in the Malakand region of colonial British India's North West Frontier Province.Nevill p. 232 The British faced a force of Pashtun tribesmen whose tribal lands ...
. At the end of this command he was promoted to major general. He was appointed in command of the
Meerut
Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
District, in the
Bengal Command
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, on 22 September 1898.
Lord Kitchener succeeded as chief of command during 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 South ...
in late 1900, and requested Blood for service in South Africa, where he arrived in early March 1901. He spent six months in command of a division fighting in the
Eastern Transvaal
Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique ...
with the local rank of
lieutenant general
Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...
on the Staff from 1 April 1901. He was mentioned in the last
despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902. In late September 1901 he returned to India to take up the position of Commander-in-Chief
Punjab Command, where he arrived the following month. He kept the local rank of lieutenant general.
In November 1907 Blood retired to London, where he continued to lead a very active life. He was made colonel-commandant of the Royal Engineers in 1914 and worked to recruit soldiers for the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. He was aged 94 when he was made
Chief Royal Engineer
The Chief Royal Engineer (CRE) is the official head of the Corps of Royal Engineers of the British Army.
Origin and development
Before the English Restoration a Chief Engineer was a pay grade and not defined. In 1660 King Charles II appointed ...
(CRE) in 1936. He died in 1940, survived by his one daughter.
Dedication
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, who served under Blood on the
North-West Frontier in 1897, dedicated his first non-fiction book, ''
The Story of the Malakand Field Force'' (1898), to "Major-General Sir Bindon Blood, K.C.B., under whose command the operations therein recorded were carried out; by whose generalship they were brought to a successful conclusion; and to whose kindness the author is indebted for the most valuable and fascinating experience of his life".
Arms
References
External links
Royal Engineers MuseumBlood's Pontoon (1870–89)
The Corps between the wars (1919–39)- General Blood's appointment to Chief Royal Engineer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blood, Bindon
1842 births
1940 deaths
Scottish military personnel
People from the Scottish Borders
Royal Engineers officers
British Army generals
Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary
Alumni of the University of Galway
British military personnel of the Chitral Expedition
British military personnel of the Malakand Frontier War
British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Afghan War
British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War
British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War
British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
British military personnel of the First Mohmand Campaign