Lieutenant General Sir Edward Bruce Hamley (27 April 182412 August 1893) was a British general and military writer and a Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1892.

Early life

Hamley was the youngest son of Vice-Admiral

William Hamley Hamleys is a British multinational toy retailer, owned by Reliance Retail. The world's oldest toy store, it was founded by William Hamley as "Noah's Ark" in High Holborn, London, in 1760. It moved to its current site on Regent Street in London' ...

, born at

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordere ...

, Cornwall, and entered the Royal Artillery in 1843.

Career

Hamley was promoted captain in 1850, and in 1851 went to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

, where he began his literary career by contributing articles to magazines. He served throughout the Crimean campaign as '' aide-de-camp'' to Sir Richard Dacres, commanding the artillery, taking part in all the operations with distinction, and becoming successively major and lieutenant-colonel by brevet. He also received the CB and French and Turkish orders. During the war Hamley contributed to '' Blackwood's Magazine'' an admirable account of the progress of the campaign, which was afterwards republished. The combination in Hamley of literary and military ability secured for him in 1859 the professorship of military history at the new Staff College at Sandhurst, from which in 1866 he went to the council of military education, returning in 1870 to the Staff College as commandant. From 1879 to 1881 Hamley was British commissioner successively for the delimitation of the frontiers of the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire in Asia and the Russian Empire, and Ottoman Empire and Greece, and was rewarded with the KCMG. Promoted colonel in 1863, he became a lieutenant-general in 1882, when he commanded the 2nd Division of the expedition to Egypt under Lord Wolseley, and led his troops in the

Battle of Tel el-Kebir The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...

, for which he received the KCB, the thanks of Parliament, and 2nd class of the Order of Osminieh. Hamley considered that his services in Egypt had been insufficiently recognised in Lord Wolseley's despatches, and expressed his indignation freely, but he had no sufficient ground for supposing that there was any intention to belittle his services.

Later life

From 1885 until 1892, Hamley was Member of Parliament for Birkenhead in parliament in the Conservative interest. He was promoted to general in 1890. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the

2nd Middlesex Artillery Volunteers The 2nd Middlesex Artillery was a Volunteer unit of Britain's Royal Artillery. First raised in the Victorian era among Customs officers in the Port of London, it later became the 3rd London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery in the Territorial Force a ...

on 6 November 1887. Hamley is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.Brompton Cemetery
/ref>

Writings

Hamley was a clever and versatile writer. His principal work, ''The Operations of War'', published in 1866, became a text-book of military instruction. It was praised by the German General Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the Prussian General Staff, and until 1894 it was the sole text used in the entrance examination for the Camberley Staff College. He also published some pamphlets on national defence, was a frequent contributor to magazines, and the author of several novels, of which perhaps the best known is ''Lady Lee's Widowhood''. Hamley took interest in

animal welfare Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...

.Handley, Graham. (1996)
''The Two Georges and The Gunner''
''The George Eliot Review'' 272: 56–60. He authored ''Our Poor Relations'', in 1872. The book reflected his compassion for animals and his horror of their abuse. He attacked vivisection and condemned the collecting of moths. ''The War in the Crimea'' was published in 1891 by Seeley and Co., London. Within this publication, was a complete overview of events leading up to the war in the Crimea all the way through to the close of the war.

Selected publications

*''Lady Lee's Widowhood'' (2 volumes, 1854) *''The Story of the Campaign of Sebastopol'' (1855) *''A Legend of Gibraltar, and Lazaroo's Legacy'' (1858) *''Wellington's Career'' (1860)
''The Operations of War Explained and Illustrated''
(1866)
''Our Poor Relations: A Philozoic Essay''
(1872) *''A Chapter on Outposts'' (1875) *''Staff College Exercises'' (1875)
''Voltaire''
(1877) *''The Strategical Conditions of Our Indian N.W. Frontier'' (1879)
''Thomas Carlyle''
(1881) *''Shakespeare's Funeral and Other Papers'' (1889) *''National Defence'' (1889)
''The War in the Crimea''
(1891)

References

* *

Byron Farwell Byron Edgar Farwell (June 20, 1921 – August 3, 1999) was an American military historian, biographer, and politician. He was the mayor of Hillsboro, Virginia, for three terms, worked for Chrysler, and as an author completed 14 books and num ...

, "Queen Victoria's little wars", Wordsworth Editions,

External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamley, Edward Bruce 1824 births 1893 deaths Military personnel from Cornwall Anti-vivisectionists British animal welfare scholars British Army lieutenant generals British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military writers Burials at Brompton Cemetery Commandants of the Staff College, Camberley Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People from Bodmin Royal Artillery officers UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892