General Sir Thomas Reed, (1796 – 24 July 1883) was a British Army officer and the 20th General Officer Commanding, Ceylon. He was born in Dublin, the son of Thomas Reed of Dublin, by Eliza, daughter of Colonel Sir F. J. Buchanan. He entered the army as a cornet in the 12th Light Dragoons in 1813, was promoted lieutenant in 1815, and was with the regiment at 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 ...

. In 1834 he was made lieutenant-colonel of the

62nd Foot The 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was raised in 1756 and saw service through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 99th (Lanarkshire) ...

, a position he held for eighteen years. He was made brevet-colonel in 1841 and the following year aide-de-camp to the queen. Two years afterwards he was made a CB During the First Sikh War his regiment formed part of the force which held

Ferozepore Firozpur, also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in Firozpur District, Punjab, India. After the partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who died ...

under Sir John Hunter Littler. At the

Battle of Ferozeshah The Battle of Ferozeshah was fought on 21 December and 22 December 1845 between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire, at the village of Ferozeshah in Punjab. The British were led by Sir Hugh Gough and Governor-General Sir Henry Har ...

in 1845 Reed commanded a brigade (including his own regiment) of Littler's division and was ordered to attack the strongest part of the Sikh entrenchments where there was a large number of heavy guns served with grape and canister. The attack was unsuccessful, with heavy losses, and Reed himself was slightly wounded. In 1852 he gave up the command of the 62nd and went on half-pay, employed as colonel on the staff at Birmingham. Promoted major-general in 1854, he went out the following year as General Officer Commanding the troops in Ceylon until 1856, when he was transferred to a division of the Madras army and soon afterwards to the command of the troops in the Punjab. When the Indian Mutiny broke out in 1857 he became provisional commander-in-chief on the death of General Anson from cholera, as the senior officer in the Bengal presidency, until Sir Patrick Grant arrived. On the death of Sir Henry Barnard, Reed assumed command of the field force but the exertions and anxieties of that position were too much for him. He was obliged to give up the responsibility and thereafter saw no further service in the field. In 1858 he was made colonel of the

44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881. History Early history The regime ...

, transferring in 1881 to be Colonel of the 1st Battalion,

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

, which was formed when the 44th Regiment was amalgamated in that year with the

56th Foot The 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, active from 1755 to 1881. It was originally raised in Northumbria as the 58th Regiment, and renumbered the 56th the following year when two senior regiments we ...

. He was promoted Lieutenant-General in 1860 and General in 1868. In 1877 he was placed on the retired list, having had been made K.C.B. in 1865 and G.C.B. in 1875. He died at Romsey, Hampshire on 24 July 1883. In 1835 he had married Elizabeth Jane, daughter of John Clayton of Enfield Old Park, Middlesex.

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1796 births 1883 deaths 12th Royal Lancers officers 44th Regiment of Foot officers King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers Wiltshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars British military personnel of the First Anglo-Sikh War British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 British Army generals General Officers Commanding, Ceylon Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Sri Lankan people of Irish descent People of British Ceylon {{British-Army-bio-stub