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 ...

Sir William Kidston Elles (5 May 1837 – 5 August 1896) 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.

Early life and education

William Kidston Elles was the son of Malcolm J. Elles. He was educated at Sandhurst.

Military career

Elles was commissioned as an

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

in the

38th Regiment of Foot The 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1705. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 80th Regiment of Foot (Staffordshire Volunteers) to form the South Staffordshire Regime ...

in June 1854. He served with the Regiment at the

siege of Sebastopol A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

in 1855 during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

and then during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

in 1857. He also served in the Hazara campaign of 1868 and then became Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General with the Intelligence Branch in 1877, Assistant Adjutant General at Horse Guards in 1881 and a brigade commander with the

Madras Army The Madras Army was the army of the Presidency of Madras, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government ...

in 1885. After taking part in the

Third Anglo-Burmese War The Third Anglo-Burmese War ( my, တတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် – မြန်မာစစ်, Tatiya Anggalip–Mran cac), also known as the Third Burma War, took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance conti ...

in 1885, he became Adjutant-General, India in 1889 and then commanded the Hazara Expedition in 1891. He also served as A.D.C. to

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 Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

from 1881-90. He went on to be Commander-in-Chief

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 ...

in April 1895 before dying in office from

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

in August 1896. There is a memorial to him at Christ Church in

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Elles, William 1837 births 1896 deaths British Army lieutenant generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Bengal Presidency 19th-century British Army personnel British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Burmese War British military personnel of the Hazara Expedition of 1888 Deaths from cholera