Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir William Julius Gascoigne (29 May 1844 – 9 September 1926) 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 Gur ...

officer and served as General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada from 1895 to 1898.

Military career

Gascoigne was commissioned into the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1863. He was appointed

Adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

in 1867, served in Egypt in 1882 and in Sudan in 1885Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008, GASCOIGNE, Maj.-Gen. Sir William Julius Gascoigne'; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 In 1895 he was promoted to

Major-general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

and appointed General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada and in 1898 he was appointed Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong. Gascoigne was also the last

Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong The Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong held the second-highest position during the British colonial rule in Hong Kong from 1843 to 1902. History Although Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong was the second-highest position in Hong Kong, the Lieute ...

(serving from 1898 to 1902), but the role was ceremonial and in lapsed use since the 1870s. He was appointed a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in hono ...

(CMG) in 1899, and knighted as a Knight Commander (KCMG) of the same order in Nov 1900 in recognition of services during the

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, b ...

in China.

Gascoigne Road Gascoigne Road () is a main road in Kowloon, Hong Kong, going west-east from Nathan Road to Chatham Road South through the head of King's Park, leading vehicles from West Kowloon to the Cross-Harbour Tunnel. Gascoigne Road Flyover () is ...

in Kowloon, Hong Kong is named after him.

Family

In 1875, he married Helen Smith, daughter of Martin T. Smith, and widow of Hon. Arthur F. Egerton.

References

, - 1844 births 1926 deaths British Army major generals Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Scots Guards officers Commanders of the Canadian Army British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British military personnel of the Boxer Rebellion {{Canada-mil-bio-stub