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.". O ...

Sir William Stephen Alexander Lockhart (2 September 184118 March 1900) was a British General in the British Indian Army.

Military career

Lockhart was born at the Manse in Inchinnan,

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, where his father Dr Laurence Lockhart, DD (1795–1876) was the minister. Lockhart's uncle was John Gibson Lockhart, eminent writer, poet and biographer of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy ...

. His mother Louisa Blair (d. 1847) was a daughter of David Blair, a manufacturer in Glasgow. There were two older brothers who both also saw military service, Major-General David Blair Lockhart of Milton Lockhart (1829–1906) and Lieutenant-Colonel Laurence William Maxwell Lockhart (1831–1882). He was educated at the Glasgow Academy. He entered the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four ...

in 1858, in the 44th Bengal Native Infantry. He served in the last months of 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 ...

, the Bhutan Campaign (1864–66), under Napier in the Abyssinian Expedition (1867–68; mentioned in dispatches) and after promotion to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in 1868 took part in the Hazara Black Mountain Expedition (1868–69; mentioned in dispatches). From 1869 to 1879 he acted as Deputy Assistant and Assistant Quartermaster General in

Bengal 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 1877 he was promoted to major and was military

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified accord ...

with the Dutch Army in Acheen (modern Aceh). Here he saw active service, almost died from fever, and received the Dutch Expedition Cross. He was Road Commandant of the

Khyber Pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversi ...

and served 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 ...

of 1878–80, for which he was mentioned in dispatches and made a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...

(CB). From 1880 to 1885 he was Deputy Quartermaster-General in the Intelligence Branch at headquarters, during which he was promoted to

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

in 1883. Between 1885 and 1886 he headed the

Lockhart Mission The Lockhart Mission was an exploratory mission sanctioned in 1885 by the Secretary of State for India and headed by Sir William Alexander Lockhart to survey the Hindu Kush ranges and endeavor to cultivate friendly relations between the Mehtar ...

surveying the

Hindu Kush The Hindu Kush is an mountain range in Central and South Asia to the west of the Himalayas. It stretches from central and western Afghanistan, Quote: "The Hindu Kush mountains run along the Afghan border with the North-West Frontier Prov ...

. He commanded a brigade in the

Third 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 ...

(1886–87), and was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and a Companion of the

Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander ( GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointmen ...

(CSI) and received the thanks of the government. General Sir William Lockhart

An attack of fever brought Lockhart to England in 1888, where he was employed as Assistant Military Secretary for Indian affairs (at Horse Guards); but in 1890 he returned to

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 ...

earlier than planned to become Commander-in-Chief Punjab Command with the rank of

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 ...

. He set up his home in

Abbottabad Abbottabad (; Urdu, Punjabi language(HINDKO dialect) آباد, translit=aibṭabād, ) is the capital city of Abbottabad District in the Hazara region of eastern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 40th largest city in Pakistan and fourth ...

and for five years was engaged in various expeditions against the hill tribes. After the Waziristan Campaign in 1894–95 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI). He became a full

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.". O ...

in 1896, and in 1897 he was given the command against the Afridis and Mohmands, and conducted the difficult Tirah Expedition with great skill. He returned to England in 1898 and received the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). Appointed Commander-in-Chief, India, he returned to India after a brief visit to Scotland. He took up residence in "Treasury Gate", Fort William, India and at "Snowdon" in Simla when the government migrated to the hill station for the summer months.

Death

He died of malaria whilst serving in office in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

on 18 March 1900. His funeral occurred the following day and the service was taken by James Welldon the Bishop of Calcutta, and former headmaster of

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

. Lockhart's good friend

Lord Curzon George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...

(The Viceroy) attended the funeral. Lockhart married twice. A private collection funded a fine memorial by George Frampton in

St Giles' Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Naomh Giles), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 1 ...

, Edinburgh and soldiers and their families paid for the construction of an obelisk in Roomi Park,

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

(now Pakistan).

Military career

Death

References

Further reading