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 Salmond, (25 August 1840 – 8 November 1932) 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.

Military career

Grandson of Major-General James Hanson Salmond, Military Secretary to the East India Company and author of ''The Mysore War'', William Salmond was born the son of Lieutenant Colonel James Salmond (1805–1880) and Emma Isabella Coke (d. 1886), daughter of D'Ewes Coke (1774–1856) and Harriet Wright. He studied at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

and was commissioned into the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in October 1857. He was appointed an Instructor in Musketry in November 1872 and took part in the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt (1882), also known as Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

in 1882 during which he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. He became Assistant Director of Works (Barracks) at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

in April 1883, Assistant Adjutant-General for the Royal Engineers in October 1884 and Assistant Quartermaster-General in April 1886. He went on to be Commander, Royal Engineers for the Home District in July 1890, Deputy Inspector-General of Fortifications at the War Office in May 1891 and finally Deputy Adjutant-General for the Royal Engineers in 1896. He continued in this role during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

(1899–1902) and stepped down as it ended in June 1902, retiring from the army on 25 August 1902. In the October 1902 South African Honours list, he was promoted to a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB), and he was invested with the insignia of the order by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 18 December 1902. He died at his home at Whaddon House near

Bruton Bruton ( ) is a market town, electoral ward, and civil parish in Somerset, England, on the River Brue and the A359 between Frome and Yeovil. It is 7 miles (11 km) south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, 10 ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

on 8 November 1932.

Family

In 1874 he married Emma Mary Hoyle; they had two sons ( Geoffrey and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

) and a daughter (Maizie). His daughter Mary Gwendoline was an artist.Irish Art Auction.
Whytes. Retrieved 20 August 2014.Obituary Mary H. Hoyle Salmond.
Retrieved 20 August 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:SALMOND, WILLIAM 1840 births 1932 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Royal Engineers officers British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Military personnel from York Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich