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 ...

John Soame Richardson, (16 March 1836 – 9 June 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 and Commander of the Forces in

colonial New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

. Richardson was born in

Heydon, Norfolk Heydon is a village and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is located north of the market town of Reepham. The village can be accessed by the public only from the south, resulting in the only road, called The Street, effectively being a cul- ...

, England, and entered the British Army in 1854. The following year, he served with the

72nd Highlanders The 72nd Highlanders was a British Army Highland Infantry Regiment of the Line. Raised in 1778, it was originally numbered 78th, before being redesignated the 72nd in 1786. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 78th (Highlanders) ...

in 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 ...

, and was present at the siege and fall of Sebastopol for which he received the

Crimea Medal The Crimea Medal was a campaign medal approved on 15 December 1854, for issue to officers and men of British units (land and naval) which fought in the Crimean War of 1854–56 against Russia. The medal was awarded with the British version of th ...

with clasp and the

Turkish Crimea Medal The Turkish Crimean War Medal ( tr, Kırım Harbi Madalyası) is a campaign medal issued by Sultan Abdülmecid I of the Ottoman Empire to allied military personnel involved in the Crimean War of 1854–56. It was only awarded to those who survived ...

. In the

New Zealand Wars The New Zealand Wars took place from 1845 to 1872 between the New Zealand colonial government and allied Māori on one side and Māori and Māori-allied settlers on the other. They were previously commonly referred to as the Land Wars or the ...

he served with the 1st Battalion, 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot in the Taranaki district, and in the

Waikato campaign The Invasion of the Waikato became the largest and most important campaign of the 19th-century New Zealand Wars. Hostilities took place in the North Island of New Zealand between the military forces of the colonial government and a federation ...

in 1863 and 1864. Richardson was awarded the New Zealand War Medal, became captain in 1863 and, retiring from the Imperial service, was in 1865 appointed to command the military forces of New South Wales, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He became colonel in 1876 and major general in 1885, following his command of the

New South Wales Contingent The New South Wales Contingent served in Sudan with British forces as part of the Suakin Expedition in 1885. Consisting of an infantry battalion, an artillery battery, and a small field ambulance detachment, it departed from Sydney on 3 March ...

despatched to co-operate with the British forces in the

Sudan campaign The Mahdist War ( ar, الثورة المهدية, ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided On ...

. He was also created Companion of the Order of the Bath, mentioned in despatches, and received the Egyptian Medal with clasp "Suakin 1885" and the

Khedive's Star The Khedive's Star was a campaign medal established by Khedive Tewfik Pasha to reward those who had participated in the military campaigns in Egypt and the Sudan between 1882 and 1891. This included British forces who served during the 1882 Anglo- ...

in recognition of his services. John Soame Richardson died on 9 June 1896.

References

External links

Museums Victoria Collections
John Soame Richardson Medal. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
Death of Major-General Richardson
''Australian Town and Country Journal'', 20 June 1896, p. 20. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
Australian War Memorial.
New South Wales Contingent. Soudan Campaign, 1885. A photograph montage of portraits. Retrieved 26 June 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Richardson, John Soame 1836 births 1896 deaths 72nd Highlanders officers Australian generals British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military personnel of the New Zealand Wars Companions of the Order of the Bath British Army personnel of the Mahdist War Military personnel from Norfolk People from Broadland (district) People from Sydney