General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Henry Percival de Bathe, 4th Baronet, KCB (19 June 1823 – 5 January 1907) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who achieved high office in the 1870s.

Early life

Bathe was born in Valletta, Malta in 1823, the son of Sir William Plunkett de Bathe, the 3rd Baronet. In 1838 he was a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young m ...

at the

Coronation of Queen Victoria The coronation of Queen Victoria, Victoria as queen of the United Kingdom took place on Thursday, 28 June 1838, just over a year after she succeeded to the throne of the United Kingdom at the age of 18. The ceremony was held in Westminster Abbey ...

Military career

Bathe was commissioned into the

Scots Fusilier Guards Scots may refer to: People and cultures * Scots language * Scottish people * Scoti, a Latin name for the Gaels Other uses * SCOTS, abbreviation for Royal Regiment of Scotland * Scottish Corpus of Texts and Speech (SCOTS), a linguistic resource * ...

in 1839 and served in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, during which he was

Second-in-Command Second-in-command (2i/c or 2IC) is a title denoting that the holder of the title is the second-highest authority within a certain organisation. Usage In the British Army or Royal Marines, the second-in-command is the deputy commander of a unit, f ...

of his

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

at the Siege of Sevastopol. He was also present at the Battle of Traktir Bridge as Aide-de-Camp to Lord Rokeby. He was appointed

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

of the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

in 1864.Memorial at St Mary's Church, Somerleyton, Suffolk
/ref> He inherited his

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1870. In 1874 he was appointed

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

the Northern District and in 1876, he was promoted to

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank 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 battlefield, who was norma ...

. He was promoted again to

in 1879 and retired in 1883. In 1880 Bathe was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 85th, or The King's Regiment of Light Infantry (Bucks Volunteers), transferring after the 1881 amalgamation to be Colonel of the 2nd Battalion, Kings Shropshire Light Infantry. He was a justice of the peace and a Deputy Lieutenant for County Meath, and also a justice of the peace for Sussex. Sir Henry Percival de Bathe

Family

Bathe's father died in March 1870, and this removed the final objection to his marrying Charlotte Clare, with whom he had been living for about thirteen years out of wedlock. They had seven children before the wedding, and in February 1928 four of these children submitted a petition to the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

for declarations of legitimacy under the Legitimacy Act, 1926. They were Viscountess Burnham, Lady Somerleyton, Mrs Winifred McCalmont and Maximilian John de Bathe. The 90-year-old Dowager, Lady de Bathe, confirmed the facts in an affidavit, and the petition was granted. Hugo Gerald de Bathe was their first son born in wedlock (1871) and remained the heir to the baronetcy despite the legitimation of his older brother. Bathe lived at Wood End, near

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

, where he died on 5 January 1907, aged 83."Sir Henry De Bathe." Times ondon, England7 January 1907: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 10 April 2014. He and his wife are buried together in the graveyard of St Andrew's Church, West Stoke. Their eldest daughter, Mary Archdale, is buried close to them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Bathe, Henry Percival 1823 births 1907 deaths Burials in West Sussex British Army generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Scots Guards officers Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of the Crimean War Deputy lieutenants of Meath People from Valletta English justices of the peace Maltese military personnel