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Lt-General
The Rt. Hon. Lord Chelmsford
Frederic Augustus
Thesiger was born on 31st May 1827, the eldest son of Frederic Thesiger,
later 1st Baron Lord Chelmsford, his wife Anna Maria. He was educated
at Eton, commissioned as an Ensign in the Rifle Brigade on 31st
December 1844 and exchanged to the Grenadier guards as an Ensign
& Lieutenant on 28th November 1845.
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He was promoted
to Lieutenant and Captain on 27th December 1850, he went to Ireland
in February 1852 as aide de camp to the Lord-Lieutenant and from
January 1853 to August 1854 he was ADC to Sir Edward Blakeney who
was commanding the forces there. He joined his battalion in the
Crimea on 31st May 1855, and served there till the end of the war,
being an aide de camp to General Markham, commanding the 2nd Division
from 18th July to 29th September 1855 and deputy assistant quartermaster-general
from 8th November 1855 to 24th June 1856. He was made Brevet Major
on 2nd November 1855 and received the medal with clasp, the Sardinian
and Turkish medals, and the Order of the Medjidie 5th Class.
He was promoted
to Captain and Lieutentant-Colonel on 28th August 1857 and exchanged
into 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment on 30th April 1858 to take part
in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny, fighting at the last action
at Koondrye.
He was deputy
adjutant-general of the British troops in the Bombay Presidency
from 13th July 1861 to 31st December 1862. He was promoted to Brevet
Colonel on 30th April 1863 and was employed in the Abyssinian expedition
of 1868, as deputy adjutant-general. He received the medal for the
Indian Mutiny and Abyssinian campaign and was made C.B. and Aide
de Camp to the Queen.
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Image supplied by John Young |
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He was adjutant-general
in the East Indies from 17th March 1869 to 15th March 1874 and lectured
at Calcutta in 1873 on the tactical formation of British infantry
and maintained that much less change was needed than some people
supposed. He returned to England, to command the troops at Shorncliffe
as Colonel on the staff from 1st October 1874 to 31st December 1876
and then commanded a brigade at Aldershot. He was promoted to Major-General
on 15th march 1877 and in February 1878 went to South Africa to
command the troops with the local rank of Lieutenant-General. He
took command on 4th March at King William's Town. The 9th Cape Frontier
War was in progress. He brought this war to an end by 12th June.
In August he went to Natal to arrange an expedition against Sekhukhune's
stronghold in the north-east Transvaal. The Zulu war also broke
out at this time. Chelmsford left Durban for England on 27th July
1879, he was mentioned in Wolseley's dispatches as entitled to all
the merit of the victory of Ulundi. he was made K.C.B. on 11th November
1878 and G.C.B. on 19th August 1879, also receiving the medal with
clasp.
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He became Lieutenant-General
on 1st April 1882 and general on 16th December 1888. He was lieutenant
of the tower of London from 4th June 1884 to 29th march 1889. On
7th June 1893 he was placed on the retired list. He held the colonelcy
of the 4th (West London) volunteer battalion from 27th August 1887/8
and the Derbyshires from 30th January 1889 until transferred to
the 2nd Life Guards on 27th September 1900. He was made G.C.V.O.
in 1902.
Thesiger died
on 9th April 1905 at the United Services Club of a sudden seizure
while playing billiards theatre. He was buried with military honours
at Brompton cemetery, his grave being next to his father's.
He had married
Adria Fanny, edlest daughter of Major-General Heath of the Bombay
army on 1st January 1867. He left four sons.
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