Henry Smyth (British Army officer, born 1816)

Major-General Henry Smyth CB (5 April 1816 – 1891) was a British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding Western District.[1]

Henry Smyth
Born5 April 1816
Warmfield cum Heath, Yorkshire
Died1891
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
RankGeneral
Commands held68th Regiment of Foot
Western District
Battles/warsCrimean War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Smyth was the second son of John Henry Smyth (1780–1822), of Heath Hall, Wakefield, Yorkshire, a Whig MP for Cambridge University (1812–1822) and Lady Elizabeth Anne FitzRoy, daughter of George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton.[2] His elder brother, John George Smyth, was an MP for the City of York.[3]

Military career

Smyth was commissioned as an ensign in the 68th Regiment of Foot on 28 June 1833.[4] He became commanding officer of the 68th Foot and commanded it at the Battle of Alma in September 1854 and the Battle of Inkerman in November 1854 as well as the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.[4] He went on to be General Officer Commanding Western District in February 1874.[5]

He became Colonel of the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot on 10 April 1877[6] and was made full General on 29 September 1878.[7]

Family

In 1865, he married Rebecca Mary Pierce.[8] They had one son, William John Smyth (2 May 1869 – 25 February 1893), a member of the Indian Civil Service, who was the father of Sir John Smyth, 1st Baronet, a recipient of the Victoria Cross.[3]

References

  1. Burke, Sir Bernard (1871). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison. p. 1283. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
  2. Boase, Frederic (1965). Modern English biography: containing many thousand concise memoirs of persons who have died between the years 1851–1900, with an index of the most interesting matter. Frank Cass. p. 1885.
  3. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3671. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  4. "General Sir Henry Smythe KCB 1877 – 1891". Queen's Royal Surreys. Retrieved 22 November 2015.
  5. "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  6. "No. 24442". The London Gazette. 10 April 1877. p. 2516.
  7. "No. 24637". The London Gazette. 29 October 1878. p. 5777.
  8. Burke, Bernard (1898). Burke's Landed Gentry. Harrison & sons. p. 1370. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Charles Staveley
GOC Western District
1874–1877
Succeeded by
Leicester Smyth
Preceded by
Clement Edwards
Colonel of the 2nd (The Queen's Royal) Regiment of Foot
1877–1891
Succeeded by
Robert Bruce
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