1897 Lord GRENFELL Field Marshall letter to Arthur Bigge,1st Lord Stamfordham

Description

1897 Lord GRENFELL Field Marshall letter to Arthur Bigge,1st Lord Stamfordham
This product data sheet is originally written in English.
ON HIS DEPATURE TO SUDAN CAMPAIGN - LORD KITCHENER
Circa 1897; Fine letter from Field Marshal Francis Wallace
Grenfell
, to Arthur
Bigge
, just before he sets of to command the British troops in Egypt under Lord Kitchener, and in which he mentions not being able to help (Lieut. John)
Ponsonby
& Sir
Archilbald
Hunters note to him saying that the taking of Abu
Hamed
should be a walk over, and Khartoum a fight, dated and headed.
"HALL BARN,
BEACONSFIELD
, BUCKS.
July 8th,
"My Dear
bigge
,
A nephew of mine in 1st Life Guards is coming as my A.D.C. and the second I got from a Regiment out in Cairo-
So I find that I could not help
Ponsonby
- I heard from Hunter today- he hears that as far as Abu
Hamed
, it will be a walk over-
But that there will be a big fight for Khartoum -
The
Khedive
has sent me a very cordial message of Congrats- so perhaps he means to be Civil.
Yours
Grenfell
"
Field Marshal Francis Wallace
Grenfell
, 1st Baron
Grenfell
,
GCB
,
GCMG
, PC (Ire) (29 April 1841 – 27 January 1925) was a British Army officer.
After serving as aide-de-camp to the Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, he fought in the 9th Xhosa War, the Anglo-Zulu War and then the Anglo-Egyptian War. He went on to become
Sirdar
(Commander-in-Chief) of the Egyptian Army and commanded the forces at the Battle of
Suakin
in December 1888 and at the Battle of
Toski
in August 1889 during the
Mahdist
War. After that he became Governor of Malta and then Commander-in-Chief, Ireland before retiring in 1908.
Early life and career
Born the son of
Pascoe
St
Leger
Grenfell
and Catherine Anne
Grenfell
(née Du Pre), and grandson of
Pascoe
Grenfell
.
Grenfell
was educated at Milton
Abbas
School in Dorset but decided to leave school early.
Military career
Grenfell
purchased a commission as an ensign in the 3rd Battalion of the 60th Royal Rifles on 5 August 1859.[3] He then purchased promotion to lieutenant on 21 July 1863[4] and to captain (in the last year in which purchase was allowed) on 28 October 1871.[5] He became aide-de-camp to Sir Arthur
Cunynghame
, Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, in 1874.[6] After taking part in the Battle of
Quintana
in February 1878 during the 9th Xhosa War in 1878, he was promoted to brevet major on 11 November 1878.[7] He next fought at the Battle of
Ulundi
in July 1879 during the Anglo-Zulu War and then returned to England to become brigade major at
Shorncliffe
Army Camp shortly before he was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel on 29 November 1879.[6] He became brigade major of an infantry brigade in South Africa in April 1881[8] and, having been promoted to the substantive rank of major on 1 July 1881,[9] he fought at the Battle of
Tel
el
-
Kebir
in September 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War.[6] Promoted to brevet colonel on 18 November 1882, he was made aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria that same year.
Grenfell
became Deputy
Sirdar
(Commander-in-Chief) of the Egyptian Army in late 1882 and, after commanding the Egyptian troops stationed at Aswan during the Nile Expedition, he became
Sirdar
himself in April 1885.[6] He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath on 25 August 1885,[10] and having led his troops at the Battle of Ginnis in December 1885, was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel on 7 January 1886.[11] He was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 25 November 1886.[12] He went on to command the forces at the Battle of Suakin in December 1888 and at the Battle of Toski in August 1889 during the Mahdist War and was promoted to major-general for distinguished service in the field on 3 August 1889.[13] In recognition of the transformation he had achieved in making the Egyptian Army a successful fighting force, he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) on leaving Egypt on 25 May 1892.
Returning to England Grenfell became Deputy Adjutant-General at the War Office in 1892 and Inspector General of Auxiliary Forces at the War Office in August 1894.[15] He returned to Egypt as commander of the British Troops in Egypt (under the new Sirdar) in 1897, and having been promoted to lieutenant-general on 1 April 1898,[16] he was advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on 15 November 1898.[17] He became Governor of Malta[18] with the local rank of general on 1 January 1899,[19] serving as such until early 1903. The 1902 Coronation Honours list on 26 June 1902 included his name as a future peer,[20] and he was created Baron Grenfell, of Kilvey in the County of Glamorgan on 15 July 1902.[21] He took the oath on meeting in the House of Lords for the first time on 22 July 1902.
After returning permanently to the United Kingdom, he went on to command the newly created 4th Army Corps in April 1903[23] and, having been promoted to full general on 16 March 1904,[24] he became Commander-in-Chief, Ireland and General Officer Commanding 3rd Army Corps in May 1904.[25] He was promoted to field marshal on retirement on 11 April 1908.[26] In May 1910 he attended the funeral of King Edward VII[27] and in June 1911 he attended the coronation of King George V.
Grenfell served as colonel of the 1st Surrey (South London) Regiment,[29] colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards and then colonel of the 1st Regiment of Life Guards[30] as well as, latterly, colonel commandant the King's Royal Rifle Corps[31] and colonel of the King's Own Malta Regiment of Militia.
Grenfell was Governor and Commandant of the Church Lads' Brigade from 1908 to 1925.[33] In 1914, he was responsible for raising the 16th (Service) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps (Church Lads' Brigade) as a battalion for CLB members wishing to enlist.[34] He was also a founding committee member of the Pilgrims Society in 1902
Grenfell received the Honorary Freedom of the Borough from his native town Swansea in 1889.
He died aged 83 at Windlesham in Surrey on 27 January 1925 and was buried at St Mary and All Saints Churchyard at Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire.
Legacy
Grenfell Road, which runs through North Kensington, London was named for Grenfell; the road later lent its name to Grenfell Tower which was built in 1974. Family
In 1887 Grenfell married Evelyn Wood, daughter of Major General Robert Blucher Wood; they had no children. Following the death of his first wife, he married Margaret Majendie (daughter of Lewis Majendie MP) in 1903; they had two sons and a daughter.
The Battle of Abu Hamed occurred on 7 August 1897 between a flying column of Anglo-Egyptian soldiers under Major-General Sir Archibald Hunter and a garrison of Mahdist rebels led by Mohammed Zain. The battle was a victory for the Anglo-Egyptian forces, and secured for the British the strategically vital town of Abu Hamed, which was the terminus for trade and transportation across the Nubian Desert.
Abu Hamed was of critical importance to Lord Herbert Horatio Kitchener, leader of the Anglo-Egyptian campaign that commenced in March 1896 with the objective of destroying the Mahdist state that had occupied much of Sudan since the initial Mahdist rebellion broke out in 1881. The town was to be the railhead for Lord Kitchener’s supply railway through the vast and inhospitable Nubian Desert, allowing expeditionary forces to bypass a great stretch of the Nile on their way to Omdurman, the capital of Mahdist Sudan. However, the town was occupied by Mahdist forces, and construction of the desert railway could not safely proceed without their removal.
Accordingly, Kitchener ordered a flying column, led by Major-General Sir Archibald Hunter and composed of around three-thousand Egyptian soldiers, to march from Merowe to Abu Hamed with all possible speed. The flying column departed Merawi on 29 July 1897, and, marching north-east along the Nile for eight days, arrived at the town as dawn broke on August 7. Forming his battalions in a broad semi-circle that pitted Abu Hamed’s defenders against the river, Major-General Hunter ordered his troops to advance at approximately six-thirty that morning. In the action that followed, the outnumbered Mahdist riflemen were driven from their defensive positions through the town, while a small contingent of Mahdist cavalry fled south without engaging to report the loss. By seven-thirty, the battle was over, and Major-General Hunter ordered the news be delivered to Lord Kitchener.
Major-General Hunter's column lost eighty killed and wounded, while the quantity of Mahdist casualties is estimated to be between 250 and 850. The Mahdist commander, Mohammed Zain, was captured in the fighting. Soon after news of the victory spread, work on the desert railway was resumed and Abu Hamed reached on October 31, where Major-General Hunter and his column had remained. With the completion of the railway across the Nubian Desert, Kitchener's general advance into the heartland of Mahdist Sudan was guaranteed, and the greatest issue of Kitchener's campaign, supply, resolved.
Fresh to the Market Place, from Major-General Sir John Ponsonby's Collection
For more from this collection see our shop category for SIR JOHN PONSONBY COLLECTION
John Ponsonby (British Army officer)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Major-General Sir John Ponsonby KCB CMG DSO (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952) was a British Army officer who commanded 5th Division during World War I
Born the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby (Queen Victoria's Private Secretary), his Mother Hon. Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby, Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria and a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel.
His brothers were Frederick Ponsonby, ( Assistant Private Secretary to Edward VII & GV), and Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, (British politician, writer, and social activist).
Sir John was educated at Eton College, He was gazetted to the Royal Irish Rifles 16 November 1887, and to the Coldstream Guards 15 August 1888, becoming Lieutenant 29 June 1891. He was ADC to the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, 10 August 1891 to 30 January 1895; served in operations in Matabeleland (Medal); was promoted to Captain 7 September 1898, and in that year served in Uganda (Medal), and again in 1899, during the operations against Kabarega (clasp). Captain Ponsonby served in the South African War, 1899-1902, on special service with the Rhodesian Field Force, 19 February 1900 to 7 July 1901. He was Adjutant, 5th New Zealand Regiment, 8 June 1900 to 1 January 1901; afterwards in command 1 January to 18 January 1901. From February to May 1900, be was employed with Mounted Infantry, and he took part in operations in the Transvaal, west of Pretoria, from July to 29 November 1900; operations in the Transvaal, February to June 1901; operations in Cape Colony, February to 31 May 1902. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 10 September 1901]; received the Queen's Medal with four clasps, the King's Medal with two clasps, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 27 September 1901]: "John Ponsonby, Captain, Coldstream Guards. In recognition of services during the operations in South Africa". The Insignia were presented by the King 27 October 1901. He was promoted to Major 23 January 1904, and commanded the Guards' Depot 1 March 1905 to 28 February 1907. He became Lieutenant Colonel 28 October 1913.
Lieutenant Colonel Ponsonby served in the European War, 1914—18; Landed in France 13th August 1914 in charge of 1st Coldstream Guards,Wounded 15th September & returned to unit 21st November. commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade, BEF, 26 August 1915 to 19 November 1916: was given the Brevet of Colonel 1 January 1916; commanded the Special Reserve Infantry Brigade 28 November 1916 to 7 March 1917; commanded the 21st Infantry Brigade, BEF, 8 March to 20 March 1917; became Colonel 20 March 1917; commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade, British Armies in France, 21 March to 21 August 1917; commanded the 40th Division, British Armies in France, 22 August 1917 to 3 July 1918; subsequently commanded the 5th Division, British Armies in France, 4 July 1918 to 1 April 1919; was promoted to Major General 1 January 1919. He was mentioned in Despatches; created a CMG in 1915, a CB in 1918, and was given the Brevet of Colonel.
He went on to become General Officer Commanding 5th Division remaining in that role until the end of the War. After the War he became General Officer Commanding the Madras District of India. He retired in 1928.
He lived at Haile Hall near Beckermet in Cumbria
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Circa 1897; Fine letter from Field Marshal Francis Wallace Grenfell, to Arthur Bigge, just before he sets of to command the British troops in Egypt under Lord Kitchener, and in which he mentions not being able to help (Lieut. John) Ponsonby & Sir Archilbald Hunters note to him saying that the taking of Abu Hamed should be a walk over, and Khartoum a fight, dated and headed. "HALL BARN, BEACONSFIELD, BUCKS. July 8th, "My Dear bigge, A nephew of mine in 1st Life Guards is coming as my A.D.C. and the second I got from a Regiment out in Cairo- So I find that I could not help Ponsonby- I heard from Hunter today- he hears that as far as Abu Hamed, it will be a walk over- But that there will be a big fight for Khartoum - The Khedive has sent me a very cordial message of Congrats- so perhaps he
Related Interests
pre Battle of Abu Hamed
EAN
Does Not apply
Country
England
Related Interests 2
General Hunter & John Ponsonby
Estate or House name
Hall Barn
England County
Buckinghamshire
City/Town/Village/Place
Beaconsfield
Family Surname
Grenfell
Theme
Military
Era
1891-1900
Theme 2
SUDAN MILITARY CAMPAIGN
Document Type
Manuscript Letter
Year of Issue
1897
Titled Families
Lord Grenfell