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 John Cheape (5 October 1792 – 30 March 1875) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

military officer of the

Bengal Army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

Life

The son of John Cheape of Rossie,

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

, he was educated at

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

and

Addiscombe Addiscombe is an area of south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross, and is situated north of Coombe and Selsdon, east of Croydon town centre, south of Woodside, and west of Shirley. ...

, and entered the

Bengal Engineers The Bengal Engineer Group (BEG) (informally the Bengal Sappers or Bengal Engineers) is a military engineering regiment in the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The unit was originally part of the Bengal Army of the East India Company's Ben ...

as a second lieutenant on 3 November 1809. He first served in the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire, Maratha Confederacy in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an in ...

, and was present at the sieges of

Dhamoni Dhamoni is a village, archaeological site and Muslim religious site in the north of the Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Overview Dhamoni, Tehsil Banda Sagar, was once a garh in the kingdom of Garh Mandala, with 750 mouzas. Although ...

and Mondela in 1815 and 1816. He next served with the

Narmada River The Narmada River, previously also known as ''Narbada'' or anglicised as ''Nerbudda'', is the 5th longest river in India and overall the longest west-flowing river in the country. It is also the largest flowing river in the state of Madhya Prade ...

field force under Colonel Adams in 1817 (in what is now

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

); and under John Doveton and

John Malcolm Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian. Early life Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of G ...

in 1818, he was present at the siege of

Asirgarh Asirgarh Fort is an Indian fortress ''(qila)'' situated in the Satpura Range about north of the city of Burhanpur, in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. The fort is said to date to the early 15th-century and commands a pass through the Satp ...

. He was promoted captain on 1 March 1821. In 1824 Cheape was ordered to

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

, and served through the three campaigns of the

First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War (; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War in English language accounts and First English Invasion War () in Burmese language accounts, was the first of three wars fought between the ...

. Then for more than two decades he was employed in civil engineering. His promotion, however, went on, and he became major in 1830, lieutenant-colonel in 1834, and colonel in 1844. In 1848 Cheape happened to be employed in the

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

when the

Siege of Multan Siege of Multan may refer to, * Siege of Multan, 1296–1297, Alauddin Khalji's conquest of Multan. * Siege of Multan (1398) part of the Timurid invasion of India * Siege of Multan (1528), Babur annexes Langah dynasty * Siege of Multan (1772) ...

was being planned. He was appointed chief engineer, and ran the operations which led to the fall of the fortress. He then joined the army under Hugh Gough. He directed the artillery fire in the

Battle of Gujrat The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by ...

, the decisive moment in the

Second Anglo-Sikh War The Second Anglo-Sikh War was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab region, Punjab and what sub ...

. Gough mentioned his services in his despatches, and Cheape was made a C.B. in the

1838 Coronation Honours The 1838 Coronation Honours were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours on the occasion of her coronation on 28 June 1838. The honours were published in ''The London Gazette'' on 20 July and 24 July 1838. The recipients ...

and an ''aide-de-camp'' to the queen. When the

Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the three wars fought between the Burmese Empire and British Empire during the 19th century. The war resulted in a British victory with more ...

broke out in 1852, Cheape was made a brigadier-general and appointed second in command to General Henry Godwin. Although the British successfully overcame resistance from the Burmese army, their commanders underestimated local resistance and Captain Loch was killed in an ambush by the rebel Nga Myat Tun, Nya Myat Toon, or Myat-thoon near

Danubyu Danubyu ( ) is a town in the Ayeyarwady Division of south-west Myanmar, located on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River in the Ayeyarwady Delta. It is the seat of the Danubyu Township in the Maubin District. History After the loss to the Brit ...

in early February 1853. Cheape then took over command and invaded

Pegu Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

. He was successful and concluded the war, with the provinces of Pegu and Tenasserim annexed to the territories of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. Cheape was made a K.C.B. in 1849, received a medal and clasp and was promoted to major-general on 20 June 1854. He then left India after a service of 46 years. He established himself in the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight (Help:IPA/English, /waɪt/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''WYTE'') is an island off the south coast of England which, together with its surrounding uninhabited islets and Skerry, skerries, is also a ceremonial county. T ...

. Promoted lieutenant-general on 24 May 1859, and general on 6 December 1866, and made a G.C.B. in 1865. He died at Old Park,

Ventnor Ventnor () is a seaside resort town and civil parishes in England, civil parish established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, England, from Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport. It is situated south of St Boniface D ...

, on 30 March 1875.

Family

Cheape married in 1835 Amelia, daughter of T. Chicheley Plowden of the Bengal civil service.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheape, John 1792 births 1875 deaths British East India Company Army generals Graduates of Addiscombe Military Seminary Bengal Engineers officers British military personnel of the First Anglo-Burmese War British Army personnel of the Second Anglo-Burmese War Military personnel from Fife Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath