General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir Richard Harrison (26 May 1837 – 25 September 1931) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and engineer.

Personal life

Born in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, he was the second son of Benjamin John Harrison and his wife Emily, daughter of Richard Hall. Harrison was educated at Harrow School. In 1870, he married Amy, the daughter of J. Doyle O'Brien and had by her a son and three daughters. Harrison died at Galmpton, near Brixham in 1931, aged 94.

Military career

Early years

He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and became a lieutenant in 1855. Harrison fought at Scutari during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

in 1856. During the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

, he took part in the Siege of Lucknow and in the following year, he went into the regions of Rohilkhand and

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

. Thereafter Harrison was sent to China, taking part in the Second Opium War, where he was present in the

Battle of Taku Forts (1860) The Third Battle of Taku Forts () was an engagement of the Second Opium War, part of the British and French 1860 expedition to China. It took place at the Taku Forts (also called Peiho Forts) near Tanggu District ( Wade-Giles: Pei Tang-Ho), appr ...

and its following capture. He was advanced to 2nd captain in 1862 and after two years to major. In 1877, he won a gold medal by the Engineers for an essay he had written.

First commandos

When in 1879 the

Anglo-Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, cou ...

broke out, Harrison was attached to the troops in the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

and fought in the Battle of Ulundi. Already in the next year the British efforts to bring Southern Africa under its control, led to the

First Boer War The First Boer War ( af, Eerste Vryheidsoorlog, literally "First Freedom War"), 1880–1881, also known as the First Anglo–Boer War, the Transvaal War or the Transvaal Rebellion, was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 betwee ...

, during which he had command of a British contingent in Transvaal. Harrison served as assistant adjutant general in the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War and joined the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, after which he appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. Two years later, he accompanied the Nile Expedition, serving as colonel of its staff. Back in England, Harrison became

Chief Royal Engineer The Chief Royal Engineer (CRE) is the official head of the Corps of Royal Engineers of the British Army. Origin and development Before the English Restoration a Chief Engineer was a pay grade and not defined. In 1660 King Charles II appointed ...

of the Southeastern District in 1886 and of Aldershot Command in the next year. He was promoted to major general in 1888 and was appointed a governor of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in the subsequent year on whose occasion Harrison was made a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

Later years

In 1890, he obtained the command of the Western District and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1893. Harrison left this post in 1895 and was made a full general. After another two years, he became

Quartermaster-General to the Forces The Quartermaster-General to the Forces (QMG) is a senior general in the British Army. The post has become symbolic: the Ministry of Defence organisation charts since 2011 have not used the term "Quartermaster-General to the Forces"; they simply ...

and in 1898 was named Inspector-General of Fortifications. In December of the latter year, he was invested a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of Saint John. Harrison was nominated Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Engineers on the death of his predecessor in March 1903 and was further honoured with appointment as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in June. He was granted an honorary colonelship of the Devon Royal Garrison Artillery Militia in 1906 and of the Devon Royal Field Reserve Artillery in June 1908. In December he received the same rank of the South Midland Divisional Engineers and additionally of the Devonshire (Fortress) Royal Engineers in 1909. Harrison was selected a deputy lieutenant of the county of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

in 1921. He was decorated with the Order of Osmanieh.

References

External links

*
Recollections of a life in the British Army
Harrison's memoirs , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Richard 1837 births 1931 deaths British Army generals Military personnel from Essex Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Deputy Lieutenants of Devon Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights of Grace of the Order of St John People educated at Harrow School Royal Engineers officers Devon Militia officers