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 Francis Colborne KCB (23 April 1817 – 26 November 1895) was Commander of British Troops in China, Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements.

Early years

Born in 1817 the second son of

John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal John Colborne, 1st Baron Seaton, (16 February 1778 – 17 April 1863) was a British Army officer and colonial governor. After taking part as a junior officer in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Hollan ...

and educated at

Elizabeth College, Guernsey The Royal College of Elizabeth, better known as Elizabeth College, is a co-educational independent school in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. A member of the HMC (The Heads' Conference), it is a public school in the British sense of the term. Founde ...

, due to his father's posting between 1821 and 1828 as Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey.

Military career

Colborne was commissioned into the 15th Regiment of Foot in 1836. He served in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

in 1855. He was appointed Commander of British Troops in China, Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements in 1874. He commanded the Perak Expedition in 1875 and quickly put down the

insurrection Rebellion is an uprising that resists and is organized against one's government. A rebel is a person who engages in a rebellion. A rebel group is a consciously coordinated group that seeks to gain political control over an entire state or a ...

taking place in North West

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. He was made a full general on 1 April 1882 and retired in 1883. In 1881 he was made Colonel of the First Battalion,

Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Queen' ...

, a position he held until 1885, when he transferred to be Colonel of the

Royal Warwickshire Regiment The Royal Warwickshire Regiment, previously titled the 6th Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. The regiment saw service in many conflicts and wars, including the Second Boer War ...

until his death in 1895.Westlake, pp. 114–22.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colborne, Francis 1817 births 1895 deaths People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey British Army generals Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath East Yorkshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of the Crimean War British military personnel of the Perak War Younger sons of barons Expatriates in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany