The Wolseley ring was a group of 19th century

British army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officers loyal to

Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 183325 March 1913) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential British generals after a series of victories in Canada, West Africa and E ...

and considered by him to be clever, brave, experienced and hard-working. After 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 ...

Wolseley started to keep a note of the best officers he met, and began gathering a network of able military men loyal to him. There were other circles around other military leaders; later these would dwindle as more formal selection and promotion procedures became established. The 'ring' itself was rooted in Wolseley's appointments for the Ashanti Campaign of 1873-4, in which he led British troops to take control of the Gold Coast. He chose officers he had got to know during his Red River Campaign in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1870: * John Carstairs McNeill * William Francis Butler *

Redvers Henry Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He served as Commander-in-Chief ...

* Hugh McCalmont as well as other key figures: * Henry Brackenbury *

John Frederick Maurice Major-general (United Kingdom), Major-General Sir John Frederick Maurice (24 May 1841 – 12 January 1912) was a senior British Army Officer (armed forces), officer, chiefly remembered for his military writings. Family and early life Maurice wa ...

George Pomeroy Colley Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Sir George Pomeroy Colley, (1 November 1835 – 27 February 1881) was a British Army officer who became Governor of Natal, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal and High Commissioner for South Ea ...

Baker Creed Russell General Sir Baker Creed Russell (11 January 1837 – 25 November 1911) was an Australian-born British Army officer who served with distinction in the Indian Mutiny, Anglo-Ashanti War, Anglo-Zulu War, Sekhukhune Wars, and Egyptian War Early ...

* Henry Evelyn Wood * John Plumptre Carr Glyn Men from this group accompanied Wolseley on his various projects for about a decade. They are sometimes called the Ashanti Ring, or, in a

pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...

ning reference to Wolseley's first name, the

Garnet Garnets () are a group of silicate minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. Garnet minerals, while sharing similar physical and crystallographic properties, exhibit a wide range of chemical compositions, de ...

Ring. Later they were the "Africans", against the "Indians" of the rival Roberts Ring of Lord Roberts and

Herbert Kitchener Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. Kitchener came to prominence for his imperial campaigns, his involvement in the Second Boer War, a ...

during the

Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic an ...

. The Secretary for War Lord Lansdowne had worked with Roberts in India, so was alienated from Wolseley and most of the War Office. The Cabinet made Wolseley Commander-in-Chief of the Army, and Roberts was fobbed off as the Commander-in-Chief in Ireland. But during the Boer War, Roberts and then Kitchener replaced Buller of the Wolseley Ring.

See also

Further reading