John Knox Laughton

“ After the disaster at Lindley the ninth division was broken up, and Colvile being sent home reverted to the command of a brigade at Gibraltar. But when Lord Roberts became commander-in-chief of the army on 30 Nov. 1900, he insisted that Colvile should be recalled. Colvile returned to England, and on landing at Dover on 31 Dec. stated his own view of his case to a representative of Reuter's agency. On 19 Jan. 1901 he was placed on retired pay as a lieutenant-general. He skilfully elaborated his defence and complained of his treatment by Lord Roberts in ‘The Work of the Ninth Division’ (1901) . ”

“ During the greater part of 1838 he was flag lieutenant to Rear-admiral Bouverie, the superintendent of Portsmouth dockyard, and in November was appointed to the Daphne corvette, at first off Lisbon, whence he went out to the Mediterranean, where he took part in the reduction of Acre and the other operations on the coast of Syria in 1840. On 28 Aug. 1841 Fanshawe was promoted to the rank of commander, and in September 1844 went out to the East Indies in command of the Cruiser. ”

“ In his retirement he lived mostly in London, taking much interest in naval and geographical societies till his death, which took place at Capel, near Dorking, on 21 June 1901. He was buried at North Perrott, when the king and the admiralty were officially represented. His portrait was executed by Henry Tanworth Wells, R.A., in 1901 for Grillion's Club. A caricature by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' (1883) . Stern, strict, and even severe in his service relations, he was in his private and personal character one of the most genial of men. ”

“ After two years at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, Henry entered the navy in 1834, and served with his father in the Andromache, in the East Indies and against Malay pirates in the straits of Malacca. ”

“ SAUMAREZ, THOMAS (1827–1903) , admiral, born at Sutton, Surrey, on 31 March 1827, was grandnephew of James, first Baron de Saumarez, and was son of Captain (afterwards Admiral) Richard Saumarez. After a few years at the Western Grammar School, Brompton, he entered the navy in 1841, and was actively employed during the whole of his junior time on the east coast of South America, at Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and in Parana. He was made a lieutenant in March 1848. ”

“ On 14 April 1875 he was promoted inspector-general. He was after this employed on various committees and commissions, including one in 1876 to select a site for a college for naval cadets and one in 1877 to inquire into the causes of the outbreak of scurvy in Sir George Nares' Arctic expedition (1875–6) . He was awarded a good-service pension in 1878, and was nominated K.C.B. at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. During his last years he resided at Bognor, where he died on 11 Jan. 1905. He married in 1852 Eliza, daughter of James Meyer, who died in 1903 without issue. ”

“ At the end of May, Colonel Spragge, in command of a detachment of Irish imperial yeomanry, which had been directed to join Colvile's division, was surrounded at Lindley by De Wet's force. Appeals for help reached Colvile, who disregarded them, and arrived at Heilbron, after severe fighting, according to his orders, on 29 May. Spragge's force was captured by the Boers, with heavy casualties, on 31 May. Colvile's position was difficult ; on the one hand he had been led to believe that his presence at Heilbron by a certain date was essential to Lord Roberts's plans ”

“ He was a silent, thoughtful man, singularly modest and retiring. The subordinate position in which so much of his service was passed prevented his name from coming prominently before the public ; but in the navy his reputation as a sound and skilful navigator and pilot stood very high, and was officially recognised in his nomination to a C.B. in 1877. He died in London on 28 Jan. 1903.
Allen was twice married. His first wife brought him a daughter and four sons, who all entered the public service, navy, army, or marines. The second wife survived him. ”

“ From 1843 to 1846 he commanded the Eurydice frigate on the North American station, and after a prolonged spell of half-pay was appointed in December 1849 to the Phaeton frigate, which under his command attained a reputation as one of the smartest frigates in the service, and is even now remembered by the prints of the Channel fleet with the commodore in command making the signal 'Well done, Phaeton!' in commendation of a particularly smart piece of work in picking up a man who had fallen overboard (11 Aug. 1850) . ”

“ He entered the navy in December 1851, and as a midshipman served on the Britannia flagship in the Black Sea in 1854, and in the Colossus in the Baltic in 1855, thus getting the Baltic medal in addition to the Crimean, with the Sebastopol clasp, and the Turkish. ”

“ Educated at Eton, he entered the army as lieutenant in the grenadier guards on 1 Oct. 1870, and was promoted captain on 15 March 1872. From 1876 to 1880 he was instructor of musketry ; from 1880 to 1883 he was A.D.C. to the Hon. Leicester Smyth, the general commanding the troops at the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1884 he obtained employment in the intelligence department in the Soudan. ”

“ Continuing to occupy himself with the study of naval questions, he published in 1885 'A Treatise on Future Naval Battles and how to fight them.' He died in London on 13 December 1901. He married in 1842 Hersey, only daughter of Colonel Wauchope of Niddrie, Midlothian, and left issue. ”

“ In 1870 he received the military C.B., and in February 1871, with a broad pennant in the Rattlesnake, was appointed commander-in-chief on the west coast of Africa. In August 1873, while reconnoitring up the river Prah, he was dangerously wounded by a musket shot in the lungs, which compelled him to invalid. ”

“ If, in addition to the stern resolution which had made his services valuable in Jamaica, Brand had possessed the useful quality of discretion, he would probably have been rewarded for his good and disagreeable services ”

“ He urged his views in the House of Commons, where he sat in the conservative interest as member for the Bow and Bromley division of the Tower Hamlets from 1886 to 1892, and for Great Yarmouth from 1895 to 1906. He was a member of the royal commission on the supply of food and raw materials in time of war, in 1905, and on the congestion of Ireland, in 1906-7. ”

“ He became by seniority a rear-admiral in 1876, vice-admiral in 1881, and admiral in 1886. He died at his residence, 2 Morpeth Mansions, Westminster, on 22 Jan. 1903. He married (1) in 1854 a daughter (d. 1866) of S. R. Block of Greenhill, Barnet ”

“ He entered the navy in 1828, and was promoted to be lieutenant in 1835. He was then in November appointed to the Hastings, in which, and afterwards in the Magicienne, he served on the home and Lisbon stations. ”

“ He died, after an operation, at his residence, Belgrave Road, London, on 27 May 1909. Colomb married on 1 Jan. 1866 Emily Anna, daughter of Robert Samuel Palmer, and widow of Charles Augustus Francis Paret, lieutenant R.N.; she died in 1907, leaving a son and two daughters.
Colomb's chief publications are: 1. 'The Defence of Great and Greater Britain,' 1879. 2. 'Naval Intelligence and Protection of Commerce,' 1881. 3. 'Imperial Federation, Naval and Military,' 1886.
[Royal Navy Lists; Who's Who; The Times, 28 May 1909; Library Cat., R.U.S. Institution; information from the family.] ”