Robert Hamilton Vetch

“ In Egypt his perfect knowledge of Arabic and of Eastern people proved most useful. He was present at the action of Kassassin, the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and the advance to Cairo, but then, seized with typhoid fever, he was invalided home. For his services he received the war medal with clasp for Tel-el-Kebir, the Khedive's bronze star and the fourth class of the Order of the Medjidie. On recovering his health, Captain Conder devoted himself to plotting the survey and preparing the Memoir of Eastern Palestine. ”

“ In June 1882, after serving a year as commandant of the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Clarke was appointed by Mr. Childers, then secretary of state for war, to be inspector-general of fortifications. Being only a colonel, he was given the temporary rank of major-general. The pending Egyptian campaign at once occupied him. He organised a railway corps, showing admirable discretion in the choice of men [see Wallace, William Arthur James, Suppl. II] . For the general work of his office he secured both naval and artillery advisers, and welcomed every proposal of promise. ”

“ Yet Ardagh, in spite of a limited staff and inadequate funds, had performed his duty thoroughly. He compiled for the government a full statement of the number and military resources of the Boer forces, estimating that the defence of the British colonies alone would require 40,000 men, while to carry the war into the enemy's country would require 200,000. Copies of this paper were eventually laid on the tables of both houses of parliament at Ardagh's request. ”

“ The charge of the colonial convict prisons was transferred to Du Cane in 1869. A strong advocate of the devotion of prison labour to works of national utility, on which he read a paper before the Society of Arts in 1871, Du Cane provided for the carrying out by convicts of the breakwater and works of defence at Portland, the docks at Portsmouth and Chatham, and additional prison accommodation. At the International Prison Congress in London in 1872 Du Cane fully described the British system of penal servitude. ”

“ Du Cane's suggestion to Sir Francis Galton that types of feature in different kinds of criminality were worthy of scientific study first prompted Galton to attempt composite portraiture (Memories of My Life, 1908) . Du Cane encouraged the use of Galton's finger-print system in the identification of criminals. He retired from the army with the honorary rank of major-general on 31 Dec. 1887, and from the civil service on 23 March 1895. An accomplished man of wide interests, embracing archaeology, architecture, and Napoleonic literature, he was a clever painter in water-colours. ”

“ The works at the Sulina branch of the Danube were now approaching completion ; the channel had been increased from eight or nine to twenty feet at low water, and was available for large ships for a hundred miles above its mouth ; the new tariff gave a yearly increasing income for the maintenance of the navigation, the river was well lighted, and the pilotage satisfactorily arranged (see Stokes's paper on the mouths of the Danube in Roy. Eng, Establishment Papers, 1865, and 'The Danube and its Trade' in Soc. of Arts Journal, 1890) . ”

“ A strong man with a determined will and a somewhat peppery temperament, he generally carried his way with beneficial results, though he sometimes took the wrong side in a controversy, as in the battle of the railway gauges. Strachey remained secretary to government for the public works department until 1865. Meanwhile he had been promoted lieut.-colonel on 2 July 1860, and colonel on 31 Dec. 1862. He was created a C.S.I, in 1866 for his services and appointed inspector-general of irrigation, and in 1869 acting secretary of the public works department, with a seat in the legislative council. ”

“ In the spring of the following year, when the Penjdeh incident in Central Asia caused great preparations to be made for war with Russia, Wallace was appointed controller at Lahore of military troops and stores traffic for the frontier. The Afghanistan boundary question was settled in September 1885, but Wallace remained at Lahore as chief engineer for guaranteed railways until his transference to Agra in April 1886. A brevet colonelcy was given to him on 18 Nov., and in the following year he returned to Lahore as chief engineer of the north-western railway. ”

“ Appointed deputy adjutant-general for royal engineers at the war office on 1 April 1881, Stokes was a member of the Channel tunnel committee, and opposed its construction in 1882. The Egyptian expedition of that year exposed him to some friction with French colleagues on the Suez Canal board, who object to the use made of the canal by the British authorities, but his tact overcame all objections, and he received the personal thanks of Gladstone, the prime minister, for his good service. ”

“ He resigned his seat on the India council in 1889 to become chairman of the East India Railway Company, and his beneficial rule is commemorated by the 'Strachey' bridge over the river Jumna, opened shortly before his death. He was also chairman of the Assam Bengal Railway Company, and only resigned these positions when nearly ninety years of age, in consequence of increasing deafness. Under his management the East India railway became the most prosperous trunk line in the world. ”

“ With great promptitude and energy he found Omar at Tertuchan, and the hasty retreat of the Turkish army prevented catastrophe. Meanwhile in reply to a summons from the board of trade to return home at once or resign his appointment, Simmons, who had outstayed his leave, sent in his resignation, which was accepted on 30 June 1854. When at the end of March the Western powers allied themselves with Turkey against Russia, Simmons was formally attached to Omar Pasha's army on the Danube as British commissioner. ”

“ Realising the weakened condition of the allies after Inkerman and that there were no reserves nearer than England and France, he urged that the Turkish army should reinforce the allies in the Crimea. After much discussion the advanced guard of the Turkish army in Jan. 1855 occupied Eupatoria, which Simmons at once placed in a state of defence, in time to repulse a determined attack by the Russians on 17 Feb. The Russians were 40,000 strong, while the Turkish garrison was small. ”

“ During the latter part of the seven weeks' war in 1866 he was attached to the Prussian army in the field to report on the engineering operations and military telegraphs. Minor services on special missions abroad followed, with duty at the Curragh Camp in Ireland (1867–9) . The 22nd company of royal engineers, of which he was in command at Chatham, was as a temporary expedient lent to the post office from 1869 to 1871 to assist in constructing and organising the telegraph service. In May 1870 Webber took the headquarters of the company to London, the rest being distributed about the country. ”

“ He remained at Calcutta as private secretary to Lord Napier and Ettrick, governor of Madras, who temporarily assumed the office of viceroy, but left on the arrival of Lord Northbrook, the new viceroy, in May 1872, when the five secretaries to the government of India, home, foreign, public works, finance, and commerce, presented him with a silver vase accompanied by a warmly appreciative letter. ”

“ Wilson resumed his ordnance survey work in Ireland on 1 July 1885. In November 1886 he was appointed director-general of the ordnance survey in the United Kingdom, and until 1893 was on that service at Southampton. He was president of the geographical section of the British Association at Bath in 1888. The survey was transferred from the office of works to the board of agriculture in 1890, and in 1891 Wilson received the silver medal from the Society of Arts after an address on the survey's methods and needs. ”

“ Meanwhile Burne's efficient work as adjutant, while his regiment was quartered at Goudah, some sixty miles from Lucknow, had greatly impressed Sir Hugh Rose, the commander-in-chief in India, who inspected the regiment on 14 Dec. 1860. In the following spring Rose unexpectedly appointed him, in spite of his junior rank, military secretary. The choice, though confirmed from home, caused friction between the commander-in-chief there and Rose. As a result, at the end of 1862 Burne resigned the post, becoming private secretary to Sir Hugh. ”

“ On 23 Dec. the enemy delivered their assault in great numbers. It was repulsed, and a counter attack dispersed the Afghans to their homes. Perkins was mentioned in despatches and promoted brevet colonel on 29 Dec. 1879.
Steps were now taken by Perkins to render the position at Kabul absolutely secure. A fort and blockhouse were erected on Siah Sang, the Bala Hissar and the Asmai Heights were fortified, Sherpur was converted into a strongly entrenched camp, bridges were thrown across the Kabul river, the main roads were made passable for artillery, and many new roads were laid out. ”

“ He interested himself in the ‘all red’ line of telegraph which was to connect the scattered parts of the empire without entering foreign territory, and he was one of two Australian representatives on the board of directors of the Pacific Telegraph Cable. In 1900 Clarke took the place of the delegate for Victoria, who was disabled by illness, in the final deliberations with the colonial office over the Australian commonwealth bill. He thus shared in the settlement of Australian federation. On 8 Jan. 1902 he was appointed a colonel commandant of the corps of royal engineers. ”

“ From 1876 to 1881 he served as the first inspector of submarine mining defences and as member of the royal engineers committee for submarine experiments and stores, visiting all the defended harbours at home and also at Halifax (Nova Scotia) , Bermuda, and Jamaica abroad. Under his auspices submarine mining became a valuable part of harbour defence. During 1879 and 1880 he was also president of an important committee on siege operations, which conducted many practical experiments with a view to remodelling siege operations to meet improved artillery. ”

“ HILLS, Sir JOHN (1834–1902) , major-general, royal (Bombay) engineers, born at Neechindipore, Bengal, on 19 August 1834, was the third son in a family of six sons and four daughters of James Halls of Neechindipore, one of the largest land-owner and indigo planters in Bengal. His mother was Charlotte Mary, daughter of John Angelo Savi of Elba, and grand-daughter of General Corderan, commanding the French forces at Pondicherry. The second son is Lieutenant-general Sir James Hills-Johnes. ”

“ He acted as assistant field engineer under Lieutenant-colonel McLeod, the commanding engineer of General Windham's force, and when that force fell back on the entrenchments was employed in strengthening the defences; noticing that the whole area as far as an outpost some 600 yards away was swept by the enemy's fire, he effectively connected the outpost with the entrenchment by a simple screen of mats fixed during one night. After the rebels were defeated by Sir Colin Campbell on 6 Dec, Sankey was transferred as field engineer to the Gurkha force under Jung Bahadur. ”

“ In the autumn he carried a useful bill (known as Clarke's Act) to enable the inhabitants of any locality, not less than a hundred in number and not spread over a greater area than thirty-six square miles, to institute automatically a municipality for their district with full municipal powers. The new constitution for Victoria, which was proclaimed in November 1855, relieved Clarke of his appointments on the old terms and provided him with a pension of 800l. ”

“ The country was in an unsettled state and Trevor's position most insecure. Transferred in October 1857 to Bengal, he accompanied the Darjeeling field force, to intercept the mutineers of the 75th native infantry from Dacca, and engaged them at Cherabandar on the Bhutan frontier. Promoted captain on 27 Aug. 1858, Trevor was employed in the construction of the Ganges and Darjeeling road. In 1861 he was appointed garrison engineer at Fort William, Calcutta, and converted a tract of waste land on the bank of the Hooghly into the pleasure resort known as the Eden Gardens. ”

“ After a furlough lasting two years, Perkins was appointed chief engineer of the Central Provinces, was transferred in the same capacity in April 1886 to the Punjab, and on 10 March 1887 was promoted major-general. In May 1889 he vacated his appointment in the military works department on attaining the age of fifty-five years, and in 1890 was selected by Lord Roberts, then commander-in-chief in India, to command the Oudh division ”

“ He was awarded the Pollock medal and the sword of honour, and received a commission as lieutenant in the royal engineers on 4 Jan. 1871. After two years at Chatham, Cardew was sent to Aldershot and Portsmouth; from September 1873 to April 1874 he was employed at the war office on defences; and, after a year at Glasgow, went to Bermuda in May 1875. He was placed in charge of military telegraphs, and joined the submarine mining service, engaging in the application of electricity to military purposes, which was to be the pursuit of his life. ”

“ Ardagh remained in Egypt as deputy assistant adjutant-general to the British army of occupation, and was largely employed in making surveys. In July 1883 he went home on leave, but returned to Egypt almost immediately on an out- break of cholera, and laboured untiringly during the epidemic. ”

“ After eighteen months' employment on the defences of the Thames and Medway, and being promoted captain on 20 June 1864, Wilson volunteered for the duty of surveying Jerusalem. The secretary for war had agreed to appoint an engineer officer for the service, without paying his expenses. Wilson reached Jerusalem with a few sappers from the ordnance survey early in October 1864, and the work progressed steadily. ”

“ Hitherto the commander-in-chief was nominally governor of the Royal Military Academy, but in 1870 Simmons became governor with full responsibility. On 27 Aug. 1872 he was promoted lieutenant-general and was made a colonel commandant of royal engineers. The French Prince Imperial became a cadet at Woolwich in December, and thenceforth the Empress Eugenie regarded Sir Lintom as a personal friend. While governor at Woolwich Simmons was a member of the royal commission on railway accidents in 1874 and 1875. ”