Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/366

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Chamberlain
346
Chamberlain

sick, but he succeeded in maintaining the defence, until he was relieved three days later.

For his services in the mutiny he was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel, a reward which was generally regarded as inadequate. The oversight was admitted and rectified long afterwards. In April 1862 he was made colonel, in 1864 he was appointed honorary A.D.C. to the governor-general, and two years later was made C.S.I., and was included in the first list of twelve officers for good service pension. In 1866, too, he was transferred to the command of the central Indian horse, and next year to the command of the Gwalior district with the rank of brigadier-general. In 1869 he was officiating political agent at Gwalior, and received the thanks of government for his services. From Oct. 1869 to Feb. 1870 he was acting political agent at the court of Scindia until his promotion to major-general. During his unemployed time as major-general he served on various commissions and courts of inquiry; and from 1874 to 1879 he commanded the Oudh division. He became lieutenant-general in Oct. 1877 and general in Jan. 1880. In 1880 he returned to England for the first time since 1837; with the exception of his visit to the Cape, he had never left India in the interval. In 1884 he was retired from the active list. In 1897, on the occasion of Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee, he was made G.C.I.E. Sir Crawford, who retained his splendid physique till near the end, died at his residence, Lordswood, Southampton, on 13 Dec. 1902, and was buried at Rownhams. He was married twice: (1) in 1845, at the Cape, to Elizabeth, daughter of J. de Witt; she died on 19 Jan. 1894; and (2) in 1896 to Augusta Margaret, daughter of Major-general John Christie, C.B., who survived him. There was no issue by either marriage.

[Broad Arrow, 20 Dec. 1902; Nav. & Mil. Gazette, 15 Feb. 1896 and 20 Dec. 1902; Major-gen. O. Wilkinson and Major-gen. J. Wilkinson, Memoirs of the Gemini Generals, 2nd edit. 1896; Lord Roberts, Forty-one Years in India, 30th edit. 1898, p. 70 seq.; R. Bosworth Smith, Life of Lord Lawrence, 1901, i. 538; T. Rice Holmes, History of the Indian Mutiny, 5th edit. 1898; G. W. Forrest, Life of Sir Neville Chamberlain, 1909.]


CHAMBERLAIN, Sir NEVILLE BOWLES (1820–1902), field-marshal, born at Rio de Janeiro on 10 Jan. 1820, was second son of Henry Chamberlain, consul-general and chargé d'affaires in Brazil, by his second wife, Anne Eugenia (d. 1867), daughter of William Morgan of London. His father was created a baronet in 1828, on account of the negotiation of a treaty of commerce with Brazil, and died in London on 31 July 1829, when he was about to go to Lisbon as minister (Gent. Mag. 1829, ii. 274). He was succeeded in the baronetcy by Henry, the elder son of his first marriage (with Elizabeth Harrod of Exeter), which had been dissolved in 1813. By his second marriage he had five sons and three daughters. The eldest of these sons, William Charles (1818–1878), became an admiral; the other four entered the East India Company's service and distinguished themselves as soldiers. The third son, Sir Crawford Trotter [q. v. Suppl. II], was closely associated with Neville throughout his military career. The fourth son, Thomas Hardy (1822–1879), was major-general, Bombay staff corps. The fifth son, Charles Francis Falcon, C.B. (1826–1879), was colonel in the Indian army, Bombay staff corps. At thirteen Neville entered the Royal Military Academy as a cadet; but he proved more combative than studious, and was withdrawn at the end of his probationary year. On 24 Feb. 1837 he was commissioned as ensign in the East India Company's army. He reached Calcutta in June, and after being temporarily attached to other regiments, he was posted to the 55th Bengal native infantry, and joined it at Lucknow early in 1838. On 28 Aug. he was transferred to the 16th Bengal native infantry, which was at Delhi, and his brother Crawford was attached to the same regiment. Sir Henry Fane [q. v.], the commander-in-chief in India, had been a friend of his father, and wished the two sons to take part in the expedition to Afghanistan, which was then in preparation.

The 16th formed part of the Bengal column of the army of the Indus, which reached Kandahar on 27 April 1839, and was joined there by the Bombay column. At the end of June the army marched on Kabul and on 23 July Ghazni was stormed. Chamberlain distinguished himself in the fighting which preceded the assault. His regiment was left at Ghazni as a garrison when the army moved on to Kabul. In the autumn of 1840 some of the sons of Dost Mahomed (including Shere Ali, the future Ameer) were sent to Ghazni as prisoners on parole, and the Chamberlain brothers became intimate with them. In June 1841 the 16th was relieved of its garrison duty by the 27th, in which John Nicholson [q. v.] was a subaltern. He and