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Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/369

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Chamier
349
Chamier

policy of disintegration which Lord Lytton adopted after the second occupation of Kabul. In July 1879 he wrote: 'I have lived sufficiently long on the frontier to know that a time does come when one feels the benefit of not being committed to a single outpost more than is indispensable for internal security' (Forrest, p. 492). He strongly deprecated the retention of Kandahar in 1880.

His term of command at Madras came to an end on 3 Feb. 1881, and he bade farewell to India. He spent the rest of his life at Lordswood near Southampton. He had become general on 1 Oct. 1877, was placed on the unemployed supernumerary list on 3 Feb. 1886, and was made field-marshal on 25 April 1900. He died at Lordswood on 18 Feb. 1902, and was buried beside his wife at Rownhams near Southampton. Sir Charles Napier called him 'Cœur de Lion.' He was 'the very soul of chivalry.'

On 26 June 1873 Chamberlain married Charlotte Cuyler, sixth daughter of Major-general Sir William Reid [q. v.]; she died on 26 Dec. 1896 without children.

[G. W. Forrest, Life of Chamberlain, 1909; The Times, 19 Feb. 1902; W. H. Paget, Record of Expeditions against the North-west Frontier Tribes, 1884; Daly, The Punjab Frontier Force, in United Service Institution Journal, 1884; Lord Roberts, Forty-one Years in India, 1897; Adye, Sitana, 1867; Lady B. Balfour, Lord Lytton's Indian Administration, 1899.]


CHAMIER, STEPHEN HENRY EDWARD (1834–1910), lieutenant-general, royal (Madras) artillery, born in Madras on 17 Aug. 1834, of Huguenot descent [see Chamier, Anthony], was fifth son of Henry Chamier, chief secretary to the Madras government and afterwards member of council, 1843-8, by his wife Marie Antoinette Evelina, daughter of Thomas Thursby, H.E.I.C.S. His grandfather, Jean Ezechiel Deschamps Chamier, was also member of the Madras council. Captain Frederick Chamier [q. v.] was an uncle. Educated at Cheltenham College and Addiscombe, Chamier was appointed on 11 June 1853 second lieutenant in the Madras artillery, and joined artillery headquarters at St. Thomas Mount, on 8 Oct. 1853. Posted to the first battery in March 1854, he proceeded to Burin ah in July 1854. After commanding an outpost of artillery at Sittang on 3 Aug. 1854, he was appointed station staff officer there on 16 Nov. 1854. On 11 April 1856 he proceeded on field service to Kareen Hills in command of a mountain train of howitzers and rockets, and was engaged with hill Kareens on 22 April. For driving the enemy from their position on the Zoungzalcn river and dispersing them, Chamier received the thanks of the government of India. After commanding B battery horse artillery for a few months at Bangalore, he proceeded in May 1857 to Madras en route for Burmah, but the news of the Sepoy mutiny at Meerut led to a change of plans, and he went with Major Cotter's horse battery to Calcutta and thence to Benares and Allahabad. Detached to Gopigunge with two guns and some infantry, he disarmed a part of the Bengal native infantry. Proceeding to Mirzapur and on towards Rewa, he held the Kattra Pass, where he was joined by a Madras regiment and C battery Madras artillery, and received the command of a battery. Ordered to Cawnpore to aid General Windham's operations against the Gwalior contingent, the force was continuously engaged for three days, with heavy loss; out of thirty-six men with Charmer's guns seventeen were killed or wounded. For his splendid handling of his guns Chamier was complimented by General Dupuis Pie on the field, and thanked in public despatches. Chamier also took part on 8 Dec. 1857 in the utter rout of the Gwalior contingent mutineers by Sir Colin Campbell [q. v.] in the vicinity of Cawnpore. At his own request he, in February 1858, rejoined Major Cotter's horse battery and marched with General Franks from Benares through Oude to Lucknow, engaging on the way in the actions of Chanda, Ameerapur, Sultanpur, and the different skirmishes. At Lucknow Chamier joined the fifth division of the army under Lord Clyde, and took part in the operations before and during the siege and capture of the city. After its fall Chamier's battery joined the force which went under Major-General Lugard to the relief of Azimgurh, being engaged against Koer Singh's rebel force and against other rebels near Jagdispur and Arrah. In June 1858 the campaign, during which, according to artillery orders, Chamier was engaged in nineteen actions, came to a close (Land. Gaz. 25 May and 29 June 1858).

In Sept. 1858 Lord Canning, the governor-general, appointed Chamier, in consideration of his recent service, to be commandant of the first battery artillery, Hyderabad contingent. He was promoted to second captain on 29 Feb. 1864 and received a brevet-majority on 11 Oct. 1864 for his actions