Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/St. George, John
ST. GEORGE, Sir JOHN (1812–1891), general, born on 18 Jan. 1812, was the eldest son of Lieutenant-colonel John St. George of Parkfield, Birkenhead, by Frances, daughter of Archibald Campbell, M.D. He obtained a cadetship at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1826, and was commissioned as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 19 May 1828. He became first lieutenant on 11 July 1829, captain on 1 April 1841, and lieutenant-colonel on 17 Feb. 1854. He served in Canada, the West Indies, China, and Ceylon, and was for two years (1844–1846) instructor in practical artillery at the Royal Military Academy.
In 1855 he was ordered to the Crimea. He arrived there in March, and on 4 Aug. he succeeded to the command of the siege train. Sir Richard Dacres, in his report of the artillery operations which preceded the fall of Sebastopol, said that he had received the greatest assistance from him (London Gazette, 2 Nov. 1855). He was made brevet colonel and C.B. on 4 Feb. 1856; he also received the Crimean medal with one clasp, the Turkish medal, the fourth class of the Medjidie and of the Legion of Honour.
He commanded the royal artillery in Malta for two years, becoming colonel in the regiment on 29 Aug. 1857. In 1859 he was made president of the ordnance select committee, and remained so till December 1863, when he was appointed director of ordnance. He held the latter office for five years, and he was thus for nearly ten years continuously at headquarters, in positions of the highest responsibility at the most critical period in the history of artillery. He became major-general on 30 Sept. 1865, having been given the temporary rank previously as director of ordnance.
In October 1868 he went to St. Petersburg as British delegate to the conference held there, at the instance of the Russian government, on the subject of explosive bullets, which had for some years been coming into use. The result was the declaration of 11 Dec., by which the powers represented renounced them. This was his last military employment. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 29 March 1873, and general on 1 Oct. 1877, and was placed on the retired list on 1 July 1881. He was made K.C.B. on 2 June 1869, and received the G.C.B. on 25 May 1889. He became a colonel-commandant R.A. on 31 Jan. 1872, and in 1884 he was appointed to the honorary office of master-gunner of St. James's Park.
He took an active interest in the order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, of which the English langue was reorganised in 1831. He was made a knight of justice in 1861, and was chancellor when the order received a royal charter in 1888. He was also a member of the order of the friendly brothers of St. Patrick.
He married, on 15 Aug. 1860, Elizabeth Marianne, daughter of Thomas Evans of Lyminster House, Arundel, and left one son. He died in London on 17 March 1891, and was buried at Brompton cemetery.
[Memoir by Colonel Dalton, in Proc. of R. A. Institution, vol. xviii.; Reilly's Artillery Operations at Sebastopol.]