Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Van Straubenzee, Charles Thomas
VAN STRAUBENZEE, Sir CHARLES THOMAS (1812–1892), general, colonel of the 39th foot (Dorsetshire regiment), second son of Major Thomas Van Straubenzee, royal artillery, and of his wife Maria, youngest daughter of Major Henry Bowen of the 2nd royal veteran battalion, was born in Malta on 17 Feb. 1812. His great-grandfather, Philip William Casimir Van Straubenzee, captain in the Dutch guards, came to England about 1745, was naturalised by act of parliament, married Jane, only daughter of Cholmely Turner of Kirkleatham, Yorkshire, by Jane, granddaughter and sole heir of Sir Henry Marwood, bart., of Buskby Hall, Yorkshire, and died in 1765. He had a younger brother, General A. Van Straubenzee, who was governor of Zutphen in 1798. His third son, Charles Spencer, married a granddaughter of Sir George Vane of Raby, and had seven sons in the British army and navy; of these, the eldest, Henry, succeeded a grand-uncle as head of the family and in the property of Spennithorne, North Riding of York; and the seventh was the father of the subject of this memoir.
Charles Thomas Van Straubenzee received a commission as ensign in the Ceylon rifles on 28 Aug. 1828, and arrived in Ceylon in June the following year. He was promoted to be lieutenant in the 39th foot on 22 Feb. 1833. He joined his new regiment at Bangalore in India (Mysore), and on 17 March 1834 marched with it in the expedition under Brigadier-general Patrick Lindesay against Kurg (Coorg). Merkara, the capital, was found undefended, and occupied on 6 April, the raja surrendering in person on the 10th, when Van Straubenzee returned with his regiment to Bangalore.
He was promoted to a company in the 39th foot on 10 March 1837, and in November he went to England on furlough. In November 1841 he married, and in June of the following year he rejoined his regiment at Agra. In October 1842 he joined the army of reserve assembled at Firozpur on the return of the troops from Afghanistan. On 27 Aug. 1843 he was promoted to be regimental major, and in the autumn his regiment joined the army of exercise assembled at Agra in consequence of the state of affairs at Gwalior. Early in December he marched with it under Sir Hugh (afterwards Lord) Gough [q. v.] against Sindia. He distinguished himself at the battle of Maharajpur on 29 Dec., when the 39th foot, supported by the 56th native infantry, drove the enemy from their guns into the village, the scene of a sanguinary conflict; later the regiment in a gallant charge carried the entrenched main position at Chouda, when the commanding officer of the regiment was desperately wounded, and Van Straubenzee, succeeding to the temporary command, brought it out of action after capturing two standards from the enemy. Van Straubenzee was mentioned by Gough in despatches for his conduct at Maharajpur, was specially brought to the notice of the commander-in-chief for services at Gwalior, and received the bronze star. He was promoted to be brevet lieutenant-colonel on 30 April 1844.
On 30 Aug. 1844 Van Straubenzee exchanged into the 13th Prince Albert's light infantry, and, returning with it in July 1845, was quartered at Walmer. He took part in the ceremony of presentation of new colours to it by Prince Albert on 13 Aug. 1846 at Portsmouth. On 28 Aug. he exchanged into the 3rd ‘buffs,’ and accompanied his new regiment to Ireland in October. In April 1851 he embarked with the battalion for Malta, and on 11 Nov. was promoted to be regimental lieutenant-colonel to command it. On 20 June 1854 he was promoted to be brevet colonel.
On 12 Nov. Van Straubenzee took the regiment to the Piræus in connection with the war with Russia. He was made a colonel on the staff on 15 Nov. to command the British contingent in Greece. He remained at the Piræus until 23 March 1855, when the ‘buffs’ were relieved by the 91st foot, and he returned with them to Malta. The British minister at Athens wrote to Lord Clarendon on 4 April 1855, mentioning in the most complimentary terms the conduct of the ‘buffs’ while at the Piræus.
On 14 April Van Straubenzee sailed with his battalion for the Crimea, and joined the division of Sir Colin Campbell. On 11 May he was made brigadier-general. His brigade, consisting of the ‘buffs,’ the 31st and the 72nd regiments, was posted to the right attack, and he commanded it in the fight at the Quarries on 7 June. On 30 July he was appointed to command the first brigade of the light division, and took part in both assaults on the Redan, was wounded in that of 8 Sept., and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette, 3 Oct. 1855). Van Straubenzee returned home in July 1856. For his services he was made a companion of the order of the Bath, military division, and an officer of the legion of honour. He received the British war medal with clasp, the Sardinian and Turkish medals, the third class of the order of the Medjidie, and was promoted to be a temporary major-general on 24 July 1856. On the 29th of the same month he was appointed to command the infantry brigade at Dublin.
On 20 Sept. 1857 Van Straubenzee was gazetted to the command of a brigade in the expedition to China under Lieutenant-general Thomas Ashburnham, having already sailed in June for Hong Kong. Many of the troops destined for China were diverted to India on account of the mutiny, and in November Ashburnham and his staff also left Hong Kong for India, leaving Van Straubenzee in command of the British land forces in China. In December the available troops from the garrison of Hong Kong were conveyed by the fleet to the Canton river, and the island of Hainan was occupied. Van Straubenzee arrived on 22 Dec., and the attack on Canton by the allied naval and military forces of England and France was commenced by a bombardment on 28 Dec., and on 5 Jan. 1858 the city was taken. On 19 June Van Straubenzee was made a knight-commander of the Bath (military division) for his services. He was promoted to be major-general on the establishment on 11 Aug. 1859. He received the war medal and clasp. On 15 April 1860 he was compelled by ill-health to resign his command, and returned to England.
On 7 April 1862 Van Straubenzee took up the command of a division of the Bombay army at Ahmadabad. He was appointed colonel of the 47th foot on 31 May 1865. In this year he was temporarily in command of the Bombay army, pending the arrival of Sir Robert Cornelis Napier (afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala) [q. v.] He returned to England on 16 Feb. 1866, was transferred to the colonelcy of the 39th foot on 8 Dec. 1867, and was promoted to be lieutenant-general on 27 March 1868.
On 3 June 1872 Van Straubenzee was appointed governor and commander-in-chief at Malta, and was promoted to be general on 29 April 1875. He held the government of Malta for six years, was made a grand cross of the Bath (military division) on 29 May 1875. He returned to England in June 1878. He retired from the service on a pension on 1 July 1881, and settled at Bath. He died, without issue, on 10 Aug. 1892, and was buried in the Bathwick cemetery. Van Straubenzee married, on 18 Nov. 1841, Charlotte Louisa, youngest daughter of General John Luther Richardson of the East India Company's service, and of the Cramond family; she survived him.
[War Office Records; Despatches; Cannon's Historical Records of the 39th or the Dorsetshire Regiment of Foot, and of the 3rd Regiment, ‘The Buffs;’ Russell's War from the Death of Lord Raglan to the Evacuation of the Crimea, 1856; Lane-Poole's Life of Sir Harry Parkes; private sources; Burke's Landed Gentry, ii.]Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.270
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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