Arthur Torrens

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Arthur Torrens

Sir Arthur Wellesley Torrens KCB (born August 18, 1809 , † August 24, 1855 in Paris ) was a British general and colonial administrator.

Life

First years

Torrens was the second son of Major General Sir Henry Torrens (1779–1828), Adjutant General of the British Army from 1820 to 1828, and Sarah Patton, daughter of Colonel Robert Patton, Governor of St. Helena from 1801 to 1808. His godfather was Sir Arthur Wellesley , the future Duke of Wellington, whose military secretary Henry Torrens was in Portugal in 1808.

At the age of ten, Arthur was the fourth honorary page of the Prince Regent (1820–1825). After training at the Royal Military College in Sandhurst, he joined the Grenadier Guards on April 14, 1825 as an ensign / lieutenant . From June 11, 1829 to March 23, 1838 he was adjutant of the 2nd battalion, from June 12, 1830 as a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards and captain.

In 1838 he went to (Lower) Canada as a brigade major on the staff of Major General Sir James Macdonell , commander of the Guards Brigade and military commander of Québec , and took part in the suppression of the uprising of November 1838. On his return to England he was promoted to captain of the Grenadier Guards and lieutenant colonel (September 11, 1840).

Use in the Caribbean

Torrens then moved to the 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fuzileers) , whose commander he was on October 15, 1841. As part of the troop reinforcements of April 1842, the regiment received a second battalion . The depot (the reserve unit) was moved from Carlisle to Chichester , strengthened with two new companies and restructured under Torrens' leadership for use abroad. In May 1843 the 1st Battalion was shipped from Portsmouth via Montreal to the so-called British West Indies in the Caribbean . J. arrived in Barbados . The battalion was relocated to another island from time to time, but for two and a half years Torrens was military commander and acting lieutenant governor of St. Lucia . His measures to improve the sanitary conditions for his soldiers were so resounding that the correspondence about it was published in November 1847 by order of the Duke of Wellington, Commander in Chief of the British Armed Forces, as a guide for all commanding officers on foreign stations. However, Torrens refused the offered appointment as permanent lieutenant governor of St. Lucia and returned to England via Halifax , Nova Scotia, in March 1847 , where the battalion arrived in September 1848.

Crimean War

In 1851 Torrens handed over command of the battalion and on January 1, 1853 became Assistant Quartermaster-General (AQMG) on the Army General Staff. In the same year he traveled through Europe as a member of a commission to investigate the economic situation of the French, Austrian and Prussian armies. After his return and the entry of the United Kingdom into the so-called Orient or Crimean War (March 12, 1854), he was appointed Brigadier General in command of a brigade destined for use in the Crimea (July 28, 1854).

Torrens led the brigade, under the command of General Sir George Cathcart's 4th Division, in the battles of the Alma (September 20, 1854), Balaklava (October 25, 1854) and Inkerman (November 5, 1854). At Inkerman's - shortly before Cathcart's death, he was awarded a "Magnificent, Torrens!" Award - he was seriously wounded by a puncture through the lung.

Death and honor

Returning to England to recover, Torrens received Parliament's thanks and a promotion to major general (December 12, 1854). Since he was wounded too difficult to return to the Crimea, he took over on April 2, 1855 the post of Deputy Quartermaster General ( Deputy Quartermaster-General , DQG) in the General Staff in London and went as a military attaché (June 25 Military Commissioner of) Paris . Knight of the Military Class of the Bath Order (KCB) on July 5, 1855 , he died there on August 24, 1855 as a result of his wounding.

Torrens was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery. His widow, Maria Jane, the youngest daughter of General John Murray, had a monument designed by Carlo Marochetti erected for him in Saint Paul's Cathedral in London .

Works

  • Notes on French infantry, and memoranda on the review of the army in Paris at the feast of eagles in May 1852 (London, 1853)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Torrens, Arthur
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Torrens, Arthur Wellesley (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general and colonial administrator
DATE OF BIRTH August 18, 1809
DATE OF DEATH August 24, 1855
Place of death Paris