Gerald Graham
Sir Gerald Graham VC GCB GCMG (born June 27, 1831 in Acton , Middlesex , † December 17, 1899 in Bideford , Devon ) was a British Lieutenant General and holder of the Victoria Cross . He fought in various British colonial wars.
Life
Crimean War - The Victoria Cross
Graham attended the military academies in Woolwich and Dresden from 1847 and became a second lieutenant in the engineering corps in 1850 . He took part in the Crimean War between 1854 and 1856 . There he fought in the Battle of the Alma and the Battle of Inkerman . For the attack on the fortifications of Sevastopol on June 18, 1855, he was awarded the Victoria Cross , Great Britain's highest award for outstanding bravery in the face of the enemy . In 1858 he became a captain and in 1859 a major .
In 1860, Graham was able to distinguish himself in the British - French expedition to China in the Second Opium War .
Anglo-Egyptian War
In 1881, Graham was promoted to major general . In 1882 he took part in the Anglo-Egyptian War under General Wolseley to suppress the Urabi movement . On August 28, his 2,000-strong brigade was attacked by Urabi Pasha's army near Mahsama while marching to Kassassin . Although this was superior to 5: 1, Graham was able to withstand.
On September 13, Graham led the 2nd Brigade in the decisive battle of Tel-el-Kebir in which Urabi Pasha was captured.
Mahdi uprising in Sudan
In Sudan the Mahdi uprising broke out in 1881 and the Mahdi - General Osman Digna had defeated Baker Pasha's army on February 4, 1884 at El-Teb and enclosed the forts of Tokar and Sinkat. Graham landed therefore in February 1884 with 5,000 men at Suakin to secure the important coast of the Red Sea . Most of the soldiers belonged to the British Indian Army , had taken part in the occupation of Egypt and were now on their way back to India . Graham defeated Osman Digna at the Battle of Teb on February 29 and reached Tokar on March 3. On March 13th, Graham was victorious again in the bloody battle of Tamanieh . When General Graham's troops withdrew from Sudan later that year, Osman Digna regained his old influence. On May 21, 1884, Graham was promoted to lieutenant general for this mission .
After the failure of the Gordon Relief Expedition by Garnet Joseph Wolseley , the British troops were withdrawn from Sudan, only Graham was ordered again to Suakin in 1885. He had the order to take action against Osman Digna again with 13,000 men. He also had the task of advancing from Suakin via Berber to the Upper Nile and enabling the construction of a railway line to connect these two places. On March 20, 1885, Graham defeated Osman Digna at Tamai and Hashin. 19 English miles had been built from the planned railway line in 1886 when prospects of war with Russia prompted the British government to abandon the company. In May Graham left Suakin and returned to England . Great Britain only tried ten years later through the campaign of Horatio Herbert Kitchener to recapture Sudan and defeat the Mahdists.
Sir Gerald Graham died on December 17, 1899 in Bideford, Devon, three weeks after the Mahdists at Umm Diwaykarat were finally annihilated. His Victoria Cross is in the Royal Engineers Museum in Gillingham, Kent .
Awards, honors, memberships
See also
literature
- Leigh Maxwell: The Ashanti Ring. Sir Garnet Wolseley's Campaigns 1870-1882 . Leo Cooper et al., London 1985, ISBN 0-436-27447-7 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Graham, Gerald |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Graham, Sir Gerald (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British Lieutenant General and winner of the Victoria Cross |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 27, 1831 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Acton , Middlesex |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 17, 1899 |
| Place of death | Bideford , Devon |