Henry Augustus Smyth

Henry Augustus Smyth, paper cutting by Francis Smyth Baden-Powell, National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Henry Augustus Smyth KCMG FSA FRGS (born November 25, 1825 in London , † September 18, 1906 in Stone) was a British officer.

Henry Augustus Smyth was born the third of three sons to Admiral William Henry Smyth and his wife Annarella. His father was a noted Royal Navy officer and astronomer , his mother the daughter of Thomas Warington, the British consul in Naples . In addition to the sons, the family had six daughters. His older brothers were the geologist Warington Wilkinson Smyth and the astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth . His sister Henriettea married the mathematician and theologian Baden Powell , his sister Rosetta William Henry Flower . Henrietta Grace Smyth and Baden Powell are the parents of Warington Baden-Powell , Robert Baden-Powell , Agnes Baden-Powell and Baden Baden-Powell . William Henry Flower and Georgiana Rosetta are the parents of Stanley Smyth Flower .

Crimea War Medal

Smyth was educated at Bedford School from 1834 to 1840 and entered military service at the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich in 1841 . On December 20, 1843 he was appointed second lieutenant of the Royal Artillery , promoted to lieutenant two years later . From 1847 to 1851 he served in Bermuda . With promotion to Second Captain in August 1851 he was to Halifax in time for the British Empire belonging Nova Scotia offset it joined 1854-1855 service on Corfu on. On April 1st of that year he was finally promoted to captain and transferred with his battery to the Crimea . His battery took part in the siege and storming of Sevastopol as part of the Second Division . Even after the Third Peace of Paris was concluded, Smyth and his battery remained in the Crimea until July 1856. He was awarded the British and Turkish Crimean medals for his services .

For the next five years, Smyth was used in the homeland, mainly in Shorncliffe . After the diplomatic tensions between the United Kingdom and the United States triggered by the Trent affair , Smyth took over his field battery from the Crimean War and moved it to New Brunswick . Even in Canada, he was on 12 February 1863 Brevet - Major promoted on 31 August 1865 finally to Lieutenant-Colonel . During his stay on the American continent, Smyth visited various sites of the Civil War . He was present in the Richmond case and was the only foreigner in the surrender of the Southern Army. In 1865 he returned to England. His observations and conclusions from the Civil War later found their way into the regulations of the Royal Artillery (Proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institution).

Smyth served in India from 1867 to 1874. There he was promoted to Brevet Colonel on August 31, 1870 . In 1872 a commission under his leadership supervised the introduction of guns with bronze tubes in the field artillery in India. The commission also made various attempts to use Indian gunpowder. His services to the artillery of the Indian Army were highlighted by the Governor General in May 1874. On January 16, 1875, Smyth was promoted to regular colonel. At the same time he was seconded to Germany to take part as an observer in the autumn maneuvers of the German Army . His findings from these observations were also incorporated into the Proceedings of the Royal Artillery Institution . As early as 1870/71, Smyth, seconded from India, had observed some operations during the Franco-Prussian War . From 1876 Smyth led the artillery in Sheerness , then from 1877 to 1880 he was artillery commander in the Southern District . During this time he was involved in the revision of the operational principles of the artillery, caused, among other things, by the introduction of guns with rifled barrel and howitzers . In 1876 and 1887 he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Artillery Institution for his contributions to the revision of the tactical and training regulations of the Field Artillery .

From 1881 to 1883 Smyth was a member of the Ordance Committee in Woolwich. This committee dealt with various technical questions of artillery armament and made recommendations for the British Army , but also for the Royal Navy , for whose artillery armament the committee was also responsible. For example, while he was on this body, steel was introduced as a material for gun barrels. In 1882 Smyth was promoted to major-general and in command of the garrison and military district at Woolwich. On November 1, 1886, he was promoted to Lieutenant-General .

Although now over sixty years old, Smyth was given another command in 1887 as Commander-in-Chief of British troops in South Africa . Shortly after his arrival, he put down an uprising in Zululand that had been formally annexed in 1887 . As a result of the crackdown on the riot, most of the Zulu fled to the Cape Province , where they dispersed. The ringleader, Dinuzulu ka Cetshwayo , was deported to St. Helena . In 1889/90, between the departure of Hercules Robinson and the arrival of Henry Loch , Smyth served as governor of the Cape Colony for a total of eight months . In 1889 Smyth became a Knight of the Order of St. Michael and St. George .

Just one year later, Smyth was on his appointment as governor and commander in chief (Governor and Commander-in-Chief) of Malta to Knight Commander appointed by this Order. On May 19, 1891, he was promoted to general . His 50th anniversary with the Royal Artillery was celebrated in Malta. At the end of the same year, Smyth left the island and retired. He moved into his father's house, St. John's Lodge in Stone, Buckinghamshire , which he had inherited.

Malta was appointed Honorary Commander (Colonel Commandant) of the Royal Artillery on October 17, 1894. He was also Honorary Colonel of the Royal Malta Militia , Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and the Royal Geographical Society .

Smyth died in his own home on September 18, 1906. He is buried in the Stone Cemetery, his last place of residence. He had been married to Helen Constance since April 14, 1874. There were no children from the marriage.

literature

• The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 53. Oxford University Press, 2004.

predecessor	Office	successor
Lieutenant-General Henry D'Oyley Torrens	Governor of Malta 1890-1893	General Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle