Herbert Stewart

Herbert Stewart, contemporary engraving

Sir Herbert Stewart ( June 30, 1843 - February 16, 1885 ) was a British major general . He fought in various British colonial wars, for example in the Mahdi uprising .

Life

Steward was trained at Brighton College and later at Winchester College. He joined the British Army in 1863 . In 1868 he became a captain. For two years he served as an adjutant to the commanding officer of the Bengal Presidency of the British Indian Army . Upon his return from India in 1873, he joined the 3rd Dragoon Guards as a major. He attended staff college. In 1878 he was commanded to South Africa and fought in the Zulu War and the First Boer War . There he served intermittently as chief of staff of Garnet Wolseley . Steward then belonged to the so-called Ashanti ring , a group of officers under Wolseley, who had gained a significant influence on the Victorian British Army through mutual support . In 1882 he served as a staff officer in the cavalry division in the suppression of the Urabi movement in Egypt and fought in the battle of Tel-el-Kebir . After the battle he took part in Drury-Lowe's attack on Cairo and accepted the surrender of the citadel.

In February 1884 Steward under General Gerald Graham was sent to Suakin to secure the important Red Sea coast from the attack of General of the Mahdists Osman Digna . He had defeated Baker Pasha's army on February 4, 1884 at El-Teb and enclosed the forts of Tokar and Sinkat. Steward took part in the victorious Second Battle of El-Teb on February 29 and the Battle of Tamai. In both battles he led one of Graham's two brigades. For this he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath .

1884 took Stewart in the operation in the Sudan to rescue Gordon Pasha and to the relief of Khartoum by the Mahdi, the so-called Nile Expedition under Wolseley, in part. While the main force ( River Column ), under Major General William Earle (after his death Henry Brackenbury ), should advance from Kurti with steamers on the Nile, the so-called Camel Corps marched directly through the desert under Stewart. On December 30, 1884, Steward began his march from Kurti 185 miles towards Metemmeh. On its advance, the Camel Corps encountered an army of Mahdists near Abu Klea on January 17, 1885. Steward and his 1,500 men were able to defeat the vastly superior 10,000 Mahdists in the battle of Abu Klea . He continued to advance on Metemmeh and was attacked on January 19 near Gubat. Steward was fatally wounded and gave command to Sir Charles Wilson. This reached Khartoum two days after the city fell. Stewart lived long enough to be named major general and died on the way back from Khartoum to Kurti.

literature

• Michael Barthorp: Blood-red desert sand. The British Invasions of Egypt and the Sudan 1882-98 . Cassell Military Trade Books, London 2002, ISBN 0-304-36223-9 .
• W. Dennistoun Sword, Henry SL Alford: Egyptian Soudan. Its loss and recovery. With Records of the Services of the Officers (1896-8) . Macmillan, London et al. 1898, (Reprinted by Naval & Military Press Ltd, Uckfield 2001, ISBN 1-84342-100-3 ).