| Field Marshal The Right Honourable The Viscount Hardinge GCB, PC |
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|---|---|
| Governor-General of India | |
| In office 1844–1848 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Sir Robert Peel Lord John Russell |
| Preceded by | William Wilberforce Bird As Acting Governor-General |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Dalhousie |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 March 1785 Wrotham, Kent, England |
| Died | 24 September 1856 Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | British Empire |
| Service/branch | British Army |
| Years of service | 1799–1856 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Commands | Commander-in-Chief of the Forces |
| Battles/wars | Peninsula War Waterloo Campaign First Anglo-Sikh War Crimean War |
| Awards | GCB |
Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, GCB, PC (30 March 1785 – 24 September 1856) was a British field marshal and Governor-general of India.
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He was born at Wrotham in Kent. After attending Durham School he entered the British Army in 1799 as an ensign in the Queen's Rangers, a corps then stationed in Upper Canada.[1] His first active service was at the Battle of Vimeiro, where he was wounded, and at Corunna he was by the side of Sir John Moore when the latter was killed.[1] Subsequently he was appointed deputy-quartermaster-general in the Portuguese army and was present at many of the battles of the Peninsular War.[1] At Albuera, in 1811, he saved the day for the British by taking the responsibility at a critical moment of strongly urging General Cole's division to advance.[1] He was wounded again at Battle of Vitoria in 1813.[1]
When war broke out again in 1815 after Napoleon's escape from Elba, Hardinge returned to active service as a brigadier.[1] He was present at the Battle of Ligny on June 16, 1815, where he lost his left hand by a shot, and thus was not present at Waterloo two days later.[1] Wellington presented him with a sword that had belonged to Napoleon.[1]
In 1820 and 1826 Sir Henry Hardinge was returned to parliament as member for Durham, and in 1828 he accepted the office of secretary at war in Wellington's ministry, a post which he also filled in Sir Robert Peel's cabinet in 1841-1844.[1] In 1830 and 1834-1835 he was chief secretary for Ireland.[1] In 1844 he succeeded Lord Ellenborough as governor-general of India.[1] During his term of office the first Sikh War broke out and Hardinge, waiving his right to the supreme command, offered to serve as second in command under Sir Hugh Gough.[1] After the successful termination of the campaign he was created Viscount Hardinge of Lahore and of King's Newton in Derbyshire.[1]
He returned to England in 1848, and in 1852 succeeded the Duke of Wellington as commander-in-chief of the British army.[1] While in this position he had responsibility for the direction of the Crimean War, which he endeavoured to conduct on Wellington's principles - a system not altogether suited to the changed mode of warfare.[1] In 1855 he was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal.[1]
A commission was set up to investigate the failings of the British military during the Crimean campaign.[1] As Hardinge was delivering the report of the commission to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, he collapsed with a stroke.[1] Albert helped him to a sofa, where despite being paralysed on one side, he continued to deliver his report, apologizing for the interruption.[2] Viscount Hardinge resigned his office of commander-in-chief in July 1856, owing to failing health, and died later in the same year at South Park near Tunbridge Wells.[1]
In 1821 he married Lady Emily Jane, seventh daughter of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry.[1] His elder son, Charles Stewart (1822–1894), who had been his private secretary in India, was the 2nd Viscount Hardinge; and the latter's eldest son, Henry, succeeded to the title. The younger son of the 2nd Viscount, Charles Hardinge (b. 1858), became a prominent diplomatist, and was appointed Viceroy of India in 1910, being created Baron Hardinge of Penshurst.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.