Augustus Spencer

Sir Augustus Almeric Spencer
Born 25 March 1807
Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
Died 28 August 1893
London
Allegiance United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1825-1875
Rank General
Commands held Bombay Army
Battles/wars Crimean War
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

General The Hon. Sir Augustus Almeric Spencer GCB (25 March 1807 - 28 August 1893) was a British Army officer and a member of the Spencer family.

Military career

Born the third son of Francis Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill, Spencer was commissioned into the 43rd Light Infantry in 1825.[1] He was given command of the 44th Regiment of Foot in 1845 and led that regiment at the Battle of Alma, at the Battle of Inkerman and at the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War.[1][2] He became commander of a brigade at Aldershot in 1856, General Officer Commanding a division of the Madras Army in 1860 and General Officer Commanding Western District in the UK in 1866.[1] He went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army in 1869 before retiring in 1875.[1] He died on 28 August 1893 and was buried at Brompton Cemetery in London.[3]

Family

In 1836 he married Helen Maria Campbell, second daughter of General Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet of Ava.[4][5] The couple had five daughters and a son.[6] One of Spencer's grandsons was the Reverend Canon Henry Spencer Stephenson, Chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.[7]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  2. Hart, Lieutenant General H. G. (1880). The New Army List Militia List and Indian Civil Service List. John Murray, London, England. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  3. "Funeral of Augustus Almeric Spencer". The Times Newspaper, London, UK. 5 September 1893. p. 3.
  4. Lodge, Edmund (1849). The Peerage of the British Empire as at present existing. Saunders and Otley, London, England. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  5. Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. Dean & Son Limited, Great Britain. 1902. p. 182. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  6. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1895). Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority, Part 1. Jack, Great Britain. p. 919. Retrieved 14 January 2014. Under Dame Helen Maria Spencer, Widow of Augustus Almeric Spencer
  7. Walford, Edward (1893). The Windsor Peerage for 1890-1894. Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly, London, England. p. 118. Retrieved 7 June 2014. See entry for Churchill, 3rd Baron

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Robert Napier
Commander-in-Chief, Bombay Army
18691874
Succeeded by
Sir Charles Staveley