Ernest Gambier-Parry
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Major Ernest Gambier-Parry OBE |
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|---|---|
| Born |
25 October 1853 Highnam Court, Highnam, Gloucestershire, England |
| Died | 15 April 1936 (aged 82) Highnam Court, Highnam, Gloucestershire, England |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | Royal North Gloucester Militia Royal Welch Fusiliers Devon Yeomanry |
| Battles/wars | Suakin Expedition (1885) |
| Awards | Officer of the Order of the British Empire (1918) |
| Spouse(s) | Evelyn Elizabeth Palk |
| Relations |
Thomas Gambier Parry Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry |
| Other work | Author, musician, artist |
Major Ernest Gambier-Parry OBE (25 October 1853 – 15 April 1936) was a British military officer who participated in an expedition to the Sudan to avenge the grisly death of a renowned general in 1885. However, the wounds he sustained in that campaign ended his military career. Gambier-Parry was also known for his work as an author, musician, and artist. He succeeded to the manor at Highnam Court following the death of his half-brother Sir Hubert Parry. In addition, he preserved and archived the art collection that had been amassed by his father Thomas Gambier Parry; the masterpieces were eventually bequeathed to the Courtauld Institute of Art.
Ernest Gambier-Parry, son of Thomas Gambier-Parry and his second wife Ethelinda Lear, was born on 25 October 1853 at Highnam Court, Highnam, Gloucestershire. His father was an artist, philanthropist, and art collector. His half-brother was the composer Sir Hubert Parry, Thomas Gambier-Parry's son by his first wife Anna Maria Isabella Clinton. Another brother was the architect Sidney Gambier-Parry. His nephew Brigadier Sir Richard Gambier-Parry modernised communications at the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and was the communications consultant for Operation Tracer in Gibraltar during World War II. Ernest Gambier-Parry was educated at Eton, where he studied under William Evans, the drawing master at Eton, from 1866 to 1871.
Gambier-Parry served in the Volunteers. By 1871, he had joined the Royal North Gloucestershire Regiment of Militia as a lieutenant. He was promoted to lieutenant and, on 2 December 1874, he joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers (23rd Regiment of Foot) in that rank. Gambier-Parry became an instructor of musketry to the 2nd Battalion in 1880 and was at the Royal Citadel, Plymouth in 1881. He resigned as instructor of musketry on 22 August 1881. On 14 February 1883, he left the Royal Welch Fusiliers as a lieutenant, and joined the Devon Yeomanry, the Royal 1st Devon. On 12 February 1885, he was given the rank of captain in the army. Gambier-Parry participated as a special service officer in the Suakin Expedition of March 1885 commanded by Major-General Sir Gerald Graham VC, following the Siege of Khartoum, to avenge the murder of General Charles George Gordon in January 1885. The moments before Gordon's death and beheading were portrayed in the painting General Gordon's Last Stand (pictured) by George William Joy. The Suakin Expedition was also an attempt to change the course of the Mahdist War. During the Eastern Sudan campaign of March 1885, Captain Gambier-Parry was seriously wounded. That military campaign in the Sudan was the subject of his published work Suakin, 1885, which he penned during his convalescence. In the preface to that book, he requested "the indulgence of critics . . . on behalf of one who has carried a sword more often than a pen." He was appointed as a captain in the reserve of officers on 28 October 1885, and was subsequently promoted to the honorary rank of major on 7 May 1886 for his gallant conduct. He was invalided from the army and resigned his commission. During the First World War, he was commandant of No. 6 Red Cross Hospital in Oxfordshire, the Goring Auxiliary Hospital. Gambier-Parry was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1918. He was the president of the Gloucester Children's Hospital that had been established by his father. He was also a Gloucestershire magistrate.
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