Field Marshal The Right Honourable The Viscount Hardinge GCB, PC, PC (Ire) |
|
---|---|
Governor-General of India | |
In office 1844–1848 |
|
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister |
Sir Robert Peel Lord John Russell |
Preceded by |
William Wilberforce Bird As Acting Governor-General |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Dalhousie |
Personal details | |
Born |
Wrotham, Kent, England |
30 March 1785
Died | 24 September 1856 Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England |
(aged 71)
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Years of service | 1799–1856 |
Rank | Field Marshal |
Commands | Commander-in-Chief of the British Army |
Battles/wars | |
Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath |
Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge GCB, PC, PC (Ire) (30 March 1785 – 24 September 1856) was a British Army officer and politician. After serving in the Peninsula War and the Waterloo Campaign he became Secretary at War in Wellington's ministry. After a tour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1830 he became Secretary at War again in Sir Robert Peel's cabinet. He went on to be Governor-General of India at the time of the First Anglo-Sikh War and then Commander-in-Chief of the Forces during the Crimean War.
Born the son of the Reverend Henry Hardinge, Rector of Stanhope, and Frances Hardinge (née Best) and educated at Durham School, Hardinge entered the British Army on 23 July 1799 as an ensign in the Queen's Rangers, a corps then stationed in Upper Canada. He was promoted to lieutenant by purchase in the 4th Regiment of Foot on 27 March 1802 and transferred to the 1st Regiment of Foot on 11 July 1803 before becoming a captain of a company by purchase in the 57th Regiment of Foot on 21 April 1804. In February 1806 he was sent to the newly formed Staff College at High Wycombe.