John Charles Ardagh
| John Charles Ardagh | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
9 August 1840 Rossmire, County Waterford |
| Died | 30 September 1907 (aged 67) Glynllivon Park, Caernarfon |
| Buried at | Church of St Mary & All Saints, Broomfield, near Taunton, Somerset |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1859 – 1902 |
| Rank | Major-General |
| Unit | Corps of Royal Engineers |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
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Major-General Sir John Charles Ardagh KCMG KCIE CB (9 August 1840 – 30 September 1907), was an Anglo-Irish officer of the British Army, who served as a military engineer, surveyor, intelligence officer, and colonial administrator.
Ardagh was the second son of William Johnson Ardagh (1798-1872), vicar of Rossmire, County Waterford, and Sarah Cobbold, of Ipswich. After attending school at Waterford, in 1857 Ardagh entered Trinity College, Dublin, intending to follow his father into the church. He won a prize in Hebrew and honours in mathematics, but eventually decided on a military career, taking first place in the examinations to enter the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1858, and receiving his commission as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers, dated 1 April 1859.
After training at the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham, Ardagh supervised the construction of Fort Popton, one of the new defensive works at Milford Haven, built under the terms of the Defence Act of 1860.
Early in the American Civil War, when tensions between Britain and the United States where raised as a result of the Trent Affair of November 1861, Ardagh was sent to the colony of New Brunswick to construct a military telegraph line to the St. Lawrence river. He embarked on the transport ship Victoria at Queenstown on 26 December 1861, but the ship was driven back to the port by storms. She sailed again on 13 February 1862, but was only saved from foundering by the exertions of Ardagh and his troops, which enabled her to reach Plymouth on 12 March. Ardagh's conduct was highly commended by the Commander-in-Chief, the Duke of Cambridge.
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