Richard Hieram Sankey
| Sir Richard Hieram Sankey | |
|---|---|
Albumen Carte de visite from the National Portrait Gallery
|
|
| Born |
22 March 1829 Rockwell Castle, County Tipperary, Ireland |
| Died | 11 November 1908 (aged 79) St George's Hospital, London |
| Interred | Hove, Sussex |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
East India Company Army British Army |
| Years of service | 1846–1884 |
| Rank | Major General (Honorary Lieutenant General on retirement) |
| Unit |
Madras Sappers Royal Engineers |
| Commands held | Royal Engineer detachment, Kandahar Field Force |
| Battles/wars |
Indian Rebellion of 1857 Second Anglo-Afghan War |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of the Bath |
| Other work | Chairman, Irish Board of Works |
Lieutenant General Sir Richard Hieram Sankey KCB (22 March 1829 – 11 November 1908) was an officer in the Royal (Madras) Engineers in the East India Company's army in British India, later transferring to the British Army after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the assumption of Crown rule in India. The Sankey Tank in Bangalore which he constructed to meet the water demands of that city is named after him. The high court building in Bangalore, Attara Kacheri, was designed by him and built by Arcot Narrainswamy Mudaliar.
Richard Sankey was born in 1829 at Rockwell Castle, County Tipperary, Ireland on 22 March 1829. He was the fourth son of Eleanor and Matthew Sankey. Eleanor was herself from a family of military men, her father being Colonel Henry O'Hara, J.P of O'Hara Broom, County Antrim. Matthew Sankey was a barrister at Bawnmore, Co. Cork and Modeshil, Co. Tipperary. Richard Sankey did his schooling at Rev. Flynn's School on Harcourt Street in Dublin and entered the East India Company's military seminary at Addiscombe in 1845. At Addiscombe he was awarded for his excellence at painting.
He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Madras Sappers in November 1846, he was then trained in military engineering with the Royal Engineers at Chatham from 1 January 1847 (holding temporary rank as an ensign in the British Army). He then arrived in India in November 1848. After two years of service at Mercatur, he officiated in 1850 as Superintending Engineer at Nagpur. During this time he made a small collection of fossils of Glossopteris from the Nagpur district and wrote a paper on the geology of the region in 1854. The collection was moved from the Museum of Practical Geology to the British Museum in 1880. In 1856, he was promoted as the Superintendent of the East Coast Canal at Madras. In May 1857, he was promoted as the Under-Secretary of the Public Works Department under Col. William Erskine Baker in Calcutta. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, he was commissioned as the Captain of the Calcutta Cavalry Volunteers, but was soon despatched to Allahabad where he led the construction of several embankments and bridges across the Yamuna and Ganges. He was involved in the construction of shelters to advancing troops along the Grand Trunk Road to aid the quelling of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He arrived in course of this work at Cawnpore (now Kanpur) a day before the attack by Tantya Tope (Second Battle of Cawnpore). He also was involved in crucial civil works that aided the quelling of the rebellion by bridging the Gogra and Gomti rivers at Gorakhpur and Phulpur that enabled the Gorkha regiment to cross these rivers. He received several commendations from his commanders here and later in the taking of the fort at Jumalpur, Khandua nalla and Kaisar Bagh, vital actions in the breaking of the Siege of Lucknow. For his actions at Jumalpur he was recommended for the Victoria Cross, although he did not receive this honour. He received the a medal for the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and was promoted to second captain on 27 August 1858, and given brevet promotion to major the following day for his services in the quelling of the rebellion. He was sent to the Nilgiris due to ill-health during this time.
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