Alfred Horsford

General

Sir Alfred Horsford
"The Beau ideal"
Horsford as caricatured by Spy in Vanity Fair, February 1877
Born3 April 1816[1][2]
Bath, Somerset
Died13 September 1885
Munlochy, Scotland
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Years of service1833–1880
RankGeneral
CommandsSouth-Eastern District
Battles / warsXhosa Wars
Crimean War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

General Sir Alfred Hastings Horsford GCB (3 April 1816 – 13 September 1885) was a senior British Army officer who went on to be Military Secretary.

Military career

Horsford was born in Bath, the son of Maj.-Gen. George Horsford and Mary Ann Brocksopp.[3] He was educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in 1833.[4]

He served in the Cape Frontier War in 1847 and was Commanding Officer of 1st Bn the Rifle Brigade during the 8th Xhosa War in 1852.[4]

He also served in the Crimean War and fought at the Battle of Alma, Battle of Inkerman, Battle of Balaklava and the early part of the Siege of Sevastopol.[4]

He served in the repression of the Indian Mutiny, having been made Commander of the 6th Brigade at the Capture of Lucknow.[5]

He was made Deputy Adjutant-General at Army Headquarters in 1860, a Brigade commander at Aldershot in 1866, Major-General on the General Staff at Malta in 1869 and General Officer Commanding South-Eastern District in January 1872.[6] He went on to be Military Secretary in 1874.[4]

In retirement he was involved in an accident when Frederick Gye, Manager of the Royal Italian Opera, was assisting Horsford over a fence. Horsford's gun went off and shot Gye in the eye.[7]

References

  1. ^ Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813–1914
  2. ^ UK, Officer Service Records, 1764–1932
  3. ^ Oliver, Vere Langford (1896). The History of the Island of Antigua: One of the Leeward Caribbees in the West Indies, from the First Settlement in 1635 to the Present Time. Mitchell and Hughes. p. 87. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Horsford, Sir Alfred Hastings (1818–1885), army officer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  5. ^ Historical Records of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, Page 132
  6. ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
  7. ^ General News Bruce Herald, 1879