Albert Henry Wilmot Williams
Sir Albert Henry Wilmot Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 February 1832 |
| Died | 29 October 1919 (aged 87) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1849–1894 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Battles / wars | Crimean War Indian Mutiny |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Mentioned in Despatches |
| Other work | Colonel Commandant Royal Horse Artillery |
Major General Sir Albert Henry Wilmot Williams, KCVO (7 February 1832 – 29 October 1919) was a British Army officer and courtier.
Early life and family
[edit]Albert Henry Wilmot Williams was born on 7 February 1832, the second son of Captain James Wilmot Williams (died 1845), of Herringston in Dorset, and his wife, Elizabeth Anne Magenis, daughter of Richard Magenis, of County Down, a member of Parliament, by his wife Lady Elizabeth Cole, daughter of William Cole, 1st Earl of Enniskillen.[1][2] The family were long-established members of the English landed gentry and the elder Williams had inherited his father's estate in 1757.[2] The younger Williams had four siblings: Edward Wilmot Williams, JP, DL (b. 1826), sometime an officer in the Bengal Cavalry and husband of a daughter of the 2nd Viscount Guillamore; Ashley George Wilmot Williams (b. 1834), who married, and lived at Cadlington, Blendworth, Horndean in Hampshire; Florence Elizabeth Wilmot Williams (d. 1887), who married Hon. St Leger Richard Glyn; and Gertrude Mary Wilmot Williams, who married Major General Sir Alexander Elliot.[3]
Military career
[edit]In December 1849, Williams was promoted from Gentleman Cadet to second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery.[4] Further promotions followed: lieutenant in 1851,[5] second captain (1856),[6] captain (1863),[7] and major (1872).[8] In 1875, he was made a lieutenant colonel and six years later a colonel. During his career, he saw active service in the Crimean War and in central Asia, and was mentioned in despatches during the Indian Mutiny.[9][10] In 1883, he was appointed a Colonel on the Staff in command of the Royal Artillery at Aldershot, in the place of Colonel William Reilly;[11] two years later, he was appointed an Extra Aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cambridge,[12] and then three years after that he was made major general on the staff commanding troops at Woolwich.[13] In 1892, Williams was made Deputy Adjutant General at the Artillery Headquarters;[14] in 1894, he was placed on retired pay and made an Extra Equerry to the Duke of Cambridge.[15][16] He remained in the Duke's service, eventually as an equerry, until the Duke's death in 1904, when Edward VII appointed him a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order.[17] The following year, he became Colonel Commandant of the Royal Horse Artillery.[18]
Williams never married. He was a member of the United Service and Turf clubs and died on 29 October 1919.[9]
Likenesses
[edit]- Portrait by Walter Stoneman; bromide print, 1917 (6 1/8 in. x 4 3/4 in./155 mm x 120 mm). Housed in the Photographs Collection, National Portrait Gallery, London (ref. number NPG x186167).
References
[edit]- ^ M. H. Massue, The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, Exeter Volume (reprinted 1994), p. 139.
- ^ a b J. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland (1833), vol. 1, p. 614
- ^ M. H. Massue, The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal, Exeter Volume (reprinted 1994), pp. 139–140.
- ^ London Gazette 1 January 1850 (issue 21055), p. 1.
- ^ London Gazette, 8 April 1851 (issue 21198), p. 955.
- ^ London Gazette, 29 February 1856 (issue 21855), p. 868.
- ^ The Edinburgh Gazette, 14 July 1863 (issue 7344), p. 867.
- ^ London Gazette, 16 July 1872 (issue 23876), p. 3191.
- ^ a b "Williams, Maj.-Gen. Sir Albert Henry Wilmot", Who Was Who (online edition), Oxford University Press, 2014. Retrieved 29 March 2017.
- ^ The London Gazette, 11 October 1881 (issue 25025), p. 5041.
- ^ London Gazette, 6 February 1883 (issue 25195), p. 664.
- ^ London Gazette, 9 June 1885 (issue 25478), p. 2638.
- ^ London Gazette, 17 April 1888 (issue 25808), p. 2198.
- ^ London Gazette, 22 November 1892 (issue 26347), p. 6585.
- ^ London Gazette, 16 February 1894 (issue 26485), p. 986.
- ^ London Gazette, 17 April 1894 (issue 26504), p. 2171.
- ^ London Gazette, 25 March 1904 (issue 27661), p. 1945.
- ^ Western Gazette, 31 October 1919, p. 4.