Thomas Montagu Steele

General Sir Thomas Montagu Steele GCB PC (Ire) (11 May 1820, Guilsborough, Northamptonshire – 25 February 1890 Frimley Park, Farnborough) was a British army officer.

Sir Thomas Steele
Steele in 1855, wet plate by Roger Fenton
Born11 May 1820 (1820-05-11)
Died25 February 1890 (1890-02-26) (aged 69)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
RankGeneral
Commands heldDublin District
Aldershot Division
British forces in Ireland
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

Life

As the eldest son of Major-General Thomas Steele and Lady Elizabeth Montagu, second daughter of the fifth duke of Manchester, he attended Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before being commissioned as an ensign in the 64th foot in January 1838. Exchanging into the Coldstream Guards on 20 July that year, he served as aide-de-camp to the governor of Madras (1842–48) rose to lieutenant in 1844, captain later that year and brevet lieutenant-colonel in 1851. Promoted to brevet colonel in 1854, he served as Lord Raglan and his successor's military secretary (1854–1855, apart from 5 July to 6 August 1855 when Steele served as assistant adjutant general - in that role he served at the battles of the Alma, Balaklava, Inkerman and Sevastopol, being mentioned in dispatches).

His rewards for his Crimean War service were promotion to brevet colonel (1854) and aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria (1855), appointment as a commander of the Order of the Bath (1855), the Order of the Mejidiye (third class), the Légion d'honneur (fifth class), and the order of St Maurice and St Lazarus (second class). He married his first wife Isabel Fitzgerald in 1856 and, on her death 2 years later, he remarried in 1865 to the American Rosalie Malvina McCarty of New York. Steele was promoted to the substantive rank of major in 1860 and the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel in 1862 before retiring to half pay on 24 November 1863. He was promoted to major-general in 1865 and then commanded the troops in the Dublin district (1 April 1872 – 31 March 1874). Promoted to lieutenant general in 1874, he commanded the Aldershot Division (14 April 1875 – 30 June 1880) and, having been promoted to full general in 1877, he commanded the British forces in Ireland (1880–85), finally retiring in 1887. He died in 1890 and was survived by his second wife.

Honours

  • commander of the Order of the Bath (1855)
  • the Order of the Mejidiye (third class, c 1855)
  • the Légion d'honneur (fifth class, c 1855)
  • the order of St Maurice and St Lazarus (second class, c 1855)
  • KCB (1871)
  • GCB (1887)
  • "Steele, Sir Thomas Montagu". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26349. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.). The first edition of this text is available at Wikisource: "Steele, Thomas Montague" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Horatio Shirley
Colonel of the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot
1874–1881
Consolidated into the Gloucestershire Regiment
Preceded by
Sir James Grant
GOC-in-C Aldershot Division
1875–1880
Succeeded by
Sir Daniel Lysons
Preceded by
Sir John Michel
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland
1880–1885
Succeeded by
Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar
Formed by the Childers Reforms Colonel of the 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment
1881–1884
Succeeded by
Charles Francis Fordyce
Preceded by
Sir William Codrington
Colonel of the Coldstream Guards
1884–1890
Succeeded by
Sir Arthur Edward Hardinge
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.