Henry Augustus Smyth

For the general with a similar name, see Henry Smyth (British Army officer, born 1816).

Sir Henry Augustus Smyth
Sir Henry Smyth, by Francis Smyth Baden-Powell
Born	(1825-11-25)25 November 1825 St James's Street, London
Died	Stone, Buckinghamshire
Buried	Stone, Buckinghamshire
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1841–1893
Rank	General
Unit	Royal Artillery
Battles/wars	Crimean War
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Other work	Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth (1825–1906), KCMG, FSA, FRGS, was a senior British Army officer. He was the son of Admiral William Henry Smyth and the brother of astronomer Charles Piazzi Smyth and geologist Sir Warington Wilkinson Smyth. Of his sisters, Henrietta married the theologian Baden Powell and Georgiana the anatomist Sir William Henry Flower.

Military career

Born on 25 November 1825 in Westminster and educated at Bedford School, Smyth was commissioned as second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1843. He served in the Crimean War and was present at the Siege of Sevastopol. He became commandant of Woolwich garrison and military district in 1882 and General Officer Commanding the troops in South Africa in 1886. In 1888 Smyth mustered an army of 2,000 troops and left for Zululand to put down a rebellion there.

Smyth became acting Governor of Cape Colony as well as acting High Commissioner for Southern Africa in 1889. He became Governor of Malta in 1890 before retiring in 1893.

Family

On 14 April 1874 at Lillington, Warwickshire he married Helen Constance Greaves (1845-1932), daughter of John Whitehead Greaves and sister of John Ernest Greaves. They had no children. Smyth died on 18 September 1906 at Stone, Buckinghamshire, and was buried there.

References

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Attribution

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Government offices
Preceded by The Hon. Hercules Robinson	Acting Governor of Cape Colony Acting High Commissioner for Southern Africa 1889	Succeeded by Henry Loch
Preceded by Sir Henry Torrens	Governor of Malta 1890–1893	Succeeded by Sir Arthur Lyon Fremantle