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Accession number	912L : 2090/3
Transcription	" Times " 8 March 1675 . THE LATE GENERAL SIR HOPE GRANT , G.C.B. Sir Hope Grant died at 6 30 yesterday afternoon at 42 , Grosvenor - gardens , the residence of his niece , the Baroness Gray . By his death the Queen has lost the services of one of the most distin guished officers in the annals of modern Eastern war fare . His illness , which ultimately proved fatal , originated in disease of the liver and coats of the stomach , brought on by upwards of 20 years ' service in India and China . " I always feel safe , " orclaimed Lord Clyde in the crisis of the Indian Mutiny , " when Hope Grant is at work . Whatever orders I give him I can rely on his carrying them out to the letter . " Higher praise no General can give . When long before either of them ventured to dream of more than achieving a modest competence and retiring after a long career on well earned pensions , his comrade , countryman , and future chief , who died a Peer of the Realin and Field Marshal , wrote to Grant from Peshawur " that he had one leg in the grave , and only served on in the hope of scraping up just enough of money to enable him to close the remainder of his days at home . " Grant , although he had seen hard - fought fields , and gone through much rough work in campaigning , probably , to use the words of the same man to him when they met years afterwards outside Lucknow , " would as soon have thought of becoming Arch bishop of Canterbury as of commanding a great army in the field ; " but it was reserved to him , after more than 30 years of toil as a regimental officer , to find fame , fortune , and promotion within his reach in the country in which he had passed so many years of his life . It is but a year since that , in a review of " The Incidents of the Sepoy Mutiny , " wrote : " we " Few of our readers need to be told who Sir Hope Grant is , or what he has done . Fortunate in opportunities of service , in the possession of friends , in a good constitution , and a cheerful spirit , Sir Hope Grant has been long before the eyes of the country as a distinguished leader of cavalry in the terrible revolt of 1857 , and as a successful General in - Chief during the expedition in which France and England obtained signal successes in the field , and estab Ashed what appear to be permanent relations with the Celestial Empire . ' But it is equally true that for many years it seemed as if these would not avail the gallant soldier . His exclusion from the honours so plenti fully bestowed on the field officers who served in the Crimea seemed likely to affect him in the same way as the chances which deprived many Peninsular soldiers of taking part in the victory of Waterloo marred their military prospects . James Hope Grant was the youngest son of Mr. Francis Grant , of Kil graston , a Perthshire squire , by the eldest daughter of Mr. Oliphant , of Rossie , Postmaster - General of Scotland . An elder brother is Sir F. Grant , President of the Royal Academy . In 1826 , at the age of 18 , he entered the 9th Lancers a Cornet by purchase . For 15 years he saw such service as changes of station be tween Ireland , Scotland , and England afforded him , and he must have looked forward with pleasure to the year 1840-41 , when , as he knew , his regiment was on the route for India . It happened , however , fortunately for him , that Lord Saltoun , who had been appointed to command a brigade in the war which had been declared with China , appointed him Brigade - Major . When the war with China was ended , Hope Grant joined his regiment in India , where the disasters of the Khyber Pass , notwithstanding the chastisement inflicted on the treacherous Afghans by the avenging armies of Nott and Pollock , had lowered the prestige of our rule , and inflamed the turbulent Sirdars of the Khalsa with the ambition to try con clusions with our armies . Sir Hugh Gough , who had conducted operations in China with success , was now Commander - in - Chief in India , and had just won his remarkable victory at Maharajpore when Hope Grant arrived at the head - quarters of his regiment . Many men now living must remember the anxiety and apprehension which existed not only in India but at home when the death of our ally , Runjeet Sing , left free scope to the hostile designs of his lieutenants and to the intrigues of his Court ; but we can scarcely appreciate the real danger unless we recollect how very dif ferent our position in India was then from what it is at the present day . The " Lion of Lahore " had created on our frontiers a formidable military power . Drilled by such men as Ventura and Avitabile , the Sikh Army possessed a power of strategical and technical movements such as no Native Army ever approached . It emulated , if not in strict spirit of discipline , certainly in courage and steadiness , the army of an European Power , and the excellence and number of its artillery gave the soldiers a full share of that confidence which is so valuable in the hour of combat . The Cavalry were showy and aumerous , and the Infantry , divided into regular corps and maintaining the regimental organization of its European teachers , presented a phenomena quite novel in Asia . In December , 1815 , the Khalsa crossed the Sutlej . Old soldiers who before and since have seen service in European wars declare that in that Sikh war they beheld as hard fighting as it was ever their fortune to survive . At Sobraon Major Hope Grant particularly distin guished himself . In the Punjab Campaign ( 1848-9 ) the 9th Lancers , now led by Hope Grant , played a distinguished part , and the name of the lieutenant - colonel , of which the gallant regiment has such good reason to be proud , became known as that of an officer of bravery and skill , who could at all times be de pended on to play his part with credit , and whose solid qualities were not marred by the adventurous spirit which sometimes afflicts cavalry officers . The 9th Lancers were not sent to the Crimea , where the recent experience and prudence of Hope Grant would have been invaluable on such an occasion as the Light Brigade charge on the 25th of October , 1854 ; and so he lost that famous opportunity of showing qualities which must have led to a large increase of honour . His former com panion in arms , Colin Campbell , fortunate at last , did not miss his share in that golden harvest of brevets , ribands , and medals , and the Cavalry Colonel must have been inclined to lament over the ill luck which kept him in India with no more active work than hunting and racquet playing , as he read the newspapers which recorded the names of his friends and comrades each as receiving some new reward of service . " But everything comes to him who waits . " The book in which Sir Hope Grant tells us how fame and rapid promotion came him is , as we have said , only a year old , and in the incidents of the Sepoy War we see reflected the characteristics of the man who wrote - very earnest , very simple , very devout - a believer in the ever active direct interference of Providence , with a sense of duty which constrained every action , steadfast to his friends , a dour enemy to rebel and mutineer , full of zeal , energy , and life . If he was more of the Roundhead than of the Cavalier , he had no ascetic horror of the smaller pleasures of ex istence , and he enjoyed the sports of the field so thoroughly that in the midst of the hardest march ing , alternating with constant fighting and alarms of war , he took every occasion of a good burst , lance in hand , after a wild boar , and in all his marches his violoncello was sure to figure in his scanty baggage . to It was before Delhi that he established his repu tation as a Cavairy General . When Lord Clyde was marching through Oude and Kohil cund , he had so little confidence in his offi cers ' discharge of one important duty that he made it his business to go round and see how his pickets were posted when the camp was pitched . He did not doubt the good intention or intelligence of the officers , but he said he could not feel satis fied till he had looked round , and it rarely hap pened that he had not occasion to make some altera tions . But when Sir Hope Grant was commanding the Cavalry at Delhi he did his duty so conscien tiously that Sir A. Wilson felt as secure against surprise as judicious outpost surveillance could make him . No sooner had Delhi fallen than Brigadier Grant led a column to Cawnpore to augment the forces which Sir Colin Campbell was assembling there for the reduction of Lucknow . The services he rendered during the Mutiny were warmly recognized . He was made Major - General and K.C.B. The nature of these services and the estimation in which they were held cannot be better explained than by quoting from the speech made by the present Earl of Derby in the House of Com mons , when moving the vote of thanks to the Govern ment and Army in India , on the 14th of April , 1859 . He said : " Sir Hope Grant , has , perhaps , been more constantly and actively engaged than any other officer who has taken a part in the suppression of the recent outbreak in India , He has , I believe , been mentioned more frequently than any other officor in despatches ; always in the front , always in the post of difficulty , a complete narrative of the ougage ments in which he has taken part , would in itself furnish a history not very imperfect of the whole of the operations of the war . Sir Hope Grant commanded a Cavalry Brigade at the Siege of Delhi ; led a column sent in pursuit of the enemy after the capture of that fortress in October 1857 : commanded a division at the relier of LuckLow in Nover ber , and at Cawnpore in the month of December of the same year . He also commanded a division at Lucknow in March , where , Lord Clyde said , he fully justified the expectations which had been formed of his high military qualities . He was again sent in pursuit of the rebels after the capture of Lucknow , and at Nawabgunj defeated a force of 16,000 of the enemy with a vastly inferior number , took nine guns , crossed the Goomtee , fought a battle on the Gogra , and on that occasion was complimented by Lord Clyde , who said that he had given effect to his instructions in his usual brilliant manner . " In his despatch , dated the 7th of January , 1859 , Lord Clyde adds : Sir Hope Grant's despatches during the last six months have told the story of the admirable part taken by him in this war . I cannot say too much in his praise . He has the rare merit of uniting the greatest boldness in action to a firm and correct judgment , and the most scrupulous regard for his orders and instructions . " " . Lord Granville , on the same day , in the House of Lords , said - " The achievements performed by Sir Hope Grant and Sir Hugh Rose seem more like the prodigies of valour recounted in the pages of an ancient romance than actual historical events ocurring in our own times . " An admirable Nor was this eulogy overstrained . horseman , possessing perfect sang froid in action , which was combined with that personal courage so requisite in a cavalry leades , his activity and energy were rewarded by the most brilliant successes ; and to have belonged to " Grant's Field Force " was the pride and boast of many an aspiring soldier . It is unnecessary here to follow him during the remainder of the war . It may be sufficient to say that for nearly two years he was constantly in the field , at all times and seasons , and with the same unvarying success in the operations intrusted to him . When the repulse of the allied squadrons by the Peiho Forts rendered it incumbent on France and England to restore the credit of their arms and to abate the arrogance of the Court of Pekin , the Army which was organized by the Government to co - operate with the force furnished by France was put under the command of Sir Hope Grant . It seemed a hazardous selection , but the result justi fied the choice if the signal success of the Expedi tion be taken as a criterion of the merits of the General who led it . To place an army in the hands of a cavelry officer was rather opposed to the tradi tions to choose a man of Indian service , whom the French might regard as Napoleon did that " Sepoy General " from whose hands he met his fate , to com mand the English part of an Anglo - French Expedi tion , in which the relations between the allies , always difficult in operations in the field , were liable to the control of diplomatic personages , in which the English General must obey and support his own Plenipotentiary - showed extraordinary faith on the part of the Government in Sir Hope Grant's tact , firmness , and conciliatory power . It is enough to say that in four months the alles marched triumphantly from the sea to the city of Pekin , routing the Chinese again and again , storming the Taku Forts , occupying the Imperial Palace , and exacting a Treaty from the Chinese which has endured up to this day . Sir Hope Grant was created a General and G.C.B. for his services in China , while General Mon tauban was created a Marshal of France . In 1865 Sir Hope was appointed Quartermaster - General at the Horse Guards , and in 1870 to the command of the Camp at Aldershott , in succession to Sir James Scarlett - a post which he held up to the day of his death . At Aldershott he evinced the utmost solicitude for the well - being of the men , but it may be said that in his great Field Days he was rather disposed to assign a larger share than recent tacticians are inclined to teach to the uses of cavalry , and was , as umpire , prone to put infantry out of action for indiscreet exposure to artillery fire . In his private life he was distinguished by the simpli city of his tastes , the force of his convictions , and the warmth of his friendship , and those who served with him were speedily imbued with a deep respect for his high qualities and directness of method in dealing with affairs . There was " no trouble " at Alder shott , any more than there was in his regi ment , while he was in coinmand , and it may be taken as the best praise of the regimental systein and of Indian service that it produced one so capable of maintaining the reputation of our arms and of our name in any field in the world . The death of Sir Hope Grant will be deeply lamented by the whole British Army . He was in truth as much respected for his qualities as a most gallant British soldie as he was beloved for his simple - minded kindness of heart , and above all for his earnest and practical piety . His commissions bore date - Cornet , 1826 ; Lieutenant , 1828 ; Cap tain , 1835 ; Major , 1842 ; Brevet Lieutenant Colonel , 1849 ; Lieutenant - Colonel , 1850 ; Colonel , 1854 ; Major - General , 1858 ; Lieutenant - General , 1864 General , 1872 . Daily news " - 8. March 1875 . One of the gallantest soldiers and modestest of Christian gentlemen of this our time went out from among us last evening when there closed in death the eyes of grey old chief of the Aldershot division . The gallant general died at half - past six o'clock at the house of his niece in Grosvenor - gardens , London , where he had been lying ill for some time . Come of a race whose right hands went ever promptly and with instinc tive joy to their sword hilts , the lithe old Lancer officer was never far behind the fugleman , his sovereign , when the order " Draw swords ! " rang out along the front of the British squadrons . But fighting man as he was by breeding , sabreur as he was , by instinct and profession , there yet was in him & simple earnest godliness which won him a strange sway over rough men of whom it seemed that in the words of Paul " they cared for none of these things . " He had many attributes hardly to be guessed at by those who saw him only as the curt and somewhat stern chief in the field , or on the parade ground . There ran through his cha racter a vein of quaint racy humour which made his conversation very entertaining , and which fre quently crops up in his published journals . The genially paternal interest which he took in the wel fare of young officers , his unwearying solicitude for the comfort and moral and physical well being of his men , his chivalrous ardour in calling attention to merit and conduct wherever dis played , his loyalty to his friends , and the whole souled self - discipline which restrained him from a murmur when to others were awarded opportu nities and positions which by common consent were his deserts - all these traits mark the cha racter of James Hope Grant as at once rare and beautiful .

Accession number

912L : 2090/3

Transcription

" Times " 8 March 1675 .
THE LATE GENERAL SIR HOPE GRANT ,
G.C.B.
Sir Hope Grant died at 6 30 yesterday afternoon at 42 , Grosvenor - gardens , the residence of his niece , the Baroness Gray . By his death the Queen has lost the services of one of the most distin guished officers in the annals of modern Eastern war fare . His illness , which ultimately proved fatal , originated in disease of the liver and coats of the stomach , brought on by upwards of 20 years ' service in India and China .
" I always feel safe , " orclaimed Lord Clyde in the crisis of the Indian Mutiny , " when Hope Grant is at work . Whatever orders I give him I can rely on his carrying them out to the letter . " Higher praise no General can give . When long before either of them ventured to dream of more than achieving a modest competence and retiring after a long career on well earned pensions , his comrade , countryman , and future chief , who died a Peer of the Realin and Field Marshal , wrote to Grant from Peshawur " that he had one leg in the grave , and only served on in the hope of scraping up just enough of money to enable him to close the remainder of his days at home . " Grant , although he had seen hard - fought fields , and gone through much rough work in campaigning , probably , to use the words of the same man to him when they met years afterwards outside Lucknow , " would as soon have thought of becoming Arch bishop of Canterbury as of commanding a great army in the field ; " but it was reserved to him , after more than 30 years of toil as a regimental officer , to find fame , fortune , and promotion within his reach in the country in which he had passed so many years of his life . It is but a year since that , in a review of " The Incidents of the Sepoy Mutiny , " wrote :
" we
" Few of our readers need to be told who Sir Hope Grant is , or what he has done . Fortunate in opportunities of service , in the possession of friends , in a good constitution , and a cheerful spirit , Sir Hope Grant has been long before the eyes of the country as a distinguished leader of cavalry in the terrible revolt of 1857 , and as a successful General in - Chief during the expedition in which France and England obtained signal successes in the field , and estab Ashed what appear to be permanent relations with the Celestial Empire . '
But it is equally true that for many years it seemed as if these would not avail the gallant soldier . His exclusion from the honours so plenti fully bestowed on the field officers who served in the Crimea seemed likely to affect him in the same way as the chances which deprived many Peninsular soldiers of taking part in the victory of Waterloo marred their military prospects . James Hope Grant was the youngest son of Mr. Francis Grant , of Kil graston , a Perthshire squire , by the eldest daughter of Mr. Oliphant , of Rossie , Postmaster - General of Scotland . An elder brother is Sir F. Grant , President of the Royal Academy . In 1826 , at the age of 18 , he entered the 9th Lancers a Cornet by purchase . For 15 years he saw such service as changes of station be tween Ireland , Scotland , and England afforded him , and he must have looked forward with pleasure to the year 1840-41 , when , as he knew , his regiment was on the route for India . It happened , however , fortunately for him , that Lord Saltoun , who had been appointed to command a brigade in the war which had been declared with China , appointed him Brigade - Major .
When the war with China was ended , Hope Grant joined his regiment in India , where the disasters of the Khyber Pass , notwithstanding the chastisement inflicted on the treacherous Afghans by the avenging armies of Nott and Pollock , had lowered the prestige of our rule , and inflamed the turbulent Sirdars of the Khalsa with the ambition to try con clusions with our armies . Sir Hugh Gough , who had conducted operations in China with success , was now Commander - in - Chief in India , and had just won his remarkable victory at Maharajpore when Hope Grant arrived at the head - quarters of his regiment . Many men now living must remember the anxiety and apprehension which existed not only in India but at home when the death of our ally , Runjeet Sing , left free scope to the hostile designs of his lieutenants and to the intrigues of his Court ; but we can scarcely appreciate the real danger unless we recollect how very dif ferent our position in India was then from what it is at the present day . The " Lion of Lahore " had created on our frontiers a formidable military power . Drilled by such men as Ventura and Avitabile , the Sikh Army possessed a power of strategical and technical movements such as no Native Army ever approached . It emulated , if not in strict spirit of discipline , certainly in courage and steadiness , the army of an European Power , and the excellence and number of its artillery gave the soldiers a full share of that confidence which is so valuable in the hour of combat . The Cavalry were showy and aumerous , and the Infantry , divided into regular corps and maintaining the regimental organization of its European teachers , presented a phenomena quite novel in Asia . In December , 1815 , the Khalsa crossed the Sutlej . Old soldiers who before and since have seen service in European wars declare that in that Sikh war they beheld as hard fighting as it was ever their fortune to survive . At Sobraon Major Hope Grant particularly distin guished himself .
In the Punjab Campaign ( 1848-9 ) the 9th Lancers , now led by Hope Grant , played a distinguished part , and the name of the lieutenant - colonel , of which the gallant regiment has such good reason to be proud , became known as that of an officer of bravery and skill , who could at all times be de pended on to play his part with credit , and whose solid qualities were not marred by the adventurous spirit which sometimes afflicts cavalry officers . The 9th Lancers were not sent to the Crimea , where the recent experience and prudence of Hope Grant would have been invaluable on such an occasion as the Light Brigade charge on the 25th of October , 1854 ; and so he lost that famous opportunity of showing qualities which must have led to a large increase of honour . His former com panion in arms , Colin Campbell , fortunate at last , did not miss his share in that golden harvest of brevets , ribands , and medals , and the Cavalry Colonel must have been inclined to lament over the ill luck which kept him in India with no more active work than hunting and racquet playing , as he read the newspapers which recorded the names of his friends and comrades each as receiving some new reward of service . " But everything comes to him who waits . " The book in which Sir Hope Grant tells us how fame and rapid promotion came him is , as we have said , only a year old , and in the incidents of the Sepoy War we see reflected the characteristics of the man who wrote - very earnest , very simple , very devout - a believer in the ever active direct interference of Providence , with a sense of duty which constrained every action , steadfast to his friends , a dour enemy to rebel and mutineer , full of zeal , energy , and life . If he was more of the Roundhead than of the Cavalier , he had no ascetic horror of the smaller pleasures of ex istence , and he enjoyed the sports of the field so thoroughly that in the midst of the hardest march ing , alternating with constant fighting and alarms of war , he took every occasion of a good burst , lance in hand , after a wild boar , and in all his marches his violoncello was sure to figure in his scanty baggage .
to
It was before Delhi that he established his repu tation as a Cavairy General . When Lord Clyde was marching through Oude and Kohil cund , he had so little confidence in his offi cers ' discharge of one important duty that he made it his business to go round and see how his pickets were posted when the camp was pitched . He did not doubt the good intention or intelligence of the officers , but he said he could not feel satis fied till he had looked round , and it rarely hap pened that he had not occasion to make some altera tions . But when Sir Hope Grant was commanding the Cavalry at Delhi he did his duty so conscien tiously that Sir A. Wilson felt as secure against surprise as judicious outpost surveillance could make him . No sooner had Delhi fallen than Brigadier Grant led a column to Cawnpore to augment the forces which Sir Colin Campbell was assembling there for the reduction of Lucknow . The services he rendered during the Mutiny were warmly recognized . He was made Major - General and K.C.B. The nature of these services and the estimation in which they were held cannot be better explained than by quoting from the speech made by the present Earl of Derby in the House of Com mons , when moving the vote of thanks to the Govern ment and Army in India , on the 14th of April , 1859 . He said :
" Sir Hope Grant , has , perhaps , been more constantly and actively engaged than any other officer who has taken a part in the suppression of the recent outbreak in India , He has , I believe , been mentioned more frequently than any other officor in despatches ; always in the front , always in the post of difficulty , a complete narrative of the ougage ments in which he has taken part , would in itself furnish a history not very imperfect of the whole of the operations of the war . Sir Hope Grant commanded a Cavalry Brigade at the Siege of Delhi ; led a column sent in pursuit of the enemy after the capture of that fortress in October 1857 : commanded a division at the relier of LuckLow in Nover ber , and at Cawnpore in the month of December of the same year . He also commanded a division at Lucknow in March , where , Lord Clyde said , he fully justified the expectations which had been formed of his high military qualities . He was again sent in pursuit of the rebels after the capture of Lucknow , and at Nawabgunj defeated a force of 16,000 of the enemy with a vastly inferior number , took nine guns , crossed the Goomtee , fought a battle on the Gogra , and on that occasion was complimented by Lord Clyde , who said that he had given effect to his instructions in his usual brilliant manner .
" In his despatch , dated the 7th of January , 1859 , Lord Clyde adds : Sir Hope Grant's despatches during the last six months have told the story of the admirable part taken by him in this war . I cannot say too much in his praise . He has the rare merit of uniting the greatest boldness in action to a firm and correct judgment , and the most scrupulous regard for his orders and instructions . " " .
Lord Granville , on the same day , in the House of Lords , said -
" The achievements performed by Sir Hope Grant and Sir Hugh Rose seem more like the prodigies of valour recounted in the pages of an ancient romance than actual historical events ocurring in our own times . "
An admirable Nor was this eulogy overstrained . horseman , possessing perfect sang froid in action , which was combined with that personal courage so requisite in a cavalry leades , his activity and energy were rewarded by the most brilliant successes ; and to have belonged to " Grant's Field Force " was the pride and boast of many an aspiring soldier . It is unnecessary here to follow him during the remainder of the war . It may be sufficient to say
that for nearly two years he was constantly in the field , at all times and seasons , and with the same unvarying success in the operations intrusted to him .
When the repulse of the allied squadrons by the Peiho Forts rendered it incumbent on France and England to restore the credit of their arms and to abate the arrogance of the Court of Pekin , the Army which was organized by the Government to co - operate with the force furnished by France was put under the command of Sir Hope Grant . It seemed a hazardous selection , but the result justi fied the choice if the signal success of the Expedi tion be taken as a criterion of the merits of the General who led it . To place an army in the hands of a cavelry officer was rather opposed to the tradi tions to choose a man of Indian service , whom the French might regard as Napoleon did that " Sepoy General " from whose hands he met his fate , to com mand the English part of an Anglo - French Expedi tion , in which the relations between the allies , always difficult in operations in the field , were liable to the control of diplomatic personages , in which the English General must obey and support his own Plenipotentiary - showed extraordinary faith on the part of the Government in Sir Hope Grant's tact , firmness , and conciliatory power . It is enough to say that in four months the alles marched triumphantly from the sea to the city of Pekin , routing the Chinese again and again , storming the Taku Forts , occupying the Imperial Palace , and exacting a Treaty from the Chinese which has endured up to this day .
Sir Hope Grant was created a General and G.C.B. for his services in China , while General Mon tauban was created a Marshal of France . In 1865 Sir Hope was appointed Quartermaster - General at the Horse Guards , and in 1870 to the command of the Camp at Aldershott , in succession to Sir James Scarlett - a post which he held up to the day of his death . At Aldershott he evinced the utmost solicitude for the well - being of the men , but it may be said that in his great Field Days he was rather disposed to assign a larger share than recent tacticians are inclined to teach to the uses of cavalry , and was , as umpire , prone to put infantry out of action for indiscreet exposure to artillery fire . In his private life he was distinguished by the simpli city of his tastes , the force of his convictions , and the warmth of his friendship , and those who served with him were speedily imbued with a deep respect for his high qualities and directness of method in dealing with affairs . There was " no trouble " at Alder shott , any more than there was in his regi ment , while he was in coinmand , and it may be taken as the best praise of the regimental systein and of Indian service that it produced one so capable of maintaining the reputation of our arms and of our name in any field in the world .
The death of Sir Hope Grant will be deeply lamented by the whole British Army . He was in truth as much respected for his qualities as a most gallant British soldie as he was beloved for his simple - minded kindness of heart , and above all for his earnest and practical piety . His commissions bore date - Cornet , 1826 ; Lieutenant , 1828 ; Cap tain , 1835 ; Major , 1842 ; Brevet Lieutenant Colonel , 1849 ; Lieutenant - Colonel , 1850 ; Colonel , 1854 ; Major - General , 1858 ; Lieutenant - General , 1864 General , 1872 .
Daily news " - 8. March 1875 .
One of the gallantest soldiers and modestest of Christian gentlemen of this our time went out from among us last evening when there closed in death the eyes of grey old chief of the Aldershot division . The gallant general died at half - past six o'clock at the house of his niece in Grosvenor - gardens , London , where he had been lying ill for some time . Come of a race whose right hands went ever promptly and with instinc tive joy to their sword hilts , the lithe old Lancer officer was never far behind the fugleman , his sovereign , when the order " Draw swords ! " rang out along the front of the British squadrons . But fighting man as he was by breeding , sabreur as he was , by instinct and profession , there yet was in him & simple earnest godliness which won him a strange sway over rough men of whom it seemed that in the words of Paul " they cared for none of these things . " He had many attributes hardly to be guessed at by those who saw him only as the curt and somewhat stern chief in the field , or on the parade ground . There ran through his cha racter a vein of quaint racy humour which made his conversation very entertaining , and which fre quently crops up in his published journals . The genially paternal interest which he took in the wel fare of young officers , his unwearying solicitude for the comfort and moral and physical well being of his men , his chivalrous ardour in calling attention to merit and conduct wherever dis played , his loyalty to his friends , and the whole souled self - discipline which restrained him from a murmur when to others were awarded opportu nities and positions which by common consent were his deserts - all these traits mark the cha racter of James Hope Grant as at once rare and beautiful .

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