| Bellairs | William | | Lieutenant General | Was born August 28, 1828, at Honfleur. He is descended from the ancient family of De Beler, Bellers, or Bellars (as formerly variously spelt), of Melton Mowbray, and Kirby Bellars, Leicestershire, in which churches are still to be seen effigies of his ancestors. He is a son of Sir William Bellairs (d. 1863), a distinguished officer of the 15th King's Hussars, who saw much service during the Peninsular and at Waterloo, and was afterwards Exon of the Yeomen of the Guard at the Court of Queen Victoria. Sir William was educated privately, and entered the Army in 1846, retiring as a Lieutenant General in 1887. As Adjt. of the 49th (now the Royal Berkshire) Regiment, he was present at the battle of the Alma; as Captain at the Inkerman combat of the 26th October, and at the battle of Inkerman, where he led a charge with only three attenuated companies which overthrew and dispersed a strong Russian column-an episode related in Kinglake's brilliant pages. Later, when on the QM General's staff, he was present at the attacks on the Redan and fall of Sebastopol, being then rewarded with a brevet majority, French and Turkish honours, medals and clasps. He was one of the comparative few (about 100) combatant officers who fought through the Crimea from first to last. He subsequently served on the staff of the Adjutant and QM General's departments in the West Indies, Ireland, Gibraltar and South Africa; throughout the Kaffir and Zulu campaigns (South African medal, 1877-9, and distinguished service reward); then, as Brig. General Commanding the troops which successfully defended their seven isolated posts in the Transvaal-Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Marabastad, Lydcnburg, Standerton, and Wakkerstroom-surrounded as they were, for three months, by greater Boer forces. Sir William has likewise acted in various civil capacities-as Inspector General of Police, Barbados, 1857; Local Inspector of Army Schools, Gibraltar, 1868-73; Colonel Secretary, Gibraltar, 1872; Administrator, Natal, 1880; Member of Executive Council, Transvaal, 1880-1 and Administrator, Transvaal, 1881, after the war. Sir William wrote The Transvaal War, 1880-1, published in 1885 (Blackwood), The Military Career, and has contributed to reviews, &c. In 1902 the King selected him for the Colonelcy of the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment). Sir William was married: first,, in 1857, to Emily Craven, daughter of Wm. Barton Gibbons, JP, and second, in 1867, to Blanche St John, daughter of F A Moschzisker, PhD Sir William's eldest son, William G Bellairs is a Cape Colony and RM in the Cape, Colony. He has another son, Captain N E B Bellairs, RA, who took part in the Boer War, and a daughter, widow of Sir David Tennant, late Speaker of the Cape House of Assembly. | Unknown |
