Henry Hildyard

General Sir Henry John Thoroton Hildyard, (5 July 1846 – 25 July 1916) was a British Army officer who saw active service in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 and the Second Boer War. He was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa, from 1905 to 1908.

Early life The youngest of the three sons of Thomas Blackborne Thoroton-Hildyard, a member of parliament, of Flintham Hall, Flintham, near Newark, Hildyard was educated at Burney's Royal Naval Academy, Gosport. His brothers were Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard (1843–1928) and Robert Charles Thoroton Hildyard (1844–1885).

Military career Hildyard entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman and served in the navy from 1859 to 1864. In 1867, he joined the British Army, as an ensign in the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, later transferring to the Highland Light Infantry, in which he was lieutenant and adjutant for nearly seven years, and in 1876 was promoted captain. In 1877 he passed the Staff College and transferred into the Somerset Light Infantry, was promoted major in 1882 and brevet lieutenant colonel later the same year; colonel in 1886, and a temporary major general in 1898, made substantive the following year.

Hildyard served with the Egyptian Expedition of 1882 as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, and was at Kassassin and Tel el-Kebir, where he was mentioned in despatches, was employed with the Egyptian Army from 1883 to 1888, and was appointed an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria in 1886. From 1893 to 1898 he was on home postings, as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General and Assistant Adjutant-General at Headquarters, then as Assistant Adjutant-General at Aldershot and as Commandant of the Staff College, then commanded the 3rd Brigade at Aldershot from 1898 to 1899.

Hildyard remained in South Africa to command the 5th Infantry Division from April 1900 to 1901, during which time he took part in the Battle of the Tugela Heights. In October 1901 he returned to the United Kingdom as a lieutenant general temporary in command of the 1st Army Corps (the Aldershot Command), pending the return from South Africa of Sir John French, who was to receive the command in succession to General Sir Redvers Buller, recently dismissed. French returned to the United Kingdom after the war had formally ended in June 1902, but did not relieve Hildyard of the command until 15 September 1902.

The following year Hildyard was appointed to the new post of Director-General of Military Education and Training, serving only a year until 1904, when he became lieutenant general on the Imperial General Staff commanding troops in South Africa, 1904 to 1905. He was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa, from 1905 to 1908, and retired from service in 1911.

Private life In 1871, Hildyard married Annette, the daughter of Admiral James Charles Prevost, and they had three sons,

Hildyard died on 25 July 1916.

Publication Henry John Thoroton Hildyard, Historical Record of the Seventy-First Regiment, Highland Light Infantry (Reissued in paperback by Kessinger Publishing, 2007)

Decorations Most Honourable Order of the Bath CB: Companion – 1897 (1897 Diamond Jubilee Honours) GCB: Knight Grand Cross – 1911 (1911 Coronation Honours)