Henry Keary

Lieutenant-General Sir Henry D'Urban Keary (28 April 1857 – 12 August 1937) was a British Indian Army officer, who served in a number of colonial conflicts before commanding an Indian division on the Western Front during the First World War.

Early life Henry D'Urban Keary was born on 28 April 1857, the fourth son of William Keary, the manager and agent of the Holkham Hall estate in Norfolk, and his wife Anna (née Anna D'Urban Rodwell). He was educated at Marlborough College before attending the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; on passing out from Sandhurst in 1876, he was commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment as a second lieutenant. Later the same year, he was transferred to the Staff Corps and posted to India, where he took up a commission in the 1st Madras Native Infantry.

Indian service Keary was promoted to lieutenant shortly after his arrival, in 1877, and served with his regiment in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879-8 and the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885. From 1887 to 1892, with a promotion to captain, he raised and then commanded a battalion of military police in Burma, as part of the operations to secure British control in the newly annexed country. During this time, he was involved in the operations against Wuntho in 1891, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order as well as being mentioned in despatches. He relinquished command of the regiment (now named as the 91st Punjabis) in 1909, when he was appointed to command the 2nd Infantry Brigade of the 9th (Secunderabad) Division; in 1910, after being promoted to temporary brigadier general, he transferred to the Garhwal Brigade of 7th (Meerut) Division in November 1911. From February 1907 to 1912 he served as a personal aide-de-camp to the King, and was made a colonel on the staff and a temporary brigadier general while employed in this role.

In December 1911, he was promoted to major general. He was later made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

He commanded the brigade during its first months on the Western Front with "good initiative and tactical judgment",

The division was withdrawn from the front line in November 1915, and after resting in France arrived in the Mesopotamian theatre in April 1916.

Keary was promoted to lieutenant-general in 1917, and given command of the 7th Meerut Divisional Area in India in October 1917. He was later given command of the Burma Division in August 1918.

During the Anglo-Kuki War, in January 1919, there was a sudden uprising by the Kukis in Assam and Burma. Under the leadership of Lieutenant-General Sir Henry D'Urban Keary, sanctions were implemented, such as a ban on cultivation. The Kuki leaders were apprehended, and the local rebels were disarmed.

He retired from the Indian Army in December 1919.

Later career

Keary died on 12 August 1937, at his home in Surbiton Court, Surbiton, Surrey, leaving an estate of £191. His wife survived him, dying in 1940.

He was awarded Order of the White Eagle.