Richard Harte Keatinge

Lieutenant General Richard Harte Keatinge (17 June 1825 – 25 May 1904) was an Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Life and career Keatinge was born in Dublin, the younger son of Richard Keatinge and Harriet Augusta Joseph, the third daughter of Samuel Joseph. His father was a successful barrister who served for many years as the Irish Probate judge. His mother came from a prosperous London merchant family. It was a religiously-mixed marriage, his father being a Protestant and his mother Jewish.

He was 32 years old, and a major in the Bombay Artillery, Bombay Army during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 17 March 1858 at the assault of Chundairee for which he was awarded the VC:

In 1862 he was transferred to the Royal Artillery and then to the Bombay Staff Corps of the British Indian Army.

In 1868, Colonel Keatinge designed Rajkumar College, Rajkot, which was formally opened in 1870. The college was founded for the education of the princely order by the princes and chiefs of Kathiawad for their sons and relations.

From 1871 to 1873 he was Chief Commissioner of Ajmer-Merwara.

He became the first Chief Commissioner of Assam in 1874, remaining in this position until 1878.

He later achieved the rank of lieutenant general.

In retirement, he settled at Horsham, Sussex, where he died in 1904. By his wife Harriet Pottinger, he had eleven children.

Legacy A road in the Indian city of Shillong, which was the capital of the British Province of Assam, where Keatinge had served as Chief Commissioner, has been named Keatinge Road in his honour.