William Mansfield, 1st Baron Sandhurst

General William Rose Mansfield, 1st Baron Sandhurst, (21 June 1819 – 23 June 1876) was a British military commander who served as Commander-in-Chief of India from 1865 to 1870.

In Bombay now Mumbai, there is local train station named after Baron Sandhurst. Sanhurst Road station in Central Line.

Background and early life

Mansfield was born on 21 June 1819, in Ruxley, the fifth of the seven sons of John Mansfield of Diggeswell House in Hertfordshire, and his wife, Mary Buchanan Smith, daughter of General Samuel Smith of Baltimore in the United States. His grandfather was the prominent lawyer Sir James Mansfield, Solicitor General from 1780 to 1782 and in 1783 and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1804 to 1814. and Lord Chamberlain of the Household of George V, before being ennobled.

Military career Mansfield was educated at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned into the 53rd Foot as an ensign in 1835. He was mostly active in India and served in the Sutlej campaign of 1845 to 1846. and was employed in the Peshawar operations in 1851 and 1852,

In 1855, during the Crimean War, Mansfield was appointed military adviser to the Ambassador at Constantinople Lord Stratford de Redcliff, and accompanied him to the Crimea. Promoted to major-general on 18 May 1858, he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army from 1860 to 1865 and as Commander-in-Chief, India from 1865 to 1870. During this time, he was made Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (GCSI) and subsequently Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). Mansfield was then Commander-in-Chief, Ireland from 1870 to 1875.

In 1871, he was admitted to the Irish Privy Council

Sandhurst died in London on 23 June 1876, aged 57, and was buried at Digswell church, Hertfordshire.