# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/McQueen, John Withers

​McQUEEN, Sir JOHN WITHERS (1836–1909), major-general, born in Calcutta on 24 Aug. 1836, was the eldest of the three sons of John McQueen, chaplain of the Kidderpur Orphan Asylum in that city. McQueen was sent home at an early age and educated at Glenalmond College, Perthshire, under Bishop Charles Wordsworth [q. v.]. Before he had completed his seventeenth year he received a direct cadetship in the East India Company's military service, and returning to India he was appointed ensign in the 27th Bengal native infantry on 4 August 1854. On the outbreak of the Mutiny of the Bengal army in May 1857 the 27th proved unfaithful, and McQueen, who had been promoted lieutenant on 3 June in that year, was attached to the 4th Punjab rifles, one of the newly raised frontier regiments, which had been ordered by Sir John Lawrence to proceed to Delhi to assist in the siege of that fortress. On its way down country the 4th turned aside to take part in an attack on the Hindustani fanatics at Narinji on 21 July 1857, and reached Delhi on 6 Sept., after a march of 1035 miles, in time to engage in the assault on the city on the 14th, and the six days' continuous street fighting which ensued. Here McQueen soon earned a name for conspicuous bravery. On 19 Sept., accompanied by one sepoy, he reconnoitred up to the very gates of the King's Palace, thus enabling that important post to be captured with trifling loss (Lord Roberts, Forty-One Years in India, i. 247). Subsequently McQueen took part in the relief of Lucknow by Sir Colin Campbell [q. v.], and on 17 Nov. 1857 at the capture of the Secundarabagh, he was severely wounded; for his gallantry on this occasion he was recommended (without result) for the Victoria Cross. On 15 May 1858, after eleven months' continuous fighting, the 4th Punjab rifles marched back to the frontier, having lost thirteen out of fifteen British officers and upwards of 370 non-commissioned officers and men. For his services in the Mutiny McQueen was twice mentioned in despatches (Lond. Gaz. 28 July 1858 and 4 Feb. 1859), and received the medal with two clasps, besides being made adjutant of the regiment. In this capacity he took part in the expedition against the Kabul Khel Waziris on the Trans-Indus frontier in 1859 under Sir Neville Chamberlain [q. v. Suppl. II], and in April 1860 he was promoted second in command of his regiment. On 4 Aug. 1866 he was promoted captain, and on 10 June 1870 was appointed commandant of the 5th (now 58th) Punjab rifles. This corps he commanded in the Jowaki expedition under Sir Charles Keyes in 1877-8, being repeatedly mentioned in despatches, acquiring a reputation for personal gallantry, and for marked skill in mountain warfare. On the outbreak of the Afghan war in 1878 the 5th rifles was attached to the Kuram Valley column under the command of Sir Frederick (afterwards Earl) Roberts. Here McQueen's long service on the frontier, his knowledge of the various frontier tribes and of their languages, coupled with his wide experience of mountain warfare, proved most valuable to the commander-in-chief. At the forcing of the Peiwar Kotal on 2 Dec. 1878 and again in the operations round Kabul in December 1880 General Roberts bore testimony to McQueen's value as a soldier. For his services in the Afghan war McQueen received the medal with two clasps, the G.B., and a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy (Lond. Gaz. 4 Feb. 1879). In 1881 he commanded the 5th Punjab rifles in the Mahsud Waziri expedition under Brigadier-general T. G. Kennedy, C.B., and in December following he was made A.D.C. to Queen Victoria with the rank of colonel in the army. In Sept. 1885 he was promoted brigadier-general and given the command of the Hyderabad contingent, and on 15 Oct. 1886 he was transferred to the command of the Punjab frontier force. Two years later he commanded the expedition against the Black Mountain tribes on the Hazara border ​with the rank of major-general, and at the close of the campaign was given the K.C.B. Promoted major-general in 1891, McQueen vacated the command of the Punjab frontier force and returned to England, settling at Bath. He was advanced to G.C.B. on 22 June 1907, and died on 15 August 1909 at Richmond, Surrey, being buried at Wimbledon. In addition to his other honours McQueen wore Queen Victoria's jubilee and King Edward's coronation medals.
He married in 1872 Charlotte Helen, daughter of Major-general Charles Pollard of the royal (Bengal) engineers; his eldest son, Malcolm Stewart, was killed in the South African war in 1900; his surviving son, Lieutenant J. A. McQueen, is in the royal engineers; he also left two daughters.
[W. H. Paget, Record of Expeditions against the North West Frontier Tribes, 1884; Lord Roberts, Forty-One Years in India, 30th edit. 1898; The Official History of the Second Afghan War, 1908; H. B. Hanna, The Second Afghan War, 3 vols. 1899-1910; Sir J. L. Vaughan, My Service in the Indian Army; The Times, 16 Aug. 1909.]
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