The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-03-20 00:00:00

FIELD-MARSHAL SIR WM; GOMM. G.C.B.

(From Tuesday's Time:.

We Ewe to record the death of nearly if not actu-
ally the oldest officer in Her Majesty's Service, Field-
Marshal Sir William Maynard Gomm, G.C.8.,
Colonel-in-Chief of the Coldstream Guards. When
Sir John Burgoyne passed away from among us, it
might have been thought that there was not an officer
living whose first commission bore an earlier date than
his own- but the world was so far mistaken, for the
first commission of Sir William Gomm bore date the
24th of May, 1794, and that of General Sir John
Foster Fitzgerald the 29th of October, 1793, four and
five years respectively anterior to that gallant officer.
It is, indeed, strange that we should be only now re-
cording the death of a soldier who had held the Sove-
reign's commission for nearly 80 years.
The son of the late Lieutenant-Colonel William.
Gomm, by a daughter of the late Mr. Joseph May-
nard, the future Field-Marshal was born in the
year 1782, or, according to another account, in 1784.
He entered the army as Ensign in the 9th Regiment
of Foot on May 24, 1794; and soon after that date,
when he was only 14, or at most 16 years of age, he
carried the colours of his regiment into action in
the campaign in Holland of that year, under the
Duke of York; from that date down to his re-
tirement from military employ at the close of his
Indian command, about 16 or 17 years since, he
had spent an almost uninterrupted career in active
service ; the only intermission vihich he appears
to have known having been the period during
which he was a student in the Senior Department
of the Royal Military College, where he obtained
no slight credit for his proficiency in military
science. He was promoted to a Lieutenancy on the
16th of November, 1794, obtained his Captaincy June
25, 1803, his Majority October 10, 1111, and his Lieu-
tenant-Colonelcy August 17, 1812. He served in the
operations on the Helder in the year 1799, including
the action of the 19th of September at Bergen.
In 1801 we find him accompanying the expedition
to the coast of France and Spain, under Sir James
Pulteaey. He also took part in the expedition to
Hanover, in 1805, and in that to Stralsund and
Copenhagen two years later. He was on active
service in the Peninsula throughout the campaign
of 1809, including the battles of Roleia, Vimieira,
and Corunna. He was present with the expedition
to Walcheren, and aLso at the siege of Flushing.
In 1810 he was ordered once more back to the
Peninsula, where he served during the remainder of
the war, acting during a large portion of that time
as Assistant-Quartermaster-General. He took part
in the battles of Busaco and Fuentes d'Onor, in the
assault and capture of Badajoz, in the battle of Sala-
manca, in the action at the Villa Muriel, and in the
battles of San Sebastian, Vittoria, and Nive. He
also took part in the campaign under the Duke of
Wellington in Flanders in 1815, including lie crown-
ing victory of Waterloo, where he acted as Quarter.
master-General to Sir Thomas Picton's "Fighting
Division." At the end of the war he received the
riband of a Knight Commander of the Order of the
Bath, and was one of the officers who, in recognition
of their distinguished services," were transferred from
the Line regiments to the Guards. He also received
the Gold medal and clasp from Badajoz, Salamanaca,
Vittoria, San Sebastian, and Nive, and the silver
medal with clasps for Roleia, Vimieira, Corunna,
Busaco, Fuentes d'Onor and Nivelle.

In May, 1829, he gained the rank of full Colonel,
and in January, 1837, rose to be Major-General. In
1840 he was appointed Commander of the Forces and
Lieutenant-Governor of Jamaica, and during the short
time he filled that post, by his urgent representations
to the Colonial Office he succeeded in establishing the
Barrack of Newcastle, which, from the salubrity of
its situation, led to a wonderful improvement in
the health of the European troops. On his return
in 1841 he was appointed to the command of the
Northern District. In November, 1842, he was
appointed Governor and Commander in-Chief in
the Mauritius, in the place of Sir Lionel Smith,
K.C. 8., which appointment he held to May, 1849.
In January, 1851, he succeeded General Sir Charles
J. Napier as Commander-in-Chief in India, and was
an extraordinary member of the Council till the end
of his services in India in December, 1855, one of the
most peaceful periods known in that dependency since
it belonged to the British Crown. In 1846 he was ap-
pointed Colonel of the 13th Foot, and was transferred
as Colonel of the Coldstream Guards in August, 1863.
In January, 1868, he was presented with the bdton of
a Field-Marshal, along with the late Sir Alexander
Woodford and Sir John Burgoyne. He was appointed
Constable of the Tower of London and Lord. Lieu-
tenant and Cnstos Rotulorum of the Tower Hamlets
on the death of Field-Marshal Sir John Burgoyne in
November, 1872.

The last honour conferred upon the Field-Marshal,
and one he greatly appreciated, was by the Emperor
of Russia on his recent visit to this country. His Im-
perial Majesty, learning that he was in good health,
appointed an interview with the Field-Marshal at
Buckingham Palace, and before leaving His Majesty
decorated him with the Imperial Order of St. Wladi-
mir. He was also an Honorary D.C.L. of the Univer-
sity of Oxford, and an Honorary LL.D. of Cam-
bridge.
The venerable Field-Marshal died shortly before two
o'clock on Monday morning at Brighton, where he had
resided during the winter. During the last five weeks
he had been gradually getting weaker, and latterly
was brought down every day to the drawing-room till
Saturday last, when he took to his bed, and passed
away yesterday morning at the above-mentioned hour
without the slightest pain and in full possession of all
his faculties.

The late gallant Field-Marshal was twice married—
firstly, in 1813, to Sophia, daughter of the late Mr.
Granville Penn, of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire (she
died in 1827) ; and secondly, in 1830, to Elizabeth
Anne, eldest daughter of the late Lord Robert Kerr,
and granddaughter of William John, fifth Marquis of
Lothian.