Richard Taylor ( British Army officer ) General Sir Richard Chambré Hayes Taylor , GCB ( 19 March 1819 – 6 December 1904 ) was a senior British Army officer who served in the Second Anglo - Burmese War , the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny . Joining the General Staff in 1860 , he was the British Army ' s Inspector General of Recruiting , then Deputy Adjutant - General to the Forces , briefly Adjutant - General , and finally for three years Governor of the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . He was also Colonel of the Queen ' s Own Cameron Highlanders and the East Surrey Regiment . Some members of the family preferred the spelling Taylour . Early life . Born in Dublin in 1819 , Taylor was a younger son of the Hon . and Rev . Henry Edward Taylor ( 1768 – 1852 ) by his marriage in 1807 to Marianne , a daughter of Colonel Richard St Leger , second son of St Leger , 1st Viscount Doneraile ( died 1787 ) . Taylor ' s father was the fifth son of Thomas Taylor , 1st Earl of Bective , and was a younger brother of the first Marquess of Headfort , and he also had two other brothers , General Robert Taylour and Clotworthy Rowley , 1st Baron Langford ( 1763 – 1825 ) , and a sister , Henrietta . Taylor was himself one of three sons and four daughters . His older brother , Thomas Edward , born in 1811 , joined the 6th Dragoon Guards , while his younger brother , Hercules Langford Barry , born in 1824 , died in 1833 . Their sisters were Marianne Jane ( born 1809 ) , Elizabeth Augusta Anne ( 1812 ) , Louisa Catherine ( 1815 ) and Henrietta Frances ( 1817 ) . Taylor was educated at Hazelwood School and the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . Military career . Taylor was commissioned as an Ensign into the British Army ' s 79th Foot on 11 December 1835 . On 29 March 1839 he was promoted Lieutenant and on 23 August 1844 Captain . During his early career he served both at home and overseas . In 1852 and 1853 he fought with the 18th Royal Irish in the Second Anglo - Burmese War . During the Crimean War he was part of the force on active service in the Crimea , from 1854 to 1855 . On 12 December 1854 he was promoted Lieutenant Colonel , confirmed on 9 March 1855 , and commanded the 79th Cameron Highlanders as part of the Highland Brigade . He fought with his regiment at the Battles of Alma and Balaclava and at the Siege of Sebastopol , at which he was mentioned in despatches . At Sebastopol , he commanded the Royal Artillery of the Highland Division . From 1856 to 1857 , Taylor was in command of the Fort George Depot Battalion near Inverness . He next served with the 79th in India , from 1857 to 1859 , and was there during the Mutiny . In command of the 79th , he took part in the Capture of Lucknow in March 1858 . He commanded a Brigade in Oude from November 1858 to January 1859 . In 1860 he joined the General Staff in England , then held a variety of posts , in the course of which he was promoted Major General on 6 March 1868 , Lieutenant General on 23 August 1877 , and finally General on 30 January 1880 . In 1862 , Taylor was Assistant Adjutant General for the British Army Division at Shorncliffe and Dover . In 1873 , he was appointed as the Army ' s Inspector General of Recruiting . He remained in this post until 1876 , when he was appointed as Deputy Adjutant - General to the Forces . In 1882 , Taylor took over the role of Adjutant - General while Sir Garnet Wolseley was overseas in command of British forces during the Second Anglo - Egyptian War of 1882 . His last posting , as Governor of the Royal Military College , Sandhurst , was effective from 1 January 1883 and lasted until 1886 , when he retired the service . In 1876 , Taylor was chairman of the Royal United Services Institute . From 1879 until his death , he was Colonel of the Queen ' s Own Cameron Highlanders , in which role he was succeeded by General Sir Ian Hamilton . He was also Colonel of the 2nd Battalion the East Surrey Regiment . Private life . Taylor ' s elder brother , Thomas Edward Taylor , of Ardgillan Castle , Dublin , became member of parliament for County Dublin , Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster , and Commandant of the Royal Meath Militia . Taylor ' s father died in 1852 and his mother on 22 March 1859 . The Rev . James Aberigh Mackay met Taylor in India in 1859 and later wrote of him in " From London to Lucknow " ( 1860 ) : " Colonel Taylor of the 79th , one of the most agreeable men in the army . . . " On 10 June 1863 , Taylor married Lady Jane Hay , a daughter of Field Marshal the Marquess of Tweeddale . They had one son and four daughters . In 1872 , they were living at number 16 , Eaton Place , Westminster . Taylor also owned some 1 , 300 acres of land in County Meath , Ireland . Lady Jane Taylor survived her husband until 1920 . Taylor ' s brothers - in - law included Arthur Hay , 9th Marquess of Tweeddale , Admiral of the Fleet Lord John Hay , and the Liberal member of parliament George Hay , Earl of Gifford , while his sisters - in - law were married to James Broun - Ramsay , 1st Marquess of Dalhousie , a Governor - General of India , Arthur Wellesley , 2nd Duke of Wellington , Sir Robert Peel , 3rd Baronet , and Simon Watson Taylor , of Erlestoke , Wiltshire . Taylor ' s five children were Constance Mary Jane ( married Ronald William Murray , died 1950 ) , Millicent Lilla Harriet ( died 1948 ) , Evelyn Beatrice Charlotte ( died 1944 unmarried ) , Florence Virginia Mathilde ( died 1952 unmarried ) and Richard Edward Montagu Taylor ( 1872 – 1953 ) . His son Richard joined the East Surrey Regiment and fought in the Second Boer War and the First World War .