Sir Harry Smith , 1st Baronet Lieutenant General Sir Henry George Wakelyn Smith , 1st Baronet of Aliwal GCB ( 28 June 1787 – 12 October 1860 ) , known as Sir Harry Smith , was a notable English soldier and military commander in the British Army of the early 19th century . A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars , he is also particularly remembered for his role in the Battle of Aliwal ( India ) in 1846 , and as the husband of Lady Smith . Biography . He was born in Whittlesey , Cambridgeshire , the son of a surgeon . A chapel in the town ' s St Mary ' s church was restored in his memory in 1862 , and a local community college also bears his name : Sir Harry Smith Community College . Napoleonic Wars . Harry Smith — for throughout life he adopted the more familiar form of his Christian name — was educated privately and entered the army in 1805 . His first active service was in South America in 1806 during the British invasions of the Río de la Plata . He distinguished himself at the Battle of Montevideo in 1807 , but first came to real prominence during the Peninsular War . Smith served throughout these campaigns with the 95th Rifles in which he served from 1808 through to the end of the war at the Battle of Toulouse in 1814 . On 7 April 1812 ( the day following the storming of Badajoz ) a well - born Spanish lady , whose entire property in the city had been destroyed , presented herself at the British lines seeking protection from the licence of the soldiery for herself and her sister , a child of fourteen . The latter , Juana Maria de Los Dolores de León , had but recently emerged from a convent ; but notwithstanding her years she was married to Harry Smith a few days later . She accompanied him throughout the rest of the war . At the close of the war Harry Smith volunteered for service in the United States , where he was present at the Battle of Bladensburg on 24 August 1814 , and witnessed the burning of the capitol at Washington ; which , as he said , " horrified us coming fresh from the Duke ' s humane warfare in the south of France . " Returning to Europe he was a brigade major at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 . South Africa . In 1828 was ordered to the Cape of Good Hope , where he commanded a division in the Xhosa Wars of 1834 - 36 . In 1835 he accomplished the feat of riding from Cape Town to Grahamstown , in less than six days ; and having restored confidence among the whites by his energetic measures , he was appointed governor of the Province of Queen Adelaide , where he gained unbounded influence over the native tribes , whom he vigorously set himself to civilize and benefit . But though supported by Sir Benjamin D ' Urban , the high commissioner , the ministry in London reversed his policy and , to quote Smith ' s own words , directed the Province of Queen Adelaide to be restored to barbarism . Smith himself was removed from his command , his departure being deplored alike by the Bantu and the Dutch ; and numbers of the latter , largely in consequence of this policy of Lord Glenelg began the migration to the interior known as the Great Trek . India . Harry Smith was now appointed deputy - adjutant - general of the forces in India , where he took part in the Gwalior campaign of 1843 , for which he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath ( KCB ) and the First Anglo - Sikh War of 1845 - 46 . He was in command of a division under Sir Hugh Gough at the battles of Mudki and Ferozeshah , where he conspicuously distinguished himself , but was insufficiently supported by the commander - in - chief . After the second of these actions Sir Harry Smith was appointed to an independent command , and on 28 January 1846 he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Sikhs at Aliwal on the Sutlej . At the battle of Sobraon on 10 February he again commanded a division under Gough . For the great victory of Aliwal he was awarded the thanks of Parliament ; and the speech of the Duke of Wellington was perhaps the warmest encomium ever bestowed by that great commander on a meritorious officer . Sir Harry was at the same time created a baronet ; and as a special distinction the words of Aliwal were by the patent appended to the title . He was promoted to major - general on 9 November 1846 . Return to South Africa . In 1847 he returned to South Africa as governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner , with the local rank of lieutenant - general , to grapple with the difficulties he had foreseen eleven years before . He took command of an expedition to deal with the disaffected Boers in the Orange River Sovereignty , and fought the Battle of Boomplaats on 29 August 1848 . It has been asserted that " the half - mad Smith ' s " seizure of the entire region of " British Kaffraria " in 1848 was launched and carried out " entirely on his own initiative . " Piers Brendon described " Smith , placing his foot on the neck of the Xhosan ruler and proclaiming , ' I am your Paramount Chief , and the Kaffirs are my dogs ! ' " In December 1850 war broke out with the Xhosa and some of the Khoikhoi ; Sir Harry Smith was insufficiently supplied with troops from England ; and though his conduct of the operations was warmly approved by the Duke of Wellington and other military authorities , Lord Grey , in a dispatch never submitted to the queen , recalled him in 1852 before the Xhosa and Khoikhoi had been completely subdued . He protested strongly against the abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty to the Boers , which was carried out two years after his departure , and he actively furthered the granting of responsible government to Cape Colony . His reputation now is of someone who behaved autocratically and oppressively towards the Xhosas , and did a great deal of harm . It is said he insisted chiefs kiss his feet , for example . His wife Juana gave her name to Ladysmith in KwaZulu - Natal . Harrismith in the Free State was named after Smith himself ( two other towns , Aliwal North in the Eastern Cape and Smithfield in the Free State , also mark Smith ' s connection with South Africa ) . Back in England . In 1853 he was made General Officer Commanding Western District back in England . He was given brevet promotion to lieutenant - general on 20 June 1854 and appointed GOC Northern District in 1856 . He died at his home at Eton Place , London , on 12 October 1860 . He was buried at St Mary ' s , Whittlesea , where he is commemorated with a marble bust and memorial . That section of the church is known as Sir Harry ' s Chapel . His wife , Juana , deceased 10 October 1872 is also interred with him . His autobiography , first published posthumously in 1901 , is regarded as a classic of love and war . The story of Harry Smith and his wife in the Peninsular Campaign and the Battle of Waterloo is affectionately and with much attention to historical detail narrated in Georgette Heyer ' s novel " The Spanish Bride " ( 1940 ) .