Orfeur Cavenagh

Last updated • 3 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Elizabeth Marshall Moriarty
(m. 18421891)
Sir Orfeur Cavenagh
Sir Orfeur Cavenagh.jpg
7th Governor of Straits Settlements
In office
6 August 1859 16 March 1867
Children2 sons
Parents
  • James Gordon Cavenagh (father)
  • Ann née Coates (mother)
ProfessionColonial administrator,
British Army officer
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India
Military service
Allegiance Flag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
Branch/serviceEnsign of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps.svg  British Indian Army
Rank General
Battles/wars Gwalior campaign
First Anglo-Sikh War
Indian Rebellion
Memorial plaque to Cavenagh in St Mary's Church, Long Ditton, Surrey Sir William Orfeur Cavenagh plaque, St Mary's Church, Long Ditton.jpg
Memorial plaque to Cavenagh in St Mary's Church, Long Ditton, Surrey

General Sir Orfeur Cavenagh KCSI (8 October 1820 – 3 July 1891) was the last Governor of the Straits Settlements to be appointed by the East India Company, governing from 1859 to 1867 under the India Office. [1]

Contents

Family background

Cavenagh was the third son of James Gordon Cavenagh and Ann née Coates.

Career

Cavenagh trained at Addiscombe Military Seminary, the military academy of the British East India Company. He passed his examination in June 1837, and in early 1838 joined the 32nd Regiment Native Infantry. In 1840 he passed the prescribed examination at Fort William College, Calcutta. He was appointed interpreter and quartermaster to the 41st Regiment Native Infantry. In 1840–1841 he was attached to the force employed in watching the Nepalese frontier. [2]

He was adjutant of the 4th Irregular Cavalry (Skinner's Horse), and in December 1843 was badly wounded in the Battle of Maharajpore. His leg was severed just above the ankle by a round shot and his horse was killed under him. He was wounded again in January 1846 during the first Anglo-Sikh war, when he was struck in the left arm by a ricochetting round shot. After this he was appointed as Superintendent of the Mysore Princes and of the ex-Ameers of Sindh. [3]

In 1850 he travelled to Britain and France in political charge of the Nepalese Embassy under Jung Bahadur Rana. [4] In 1854 he was appointed Town and Fort Major of Calcutta. In this role he was responsible to the governor-general, the Marquess of Dalhousie followed by Lord Canning, for the safety of Fort William during the Indian Rebellion. [5]

Lord Canning offered him the post of Governor of the Straits Settlements on 1 July 1859, In recognition of his services during the rebellion. He servered ties with Fort Williams on the 19 July and departed 28 July for Singapore on the steamer Lancefield arriving on 7 August where he took up the post on 8 August 1859 relieving his predecessor Edmund Augustus Blundell. [6] [7] Under a royal charter of 1826, Singapore, Malacca, Penang and Dindings had been combined to form the Straits Settlements. The Governor of the Settlements and his council were answerable to the Governor-General of India in Calcutta. The Governor had little formal power, but was able to influence the Calcutta authorities who relied largely on the recommendations of these representatives on legislation and policy in each settlement. Control passed from Bengal to the Colonial Office in London on 1 April 1867 and the Settlements became a Crown colony. [8] Cavenagh was the last Governor who reported to the Governor-General in Calcutta. His successor, Sir Harry Ord, reported to the Colonial Office in London.

On 5 December 1866, he received unofficial word that he was to be removed from office on 1 April 1867 and resigned the commission himself on 15 March 1867. [9] Cavenagh continued as a general officer in the Bengal Staff Corps, with promotion to lieutenant general in September 1874 [10] and to general in August 1877. [11]

Personal life

Cavenagh married Elizabeth Marshall Moriarty on 7 September 1842 at Dinapore, India. They had two sons.

In retirement he lived in Long Ditton, Surrey, [12] and in June 1884 he was made honorary colonel of the 5th Surrey Volunteer Corps. [13] He died on 3 July 1891 and was buried in the St Mary's churchyard in Long Ditton. [14] There is also a memorial plaque inside the church.

Honours

Cavenagh was appointed Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in the 1881 Birthday Honours on 24 May 1881. [15]

Legacy

Singapore's Cavenagh Road and Cavenagh Bridge is named in honour of the governor. The coat of arms of the Cavenagh family can still be seen atop the signage at both ends of the bridge.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Yule</span> Scottish Orientalist and geographer (1820–1889)

Colonel Sir Henry Yule was a Scottish Orientalist and geographer. He published many travel books, including translations of the work of Marco Polo and Mirabilia by the 14th-century Dominican Friar Jordanus. He was also the compiler of a dictionary of Anglo-Indian terms, the Hobson-Jobson, with Arthur Coke Burnell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala</span> British army officer

Field Marshal Robert Cornelis Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala was a British Indian Army officer. He fought in the First Anglo-Sikh War and the Second Anglo-Sikh War before seeing action as chief engineer during the second relief of Lucknow in March 1858 during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He also served in the Second Opium War as commander of the 2nd division of the expeditionary force which took part in the Battle of Taku Forts, the surrender of Peking's Anting Gate and the entry to Peking in 1860. He subsequently led the punitive expedition to Abyssinia in July 1867, defeating the Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia with minimal loss of life among his own forces and rescuing the hostages of Tewodros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hills-Johnes</span> British general and Victoria Cross recipient

Lieutenant General Sir James Hills-Johnes, was a British Indian Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengal Presidency</span> Province of India

The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule and later a province of India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and Southeast Asia. Bengal proper covered the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. Calcutta, the city which grew around Fort William, was the capital of the Bengal Presidency. For many years, the governor of Bengal was concurrently the governor-general of India and Calcutta was the capital of India until 1911.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Browne (Indian Army officer)</span> British Indian Army general

Major-General Sir James Browne, known as "Buster Browne", was a British military engineer and administrator in British India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavenagh Bridge</span> Suspension bridge crossing the Singapore River

Cavenagh Bridge is the only suspension bridge and one of the oldest bridges in Singapore, spanning the lower reaches of the Singapore River in the Downtown Core. Opened in 1869 to commemorate Singapore's new Crown colony of the Straits Settlements status in 1867, it is the oldest bridge in Singapore that exists in its original form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Marion Durand</span>

Major-General Sir Henry Marion Durand, was a British military officer in the Bengal Army and served as Lieutenant Governor of Punjab from 1870 until his death in 1871.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Francis Tennant</span> British astronomer and soldier

Lieutenant-General James Francis Tennant, was a British soldier and astronomer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Abbott (Indian Army officer)</span> British officer in the army of the East India Company

Major-General Sir Frederick Abbott, was a British Indian Army officer and engineer of the East India Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imperial Legislative Council</span> Legislature issued in the British Raj (1861–1947)

The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of British India from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Government of India Act 1858 by providing for the addition of six additional members to the Governor General Council for legislative purposes. Thus, the act separated the legislative and executive functions of the council and it was this body within the Governor General's Council which came to known as the Indian/Central Legislative Council. In 1861 it was renamed as Imperial Legislative Council and the strength was increased.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Addiscombe Military Seminary</span> East India Company military academy

The East India Company Military Seminary was a British military academy at Addiscombe, Surrey, in what is now the London Borough of Croydon. It opened in 1809 and closed in 1861. Its purpose was to train young officers to serve in the East India Company's own army in India.

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Edward Nairne was a British military officer who served in British India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Mackenzie (Indian Army officer)</span> Scottish Indian Army officer

Lieutenant general Colin Mackenzie, CB was a British officer in the Madras Army who was active as a political officer in Afghanistan.

Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Trotter, was a British Indian Army officer in the Royal Engineers, an author, and an explorer of Central Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambert Playfair</span> British soldier, diplomat, naturalist and author

Sir (Robert) Lambert Playfair was a British soldier, diplomat, naturalist and author.

General Sir Robert HoustounKCB was a British military officer in the service of the East India Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald MacPherson</span> British colonial administrator (1817–1869)

Ronald MacPherson was a military officer, architect and colonial administrator in Singapore. He is well known for the design of the St Andrew Cathedral.

The Pavilion is a house located at 5 Oxley Rise, Oxley Hill, near Orchard Road in Singapore. The Pavilion served as Government House between 1859 and 1861, after Raffles House was demolished to make way for a fort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stafford Paton</span> English officer in the British Indian Army (1821–1889)

John Stafford Paton, (1821–1889) was an English general in the Indian Army. He served in the Sikh Wars of 1845–1846 and 1848–1849, and was severely wounded at Chillianwallah; served under Sir C. J. Napier against the Afridees and at the Kohat Pass in 1850; and in 1867 commanded the field detachment from Lahore sent to aid in suppressing the Gogaira insurrection during the Indian Mutiny.

References

  1. Corfield, Justin (2 December 2010). Historical Dictionary of Singapore . Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN   9780810873872 . Retrieved 9 March 2019.
  2. Letter of 20 January 1868 to R. Bain, Adjutant General Bengal Staff Corps in Cavenagh, Orfeur. "Private letter book of Orfeur Cavenagh, no. 11, 1865–68". Cavenagh letter books, 1859–68. University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  3. "The Aga Khan I in Calcutta". Hasan Ali Shah Aga Khan I (1233–1298/1817–1881). The Heritage Web Site (Ismaili electronic library and database). Retrieved 18 October 2007. At length, however, through the intervention of the British envoy, it was agreed that the Aga Khan should be allowed to remain in India provided he stayed at Calcutta from where he could not be a menace to the Iranian government as from Sind. The government of India wrote to Superintendent of Mysore Princes and ex-Amirs of Sind [Cavenagh], a letter which reads:- "It having been determined upon political considerations that the Persian nobleman Aga Khan Mahallati, shall be required to reside for the present in Bengal. I am directed to inform you that the President in Council considers that it will be expedient to fix the Aga's residence in the vicinity of Calcutta and to place him under your care. ..." ... Sir Orfeur Cavenagh (1821–1891) had arranged for a house at Dumdum (where the city's airport is now) in Calcutta under the care of Bengal Presidency.
  4. Vibart 1894, p. 473.
  5. Malleson, CSI, Colonel G. B. (1891). "Chapter III: The first mutterings of the storm". The Indian Mutiny of 1857. London: Seely and Co Ltd (republished on the web by the HyperWar Foundation). pp. 34, 36. Retrieved 18 October 2007. Major Orfeur Cavenagh, an officer of great shrewdness and perspicacity, who filled the important office of Town-Major of Fort William in Calcutta, visited, October and November 1856, the districts just beyond Agra. He had been struck everywhere by the altered demeanour of the sipáhís, and loyal natives had reported to him the great change which had taken place in the feelings of the natives generally towards the English. Disaffection, he was assured, was now the rule in all classes. To the clear vision of this able officer it was evident that, unless precautions were taken, some great disaster would ensue." ... "one of the sergeants attached to Fort William reported to Cavenagh a remarkable conversation, between two sipáhís, which he had overheard ... " ... "Cavenagh, who, as Town-Major, was responsible to the Governor-General for the safety of Fort William, took at once measures to baffle the designs of which he had been informed, and then drove straight to Lord Canning to report the circumstance to him. Lord Canning listened to Cavenagh with the deepest interest, and sanctioned the measures he proposed. These were to transfer from Dam-Dam, where one wing of the regiment which was responsible for the safety of the Presidency, the 53rd Foot, was located, one company to Fort William. For the moment the outbreak was deferred.
  6. Vibart 1894, pp. 473–4.
  7. Cavenagh, Orfeur (1884). "Appointed to the Straits Government". Reminiscences of an Indian Official. W.H. Allen. p. 251.
  8. Cornelius, Vernon (3 October 2017). "Past and present leaders of Singapore". Singapore infopedia. National Library Board Singapore. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
  9. "Past and present leaders of Singapore". Singapore National Library Board. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  10. "No. 24146". The London Gazette . 30 October 1874. p. 5155.
  11. "No. 24508". The London Gazette . 2 October 1877. p. 5457.
  12. "No. 26195". The London Gazette . 25 August 1891. p. 4585.
  13. "No. 25362". The London Gazette . 6 June 1884. p. 2485.
  14. "Photo of Cavenagh's grave". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  15. "No. 24976". The London Gazette . 24 May 1881. pp. 2673–2675.

Bibliography

Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Straits Settlements
1859–1867
Succeeded by