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