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GALLOWAY, SIR ARCHIBALD,
K.C.B.—An approved soldier and excellent writer, was born at Perth in
1780, and was the son of Mr. James Galloway of that city. Having chosen
arms for his profession, and India for his destination, Archibald Galloway
was nominated a cadet in 1799, and appointed to the 58th native
infantry, of which he finally became colonel in 1836. During this long
period of military service in India, extending over thiry-five years, he
was present in several engagements, as well as six sieges and seven
storms, in four of which he took a very active share. When Delhi, defended
by a handful of British troops, maintained itself against a besieging army
of 70,000 men and 130 places of cannon, Galloway was one of the brave
defenders, and fully shared in the honours of that remarkable resistance.
He was also present at the siege of Bhurtpore, conducted by Lord Lake.
Captain Galloway’s post on that occasion was especially the post of
danger, for it was that of the Sappers, a corps so constantly under the
enemy’s fire, and so frequently employed in the most perilous operations
during the siege, that all its officers, and most of its men, were either
killed or wounded. On two occasions he headed it in the attack as part of
the forlorn hope, and on the last he was dangerously wounded. Besides
active services, which are too numerous to specify, and in which his share
was that of a fearless, indefatigable, and skilful inferior officer, he
was employed on important commissions on the staff, and for several years
held high charges in India, in the military engineer department, the last
of which was that of member of the Military Board under its new
constitution, to which he was appointed by the governor-general, Lord
William Bentinck. In this responsible office he so ably acquitted himself,
as to be honoured, at his departure from India, with the highest approval
of the governor-general in council. General Galloway’s various services,
during his military career, were also publicly acknowledged by several of
our Indian commanders-in-chief upon nine different occasions—by the
supreme government of India on twenty-one, and by the Court of Directors
and superior authorities in England on eleven—making an amount of
distinction sufficient to show that he only required a separate command,
and an opportunity, to raise his name to the highest rank in the annals of
our AngloIndian warfare.
In authorship, General
Galloway also obtained a distinction which will, perhaps, outlast the
remembrance of his soldiership. At a time when such knowledge was most
needed by our military governors and civilians in the East, he wrote a
commentary on the "Mahometan Law," and another on the "Law, Constitution,
and Government of India." He also wrote a work on "Indian Sieges," which
was so highly esteemed, that it was reprinted by the Court of Directors,
and used as a text book in their military college, as well as distributed
for general use throughout our Indian army. In addition to these, he was
author of several military treatises. He was nominated a companion of the
Bath in 1888, and a knight-commander in 1848; and besides these public
honours, he was elected a director of the East India Company in 1846, and
officiated as its chairman in 1849. His death, which was sudden, being
after a few hours’ illness, occurred at his house, 18, Upper Harley
Street, on the 6th of April, 1850. |
