[Edward Bruce Hamley was from an old Cornwall family.]
But there is yet another class of these votaries of science, called Naturalists, to whom no kind of creature that can be classified comes amiss as a victim, from a butterfly to a hippopotamus. Armed sometimes with a rifle, sometimes less expensively with a pin, they go forth into strange lands to collect what they call the "fauna." Millions of moths, before they have fluttered out half their brief existence in the sunshine, are secured by these sportsmen, and impaled in boxes. ....
Indeed. The point is not the necessity for such, but the casual cruel ignorance that accompanies it.
[Hamby] was early in his military career, commissioned second-lieutenant, Royal Artillery.[He] served a year in Ireland, then nearly four in Canada, devoting himself to reading and field sports. He had a notable love of animals, especially cats. Back in England he served at Tynemouth and Carlisle. He had to live on his pay, and having incurred debts he turned to writing to pay them off. His earliest papers, ‘Snow pictures’ and ‘The peace campaigns of Ensign Faunce’, appeared in Fraser's Magazine (1849–50). He was promoted second-captain on 12 May 1850, and joined his new battery at Gibraltar, where he read much literature—Scott's novels were his favourites—and continued writing. A lady who knew him well there stated:
A distinguished service pension was granted him on 20 December 1879. He was employed on the Armenian frontier in the summer of 1880, and on the new Greek frontier in the summer of 1881, receiving the thanks of the Foreign Office. The sultan promoted him to the Mejidiye (second class) in 1880, but he had to decline the order of the Saviour, offered by the king of Greece in 1881.
[H]e was widely considered ill-used [by his superiors after a military campaign in Egypt], and Tennyson linked his name with the ‘Charge of the heavy brigade’ in 1883. He was Conservative MP for Birkenhead from 1885 to 1892. At this time he would have been placed on the retired list in consequence of non-employment, but in deference to public opinion he was specially retained on the active list as a supernumerary until 30 July 1890, when he became general. In 1890 he wrote his masterly one-volume War in the Crimea, essentially repeating the views in his 1855 Blackwood's letters.
After suffering much for several years from bronchial disorder, exacerbated by London smoke and fogs, Hamley died on 12 August 1893, and was buried in Brompton cemetery, London. He had never married, but after the death of his brother Charles in 1863 had virtually adopted the latter's only daughter, Barbara. The Athenaeum obituary claimed he was[:]
A singularly able man, and highly accomplished, with wide knowledge, wide sympathies, and strong opinions of his own, he would probably have attained higher fame if he had been less versatile. He was an excellent draughtsman; although essentially self-centred, an admirable actor; he was a skilful sportsman, and a man who could defy fatigue, and who seemed to like hardships.
[H]e was probably the most renowned British military writer of the nineteenth century, and among the most influential.
"He was very thin and angular, and looked much taller than he was … He came to the Rock with the reputation of being very clever, satirical, and given to drawing caricatures. … Most people stood in awe of him, owing to his silent ways and stiff manner, and from his taking but little part in things around him, and never taking the trouble to talk except to a few … He had a most tender heart behind his stiff manner, and many were the kind acts he did to the wives and children of his company. " [A. I. Shand, The life of General Sir Edward Bruce Hamley, 2 vols. (1895) ]
His connection with Blackwood's Magazine, to which his eldest brother, William (a Royal Engineers officer), was already a contributor, began in 1851. His novel, Lady Lee's Widowhood, appeared in 1853, and was soon republished with drawings by himself, showing his artistic talent. A prolific writer, he published many and varied books and articles.
In March 1854 Colonel Richard Dacres, who commanded the artillery at Gibraltar, was given the command of the batteries of the 1st division in the army sent to Turkey. Hamley went with him as adjutant, and served throughout the war in the Crimea. At the Alma his horse was struck by a cannon-shot. At Inkerman his horse was killed, and he narrowly escaped being made prisoner. He was mentioned in dispatches,[and] on 2 November 1855, received a Légion d'honneur (fifth class) and was belatedly made a CB on 13 March 1867. He sent Blackwood's a series of letters from the Crimea, republished as The Story of the Campaign of Sebastopol (1855), vividly portraying the siege. In this, and in his 1856 Blackwood's article ‘Lessons from the war’, he defended the army against its ‘ill-informed and ill-judging’ civilian critics, alleging that its shortcomings resulted from politicians starving it of money and auxiliary services, and he rejected the accusations of incompetent command in the Crimea.
On his return home he formed many literary friendships: with Aytoun, Warren, Bulwer Lytton, Thackeray, and others. ‘He hated fools, he had no tolerance for presumption, and he could never endure self-complacent bores’ but with men he liked he was a genial companion and brilliant talker. He hated music at dinner because it spoilt conversation.
Early in 1859 Hamley was appointed professor of military history at the new Staff College at Sandhurst, and remained there six years. His task was to explain military campaigns and their lessons. He was a competent lecturer, though a pedant.
From his lectures Hamley wrote his great work The Operations of War Explained and Illustrated (1866). Hamley was primarily concerned with strategy, and believed his subject could be rationally analysed and constant valid principles derived, from which could be deduced lessons for the future. Concentrating largely on Marlburian, Frederician, and Napoleonic warfare, he showed little insight into the significance of tactical development in the most important recent war, the American Civil War: his idea of the modern battle was still essentially Napoleonic. Nevertheless Operations of War was a remarkable success and established Hamley's reputation as Britain's leading authority on military thought. It was adopted as a Staff College textbook, and in 1870 the second edition as a West Point textbook. The book was intended not only for military men. J. F. Maurice claimed that by it Hamley did ‘more than any other Englishman to make known to English officers the value of a methodical treatment of the study of campaigns.’ Five editions were published in his lifetime. However in the 1890s there was a reaction against the book and it was criticized by Spenser Wilkinson and by G. F. R. Henderson, who in 1898 (in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution) alleged it was schematic and ignored the spirit of war, the commander's intentions, moral forces, and the effects of secrecy, rapidity, and surprise. After Hamley's death, [the] seventh and last [edition] (1923), revised by Sir George Aston, attempted to incorporate the lessons of the First World War. Aston claimed Hamley's book had ‘stood the supreme test of the Great War’. However, the war, as Azar Gat has written, ‘made the Napoleonic strategic model largely irrelevant and marked the final eclipse [of] Hamley.’
His connection with Blackwood's Magazine, to which his eldest brother, William (a Royal Engineers officer), was already a contributor, began in 1851. His novel, Lady Lee's Widowhood, appeared in 1853, and was soon republished with drawings by himself, showing his artistic talent. A prolific writer, he published many and varied books and articles.
In March 1854 Colonel Richard Dacres, who commanded the artillery at Gibraltar, was given the command of the batteries of the 1st division in the army sent to Turkey. Hamley went with him as adjutant, and served throughout the war in the Crimea. At the Alma his horse was struck by a cannon-shot. At Inkerman his horse was killed, and he narrowly escaped being made prisoner. He was mentioned in dispatches,[and] on 2 November 1855, received a Légion d'honneur (fifth class) and was belatedly made a CB on 13 March 1867. He sent Blackwood's a series of letters from the Crimea, republished as The Story of the Campaign of Sebastopol (1855), vividly portraying the siege. In this, and in his 1856 Blackwood's article ‘Lessons from the war’, he defended the army against its ‘ill-informed and ill-judging’ civilian critics, alleging that its shortcomings resulted from politicians starving it of money and auxiliary services, and he rejected the accusations of incompetent command in the Crimea.
On his return home he formed many literary friendships: with Aytoun, Warren, Bulwer Lytton, Thackeray, and others. ‘He hated fools, he had no tolerance for presumption, and he could never endure self-complacent bores’ but with men he liked he was a genial companion and brilliant talker. He hated music at dinner because it spoilt conversation.
Early in 1859 Hamley was appointed professor of military history at the new Staff College at Sandhurst, and remained there six years. His task was to explain military campaigns and their lessons. He was a competent lecturer, though a pedant.
From his lectures Hamley wrote his great work The Operations of War Explained and Illustrated (1866). Hamley was primarily concerned with strategy, and believed his subject could be rationally analysed and constant valid principles derived, from which could be deduced lessons for the future. Concentrating largely on Marlburian, Frederician, and Napoleonic warfare, he showed little insight into the significance of tactical development in the most important recent war, the American Civil War: his idea of the modern battle was still essentially Napoleonic. Nevertheless Operations of War was a remarkable success and established Hamley's reputation as Britain's leading authority on military thought. It was adopted as a Staff College textbook, and in 1870 the second edition as a West Point textbook. The book was intended not only for military men. J. F. Maurice claimed that by it Hamley did ‘more than any other Englishman to make known to English officers the value of a methodical treatment of the study of campaigns.’ Five editions were published in his lifetime. However in the 1890s there was a reaction against the book and it was criticized by Spenser Wilkinson and by G. F. R. Henderson, who in 1898 (in the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution) alleged it was schematic and ignored the spirit of war, the commander's intentions, moral forces, and the effects of secrecy, rapidity, and surprise. After Hamley's death, [the] seventh and last [edition] (1923), revised by Sir George Aston, attempted to incorporate the lessons of the First World War. Aston claimed Hamley's book had ‘stood the supreme test of the Great War’. However, the war, as Azar Gat has written, ‘made the Napoleonic strategic model largely irrelevant and marked the final eclipse [of] Hamley.’
In 1869 he was made a member of the Literary Society, a small, select dining club.
From July 1870 to December 1877 Hamley was commandant of the Staff College, probably his happiest period. He gave the college increased distinction and raised its status in the army. He infused a new spirit, making the course more thorough, outdoor, and practical, putting stress on riding, and carrying out extended reconnaissances. He took great care over the students and their work. He could not endure opposition, and expected subordinates and students to accept his views without question. Somewhat reserved, with little sense of humour, he did not suffer fools gladly. He was more prone to blame than praise, but did not stint praise when it was well earned.
A distinguished service pension was granted him on 20 December 1879. He was employed on the Armenian frontier in the summer of 1880, and on the new Greek frontier in the summer of 1881, receiving the thanks of the Foreign Office. The sultan promoted him to the Mejidiye (second class) in 1880, but he had to decline the order of the Saviour, offered by the king of Greece in 1881.
[H]e was widely considered ill-used [by his superiors after a military campaign in Egypt], and Tennyson linked his name with the ‘Charge of the heavy brigade’ in 1883. He was Conservative MP for Birkenhead from 1885 to 1892. At this time he would have been placed on the retired list in consequence of non-employment, but in deference to public opinion he was specially retained on the active list as a supernumerary until 30 July 1890, when he became general. In 1890 he wrote his masterly one-volume War in the Crimea, essentially repeating the views in his 1855 Blackwood's letters.
After suffering much for several years from bronchial disorder, exacerbated by London smoke and fogs, Hamley died on 12 August 1893, and was buried in Brompton cemetery, London. He had never married, but after the death of his brother Charles in 1863 had virtually adopted the latter's only daughter, Barbara. The Athenaeum obituary claimed he was[:]
A singularly able man, and highly accomplished, with wide knowledge, wide sympathies, and strong opinions of his own, he would probably have attained higher fame if he had been less versatile. He was an excellent draughtsman; although essentially self-centred, an admirable actor; he was a skilful sportsman, and a man who could defy fatigue, and who seemed to like hardships.
[H]e was probably the most renowned British military writer of the nineteenth century, and among the most influential.
So I end the quotation of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. They mention but hardly emphasize an article Hamley wrote titled ‘Our poor relations’ in the May 1870 issue of Blackwoods Magazine. Here we glimpse an exceptional imaginative portrayal of man as part of a larger web of living things. He movingly describes animals all over the world as befits the traveler he was, but nothing can explain his imaginative sympathy. There cats and other felines are analyzed, certainly, and in a most moving manner, but let me quote here his own words about a lesser thought of fellow creature.
Indeed. The point is not the necessity for such, but the casual cruel ignorance that accompanies it.
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