Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Charles Chermside GCMG CB
Governor of Queensland 1902-04
by Robert Simpson
Herbert Charles Chermside was born in Wilton Wiltshire England on 31st July 1850. He was one of four children to Reverend Richard Seymour Conway Chermside and Emily Dawson. Richard studied at Oxford, gaining an M.A. in 1847. Richard’s father, Sir Robert Alexander Chermside, was a physician who served with the 7th Hussars and was involved in the Peninsula war and at Waterloo and was later knighted. Herbert had another older brother and sister and a younger sister. He was christened on the 3rd of August of the same year at Wilton. In the 1851 census they were living in West St. Wilton. By the 1861 census they were living in the Rectory at Wilton. His father passed away in 1867 in Wiltshire at the early age of 44. Herbert was a scholar at Eton College. In 1868 he passed into the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich at the top of his cohort, very much ahead of the others. Not only was he a top scholar with a remarkable memory, he was also an accomplished athlete. Again at the end of the course he was easily the top mark, for which he was awarded the “Pollock Medal” in gold. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1870 as a Lieutenant. For the 1871 census he was living at The School of Military Engineering at Brompton Barracks Gillingham Chatham as a Lieutenant Royal Engineers on the active list and he was unmarried.
With other officers, he visited the Paris Commune in 1871, where he was accused of assisting the communards and narrowly escaped execution. He served in Ireland and then in 1873 was involved with the 3rd Artic expedition of Benjamin Leigh Smith. After that he learned the method of coastal defences by submarine mines in various English ports. He was employed in Turkey during its war with Serbia and Montenegro in 1876 and when Russia declared war on Turkey in 1877 as a result of that earlier conflict, he was acting as a military attaché with the Turkish forces. In the army list of 1878 he is listed in the Corps of Royal Engineers. He remained so until June 1879 and he also spent the previous six months with the Turkish Boundary Commission. Then he was appointed military Vice-Consul in Anatolia in July 1879. In 1882 he was promoted to Captain and was appointed to the intelligence staff of the British Army that was sent to Egypt. His description was however listed as deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General. He was given command of the 1st battalion of the new Egyptian army and stayed there for over four years. As a brevet-Major he took part in the Suakin expedition of 1884 and stayed there with his command. In October he was appointed Governor-General of the Red Sea Littoral with the rank of brevet Lieutenant-Colonel although he was still only a Captain of the Royal Engineers. He was involved with actions against the Mahdists and also undertook successful negotiations with King John of Abyssinia.
Between 1884 and 1886 he served in the Sudan with the Egyptian Army. He was entitled to the War Medal and clasp for the operations up the river Nile, and in the vicinity of Suakin 1884 to 1885. He was the Battalion Major in the Royal Engineers and was entitled to the Suakin medal with the clasp Suakin 1885. Herbert was at Suakin between 26th March 1884 and 28th February 1885 to be entitled to the clasp. He was also listed on a roll as being with the Intelligence Department and was serving at Cairo when the roll was written.
He was promoted to brevet Colonel in 1887. Hart’s Army List of 1888 has him in the active list of Colonels, the Corps of Royal Engineers, the Order of St Michael and St George and the Most Honourable Order of the Bath. In 1888 he returned to consular duties, this time in Kurdistan, where he remained for over a year. He then spent nearly 7 years in Constantinople as military attaché. Afterwards he was the British delegate for the reorganisation of the gendarmerie in Crete and was appointed British Military Commissioner and Commander of Her Majesty’s troops there in March 1897. Due to his good work there he was promoted to Major-General in 1898. He was awarded a decoration from the Sultan of Turkey in 1898.
Herbert married Geraldine Katharine Webb on 27th December 1899 at Chelsea Holy Trinity Church as a bachelor and Major General GCMG CB. He was living at Aldershot at the time and his father was listed as a Clerk in Holy Orders. It just noted his father’s name as Seymour Conway Chermside and has no mention of him being deceased. Geraldine was a spinster, 39 years old who was living at Newstead Abbey, County of Nottingham and her father, William Frederick Webb, was listed as a Gentleman. The Abbey was formerly the residence of Lord Byron. She had been born at East Cowton Yorkshire in January 1860. They were married according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church.
Memorial to Geraldine’s father and brother in St. Mary’s Church South Cowton.
After the marriage, he briefly commanded at Curragh in 1899 and then was sent to Aldershot to command the 14th Brigade, 7th Division. Later that year he was sent to South Africa with his brigade which was involved in the Second Boer War. In April 1900 he became temporary Lieutenant-General in command of the 3rd Division. He is noted in a despatch from Lord Roberts in which the 14th Brigade under his command was ordered from Jacobsdal to the Paardeberg camp in February 1900. Actions involving him included Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Karee Siding and operations in Transvaal, Pretoria and Cape Colony. He was entitled to the Queens South Africa medal with the claps Paardeberg, Cape Colony and Transvaal. He signed the roll himself at Curragh Camp on 13th May 1901 as Major General Commanding Curragh District, after returning there in January. He is also listed in the 1901 Ireland Census at Kildare and his listing reads “Ballysax East, part of Kildare. house 190. Active List. Cavalry Major General G.C.M.G. C.B.”. Geraldine was living at Newstead Priory Nottinghamshire and was listed as living on her own means and as an employer. She had many servants with her. Later that year he was appointed Governor of Queensland, succeeding Lord Lamington. At a banquet in London to honour him, Herbert paid high tribute to the gallantry of the Australian troops in his speech. Several dignitaries attended including former Governors of Queensland.
On 31st January 1902 they departed London on the Ortona, bound for Sydney. He assumed office as 9th Governor of Queensland in March 1902 and found Queensland in the middle of a drought and economic recession. While in office he showed himself to be a competent administrator, friendly, approachable and popular. Sir Herbert travelled through the state, learning about local problems and displayed a warm and living concern for the affairs of the State. He was critical of many areas in his dispatches, including railway inefficiencies, poor maps, excessive borrowing, high land costs and lack of water conservation. His speeches showed a versatility of mind and a breadth of knowledge and he showed indefatigable industry and admirable tact. Due to financial difficulties in the government, he firstly voluntarily surrendered part of his salary (15%) and then resigned in September 1904 after seeing through a political crisis and the opening of a new parliament. He left Queensland on 8th October on pre-retirement leave.
While in Queensland, he travelled to New Zealand by himself, departing from Sydney on 16th December 1903 on the Zealandia, arriving at Auckland on the 18th. The King visited them at Newstead Abbey in 1905 and spent an hour and a half exploring the abbey and was interested in the treasures and traditions there. In 1907 he retired from the army with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-General. In 1916 he was made Colonel-Commandant, Royal Engineers.
|
|
|
On 1st June 1910 Geraldine passed way in Nottinghamshire England. Her address was given as Newstead Abbey and she died at Andermatt in Switzerland. Effects of over 33000 pounds were left to Sir Herbert and Ethel Mary Webb, a spinster. They had no children.
In January 1914 he departed Batavia by himself on the Koningin Emma and was listed as a retired Lieutenant-General. After passing through many ports the ship arrived in Southampton on 8th March 1914.
On 1st April 1920 he departed London on the Kashgar, bound for Marseilles and was listed as Lieutenant-General Sir with his occupation listed as military. He arrived there on the 2nd.
He married Clementina Maria Stenbock (whose maiden name was de Reuter) at Knaresborough, Yorkshire West Riding on 24th September 1925. She was the second daughter of Paul Julius de Reuter, who founded Reuters Agency and had been previously married to Count Otto Stenbock. They had no children.
Sir Herbert passed away on 24th September 1929 at Knaresborough, Yorkshire West Riding and was buried at South Cowton. A wreath was sent on behalf of the Queensland Government. Probate was granted on 27th November 1929 to Dame Clementine Marie Chermside widow and Dame Katherine Gatty widow (his sister’s daughter). His effects totalled to over 51665 pounds. His address was given as Pepper Arden Northallerton Yorkshire and he died at Woodheath Cornwall Rd Harrogate. He also has an inscription at Cleveland Memorial. Clementina passed away in 1941 and left her estate of nearly 50000 pounds to Lieutenant Richard Gatty (a son of the Katherine above).
Geraldine and Herbert are buried at the Church of St. Mary in South Cowton. The church is now a historic church, registered with The Churches Conservation Trust. Inside the church are lots of old relics and church-related items, many from the 15th to 19th centuries, including seats, font, funerary helmet and gauntlet, three alabaster effigies, a piscina and stained glass. The village it was built in has long since disappeared. It was first built during the 1450’s. The church also has a memorial to Sir Herbert.
|
|
|
Church of St. Mary with Chermside graves in foreground.
Inside the church.
He had been promoted Captain and Major in 1882, Colonel in 1887, and Major-General in 1898, and appointed CMG in 1880, CB in 1886, KCMG in 1887 and GCMG in 1899.
His honours and campaign medals are:
Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Civil Division), Queens’s Egypt Medal with the clasps “SUAKIN 1884” and “SUAKIN 1885”, Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps “CAPE COLONY”, “PAARDEBERG” and “TRANSVAAL”, Turkish Order of Medjidjie Class 2, Turkish War Medal – Turko-Russian War of 1877-1878 and Khedive’s Star 1882.
The Brisbane suburb of Chermside was named after him (It was originally known as Downfall Creek). During World War 1 the military forces had a training camp there, for reinforcements for the Light Horse. He was also a Great Western Railway shareholder. Lady Tennyson described him as “a short plain little General with a biggish moustache”. His favourite recreations were hunting, fishing and shooting.
His medals and gold Pollock Medal are on display at the Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum, 106 Wharf Street, Maryborough.
ANZAC Biographies
On our website you will find the biographical details of ANZAC (as well as British) servicemen & women
whose medals or other memorabilia form part of the collection belonging to the
Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum,
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.