William Julius Gascoigne

British Army general

Helen Smith

(m. 1875)

Major-General Sir William Julius Gascoigne KCMG (29 May 1844 – 9 September 1926) was a British Army officer and served as General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada from 1895 to 1898.

Military career

William Julius Gascoigne was born in London on 29 May 1844.^[1] He was commissioned into the Scots Fusilier Guards in 1863.^[2] He was appointed Adjutant in 1867,^[3] served in Egypt in 1882 and in Sudan in 1885.^[4]

In 1895 he was promoted to major-general^[4] and appointed General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada.^[5] In 1898 he was appointed Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong.^[6]

Gascoigne was also the last Lieutenant Governor of Hong Kong (serving from 1898 to 1902), but the role was ceremonial and in lapsed use since the 1870s.

He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1899, and knighted as a Knight Commander (KCMG) of the same order in November 1900 in recognition of services during the Boxer Rebellion in China.^[7]

He died in Boscombe on 9 September 1926.^[8]

Gascoigne Road in Kowloon, Hong Kong is named after him.^[9]

Family

In 1875, he married Helen Smith, daughter of Martin T. Smith, and widow of Hon. Arthur F. Egerton.^[4]

References

^ Morgan, Henry James, ed. (1898). The Canadian Men and Women of the Time: A Handbook of Canadian Biography. Toronto: William Briggs. p. 368. Retrieved 10 November 2023 – via Google Books.
^ "No. 22722". The London Gazette. 31 March 1863. p. 1822.
^ "No. 23336". The London Gazette. 24 December 1867. p. 7009.
^ ^a ^b ^c Who's Who. Vol. 58. A & C Black. 1906. p. 646. Retrieved 10 November 2023 – via Google Books.
^ "No. 27038". The London Gazette. 2 January 1899. p. 2.
^ "No. 27025". The London Gazette. 22 November 1898. p. 6938.
^ "No. 27337". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 July 1901. p. 4915.
^ "Major-General Sir William Gascoigne". Gloucestershire Echo. 15 September 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 10 November 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Wordie, Jason (2007). Streets: Exploring Kowloon. Hong Kong University Press. p. 70. ISBN 9789622098138. Retrieved 10 November 2023 – via Google Books.

Military offices
Preceded by Lord Treowen	General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada 1895-1898	Succeeded by Sir Edward Hutton
Preceded by Sir Wilsone Black	Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong 1898–1903	Succeeded by Villiers Hatton