Bot at 10:39, 19 June 2022

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{{Short description|British Army general (1799–1857)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{for|other people named Henry Barnard|Henry Barnard (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sir Henry William Barnard
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Crimean War 1854-56 Q71094.jpg
| caption = Major General Sir Henry Barnard with some cannonballs
| birth_date =1799
| death_date =5 July 1857
| birth_place = Westbury, [[Buckinghamshire]]
| death_place = [[British India]]
| placeofburial =
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial_coordinates = 
| nickname =
| birth_name =
| allegiance = [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]
| branch = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears =
| rank = [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]].
| servicenumber =
| unit = [[Grenadier Guards]]<br>[[3rd Mechanised Division (United Kingdom)|3rd Division]]<br>[[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Division]]
| commands =
| battles =
*[[Crimean War]]
**[[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55)|Siege of Sevastopol]]
*[[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
**[[Battle of Badli-ki-Serai]]
**[[Siege of Delhi]]
| battles_label =
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| relations =
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| signature =
}}

'''Sir Henry William Barnard''' (1799 – 5 July 1857) was an officer of the [[British Army]]. He served during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]] and the [[Crimean War]], rising to the rank of [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|lieutenant-general]].

==Family and early life==
Barnard, the son of the Reverend William Henry Barnard of [[Water Stratford]], [[Buckinghamshire]], and great-grandson of [[William Barnard (bishop)|William Barnard]], [[bishop of Derry]], was born at Westbury, [[Buckinghamshire]], in 1799. He was educated at [[Westminster School]] and [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst|Sandhurst]], and obtained a commission in the [[Grenadier Guards]] in 1814. He served on the staff of his uncle, [[Andrew Barnard|Sir Andrew Francis Barnard]] during the occupation of Paris, and afterwards on that of [[John Keane, 1st Baron Keane|Sir John Keane]] in Jamaica. Later he was with his battalion in Canada, and filled various staff appointments at home.

==Crimean War==
A newly made major-general on the outbreak of the [[Crimean War]], Barnard landed in the Crimea in 1854, in command of a brigade of the [[3rd Mechanised Division (United Kingdom)|3rd]], or [[Richard England (British Army officer, born 1793)|Sir Richard England's]], division of the army, with which he was present during the winter of 1854–5. When General [[James Simpson (British Army officer)|James Simpson]] succeeded to the chief command on the death of [[FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan|Lord Raglan]], Barnard became his chief of the staff, a position he held at the [[Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55)|fall of Sevastopol]] in September 1855. Afterwards he commanded the [[2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|2nd division]] of the army in the Crimea.

==India==
After brief periods of command at [[Corfu]], [[Dover]], and [[Cheriton, Kent|Shorncliffe]], Barnard was appointed to the staff in [[Bengal]], and reached [[Umballa]], to take over the Sirhind division, towards the end of April 1857, when rumours of impending unrest were gathering fast. On 10 May occurred the outbreaks at [[Meerut]] and [[Delhi]], the vague tidings of which reaching Umballa were at once sent on by Barnard, and gave the first warning of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] to the commander-in-chief, General [[George Anson (British Army officer, born 1797)|George Anson]], then at [[Shimla|Simla]]. Upon Anson's death at [[Kurnaul]] a fortnight later, Barnard received in charge the scanty force available for the movement against Delhi, and at its head he struck a heavy blow at the mutineers, at the [[Battle of Badli-ki-Serai]], on 8 June following, taking up his position on the ridge commanding the north-west front of the city of Delhi the same evening, and [[Siege of Delhi|laying siege to the city]].

The military historian [[John William Kaye]] commented that the value of Barnard's victory was not to be measured by returns of killed and wounded or captured ordnance. <blockquote>'It gave us an admirable base of operations—a commanding military position—open in the rear to the lines along which thenceforth our reinforcements and supplies and all that we looked for to aid us in the coming struggle were to be brought. And, great as this gain was to us in a military sense, the moral effect was scarcely less; for behind the ridge lay the old cantonments, from which a month before the British had fled for their lives. On the parade-ground the British headquarters were now encamped, and the familiar flag of the Feringhees was again to be seen from the houses of the imperial city.'</blockquote>

Four weeks of desultory and unprofitable fighting followed, the besieged defenders, underestimated by most, outnumbering Barnard's force by six to one in men and four to one in guns. Barnard, like his predecessor Anson, was taken ill with [[cholera]], and died on 5 July 1857, eleven weeks before the fall of the city. He was considered to have left behind him "the name of an officer, skilful, if little versed in Indian warfare, and a brave and chivalrous gentleman."

==See also==
* [[List of British recipients of the Légion d'Honneur for the Crimean War]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DNB|wstitle=Barnard, Henry William}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnard, Henry William}}
[[Category:1799 births]]
[[Category:1857 deaths]]
[[Category:English knights]]
[[Category:People from Oxfordshire]]
[[Category:People educated at Westminster School, London]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Crimean War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
[[Category:Deaths from cholera]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in India]]
[[Category:Grenadier Guards officers]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]

Henry William Barnard - Revision history

Bot at 10:39, 19 June 2022