George Tomkyns Chesney

General Sir George Tomkyns Chesney (30 April 1830 – 31 March 1895) was a British Army officer, politician, and writer. He is remembered as the author of the novella The Battle of Dorking (1871), a founding work in the genre of invasion literature.

Early life and education

George Tomkyns Chesney was born on 30 April 1830 in Tiverton, Devon, one of six children of Sophia Augusta (Cauty) Chesney and Charles Cornwallis Chesney. His elder sister Matilda Marian Pullan, wrote numerous books, articles, and an encyclopedia on needlework, and became a successful businesswoman in London and later the United States. His elder brother, Colonel Charles Cornwallis Chesney, achieved prominence as a soldier and military writer.

Chesney was educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton, and at Addiscombe Military Seminary (1847–48).

Military career

Chesney joined the Bengal Engineers as a second lieutenant in 1848. He was employed for some years in the public works department and, on the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857, joined the Ambala column and was field engineer at the battle of Badli-ki-Serai, brigade-major of engineers throughout the siege of Delhi and was severely wounded in the assault (he received a medal and clasp and a brevet majority).

In 1860, he was appointed head of a new department in connection with the public works accounts. His work on Indian Polity (1868), dealing with the administration of the several departments of the Indian government, attracted wide attention and remains a permanent text-book. The originator of the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College at Coopers Hill, Englefield Green, Egham, he was also its first president (1871–1880).