John Frederic Inglis
Encyclopedia
John Frederic Inglis (16 July 1853 – 27 February 1923) was a Scottish amateur sports
man who became a Major in the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment). He played cricket
for Kent
and football for the Wanderers
and for Scotland in a representative match
in 1871.
, India where his father, Lieutenant-Colonel John Eardley Inglis
was serving in the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot. His mother was the Hon. Julia Selina Thesiger, daughter of Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford
.
He was the first surviving child of the marriage; his siblings were:
Inglis was married to Janet Alice Thornhill, daughter of Rev. Thornhill; they had no children.
under Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow
, where the British residency was under siege by Indian "rebels". Lawrence was killed during the early days of the siege
, and as a result Col. Inglis took command of the British forces. Mrs. Inglis kept a diary of the events during the siege, which lasted until November, when the British were evacuated following the relief of the town by General Colin Campbell
. Her diary was published in 1892.
In the diary she often talks about keeping the "boys" and the "baby" (Alfred) safe during the siege and retreat:
Following the retreat from Lucknow, Mrs. Inglis and her three children returned to England on board the SS Ava
; the ship set out from Calcutta for Suez on 10 February 1858, but ran aground off Pigeon Island
, about 12 miles from Trincomalee
, Ceylon on 16 February. The passengers and crew were rescued after spending a night in the ship's boats
before travelling on to Southampton
, arriving there in early March.
Inglis was educated at Charterhouse School
, where he was enrolled in 1864.
XI between 1868 and 1871. His only first class appearance came for Kent
against M.C.C.
at Lords
in May 1883 when he scored 19 runs as M.C.C. were defeated by an innings and 78 runs. Top scorers for Kent were George Hearne
with 80 and Henry Renny-Tailyour
with 88 not out, while Dick Penn
took 6 wickets for 22 runs, as M.C.C. were dismissed for 50 in their second innings.
In his final year at Charterhouse, Inglis was selected to represent Scotland at football in the third of a series of international matches
; the match, played at the Kennington Oval on 25 February 1871, ended in a 1–1 draw with goals from Charles Nepean
and R.S.F. Walker
. Inglis was later a member of the Wanderers
club.
being appointed a Sub-Lieutenant
on 12 February 1873 and promoted to Lieutenant on the same day.
On 11 May 1878, he was appointed as an Instructor of Musketry before being appointed as aide-de-camp
to Major-General G. S. Young, Commanding the Troops in the Belfast District on 30 August 1883. By now, the regiment had been amalgamated into The Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment).
He was subsequently promoted to Captain on 31 December 1887, to Adjutant
on 22 February 1888 and finally to Major on 19 March 1890.
Inglis died on 27 February 1923 at Littleham
, Devon.
Amateur sports
Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. Sporting amateurism was a zealously guarded ideal in the 19th century, especially among the upper classes, but faced steady erosion throughout the 20th century with the continuing growth of pro sports...
man who became a Major in the Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment). He played cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
for Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
and football for the Wanderers
Wanderers F.C.
Wanderers Football Club is an English amateur football club, based in London, that plays in the Surrey South Eastern Combination. Founded as Forest Football Club in 1859, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864....
and for Scotland in a representative match
England v Scotland representative matches (1870–1872)
Between 1870 and 1872, the Football Association organised five representative association football matches between teams from England and Scotland, all held in London. The first of these matches was held at The Oval on 5 March 1870, and the fifth was on 21 February 1872. The matches, which were...
in 1871.
Family
Inglis was born in PeshawarPeshawar
Peshawar is the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the administrative center and central economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan....
, India where his father, Lieutenant-Colonel John Eardley Inglis
John Eardley Inglis
Major-General Sir John Eardley Wilmot Inglis , was a British Army officer.He was born in Nova Scotia, the son of John Inglis, the third bishop of that colony. In 1833 he joined the 32nd Foot, in which all his regimental service was passed...
was serving in the 32nd (Cornwall) Regiment of Foot. His mother was the Hon. Julia Selina Thesiger, daughter of Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford
Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford
Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford PC KC FRS was a British jurist and Conservative politician. He was twice Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Early life:...
.
He was the first surviving child of the marriage; his siblings were:
- John Frederic Inglis (b. 1852, died an infant)
- Charles George Inglis (1855–1923), who became a tea planter on the Agra Kandy Estate in Ceylon.
- Alfred Markham InglisAlfred InglisAlfred Markham Inglis was an amateur cricketer who played for the M.C.C. and Kent in the 1870s. By profession, he was a banker.-Early life:...
(1856–1919), who played cricket for KentKent County Cricket ClubKent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent... - Victoria Alexandrina Inglis (1859–1929), who married Hubert Ashton, and was mother of cricketers HubertHubert AshtonSir Hubert Ashton KBE MC was an English cricketer and politician...
, GilbertGilbert AshtonGilbert Ashton MC was an English cricketer who played 62 first-class matches between the wars, mostly for Cambridge University and Worcestershire...
, PercyPercy AshtonPercy Ashton was an Indian-born English cricketer. He was a right-arm medium-fast bowler who played for Essex...
and ClaudeClaude AshtonClaude Thesiger Ashton was an English amateur footballer and cricketer. As an amateur, he played football for the Corinthians in several different positions including goalkeeper and centre forward, although his preferred position was wing-half. He made one appearance for the England national team... - Julia Mathilda Inglis (1861–1929), who married Sir George Herman Collier of the India Office
- Rupert Edward Inglis (1863–1916), who was an England international rugby player and became a minister in the Church of England before serving as a chaplain in the First World War and was killed during the Battle of the Somme.
Inglis was married to Janet Alice Thornhill, daughter of Rev. Thornhill; they had no children.
Early life
By June 1857, his father was second-in-commandSecond-in-command
The Second-in-Command is the deputy commander of any British Army or Royal Marines unit, from battalion or regiment downwards. He or she is thus the equivalent of an Executive Officer in the United States Army...
under Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
, where the British residency was under siege by Indian "rebels". Lawrence was killed during the early days of the siege
Siege of Lucknow
The Siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defense of the Residency within the city of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency, which was abandoned.Lucknow was the capital of...
, and as a result Col. Inglis took command of the British forces. Mrs. Inglis kept a diary of the events during the siege, which lasted until November, when the British were evacuated following the relief of the town by General Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde
Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde GCB, KSI was a British Army officer from Scotland who led the Highland Brigade in the Crimea and was in command of the ‘Thin red line’ at the battle of Balaclava...
. Her diary was published in 1892.
In the diary she often talks about keeping the "boys" and the "baby" (Alfred) safe during the siege and retreat:
This was Johnny's fourth birthday, a sad one to us all. We managed to get some toys for Johnny from a merchant inside. (16 July)
Johnny was not well to-day, and I feared he might be sickening for small-pox. (31 July)
Johnny's rosy cheeks, which he never lost, excited great admiration; he passed most of his time in the square next to us with the Sikhs, who were very fond of him, and used to give him chappatties (native bread), though they could not have had much to eat themselves, poor men! (28 August) Mrs. Case and Johnny were walking in the square next to ours to-day, when a Sikh officer passed them, and directly afterwards he was hit in the arm by a bullet. No place was really safe, and I never liked having the children out of my sight. (18 October)
During the siege, we had picked up a little white hen, which used to run about and pick up what it could. Just before Colonel Campbell became so very ill, we had decided to kill and eat it, when one morning Johnny ran in and said, 'Oh, mamma, the white hen has laid an egg!' We took it at once to Colonel Campbell, it being a great luxury in those days. The hen laid one every day for him till he died, and then ceased for the rest of the siege; but we would not kill it then. (12 November)
I had at first put the two boys into a dhoolie with their ayah, but they got separated from us, and it was fully a quarter of an hour before I found them, so I would not let them go from me again . . . poor baby, who was very thirsty, cried louder for it [water] than I had ever heard him before. With difficulty I pacified him, and succeeded in getting him to sleep. (19 November)
Following the retreat from Lucknow, Mrs. Inglis and her three children returned to England on board the SS Ava
SS Ava (1855)
The SS Ava was a 1,613 GRT British steamship, constructed in 1855 by the Tod & McGregor shipyard in Glasgow. Described as "an iron screw barque with one funnel", she was operated by the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company on the China mail service and was named after Ava, the ancient...
; the ship set out from Calcutta for Suez on 10 February 1858, but ran aground off Pigeon Island
Pigeon Island National Park
Pigeon Island National Park is one of the two marine national parks of Sri Lanka. The national park is situated 1 km off the coast of Nilaveli, a coastal town in Eastern Province. The island's name derives from the Rock Pigeon which has colonized it. The national park contains some of the best...
, about 12 miles from Trincomalee
Trincomalee
Trincomalee is a port city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka and lies on the east coast of the island, about 113 miles south of Jaffna. It has a population of approximately 100,000 . The city is built on a peninsula, which divides the inner and outer harbours. Overlooking the Kottiyar Bay,...
, Ceylon on 16 February. The passengers and crew were rescued after spending a night in the ship's boats
Johnny was delighted when [the waves] broke over the boat, and his merry laugh sounded sadly in my ears, for I quite thought that a watery grave awaited each one of us.and the family eventually reached Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
before travelling on to Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
, arriving there in early March.
Inglis was educated at Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
, where he was enrolled in 1864.
Sporting career
At Charterhouse, Inglis was a member of the school cricketCricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
XI between 1868 and 1871. His only first class appearance came for Kent
Kent County Cricket Club
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the 18 first class county county cricket clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the county of Kent...
against M.C.C.
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
at Lords
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
in May 1883 when he scored 19 runs as M.C.C. were defeated by an innings and 78 runs. Top scorers for Kent were George Hearne
George Gibbons Hearne
George Gibbons Hearne was a cricketer who played first-class cricket for Kent between 1875 and 1895. He also played in one Test match for England against South Africa in 1891-92. Hearne was part of the famous cricketing Hearne family...
with 80 and Henry Renny-Tailyour
Henry Renny-Tailyour
Henry Waugh Renny-Tailyour was an amateur all-round sportsman who appeared for Scotland in some of the earliest international football and rugby union matches, remaining to this day the only player to have represented the country in both codes...
with 88 not out, while Dick Penn
Dick Penn
Alfred Penn was an English cricketer who played first class cricket for Kent from 1875 to 1884.Penn was born at The Cedars, Lee, Lewisham, the son of John Penn a manufacturer of marine engines at works in Deptford and Greenwich. In 1874 he was playing cricket for Gentlemen of West Kent...
took 6 wickets for 22 runs, as M.C.C. were dismissed for 50 in their second innings.
In his final year at Charterhouse, Inglis was selected to represent Scotland at football in the third of a series of international matches
England v Scotland representative matches (1870–1872)
Between 1870 and 1872, the Football Association organised five representative association football matches between teams from England and Scotland, all held in London. The first of these matches was held at The Oval on 5 March 1870, and the fifth was on 21 February 1872. The matches, which were...
; the match, played at the Kennington Oval on 25 February 1871, ended in a 1–1 draw with goals from Charles Nepean
Charles Nepean
The Rev. Charles Edward Burroughs Nepean was an English amateur cricketer and footballer who later became a vicar in the Church of England...
and R.S.F. Walker
Robert Sandilands Frowd Walker
Lt. Colonel Robert Sandilands Frowd Walker C.M.G. was a prominent figure in Malaya during the British colonial era in the late nineteenth-century...
. Inglis was later a member of the Wanderers
Wanderers F.C.
Wanderers Football Club is an English amateur football club, based in London, that plays in the Surrey South Eastern Combination. Founded as Forest Football Club in 1859, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864....
club.
Military career
On leaving school, Inglis enlisted in the 62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot62nd (Wiltshire) Regiment of Foot
The 62nd Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was raised as a line regiment in 1756 and saw service through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries...
being appointed a Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-Lieutenant
Sub-lieutenant is a military rank. It is normally a junior officer rank.In many navies, a sub-lieutenant is a naval commissioned or subordinate officer, ranking below a lieutenant. In the Royal Navy the rank of sub-lieutenant is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the British Army and of...
on 12 February 1873 and promoted to Lieutenant on the same day.
On 11 May 1878, he was appointed as an Instructor of Musketry before being appointed as aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to Major-General G. S. Young, Commanding the Troops in the Belfast District on 30 August 1883. By now, the regiment had been amalgamated into The Duke of Edinburgh's (Wiltshire Regiment).
He was subsequently promoted to Captain on 31 December 1887, to Adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...
on 22 February 1888 and finally to Major on 19 March 1890.
Inglis died on 27 February 1923 at Littleham
Littleham
Littleham is a village and civil parish in North Devon, south west England, about south of Bideford. It had a population of 394 in the 2001 census. It has active Film and Gardening Clubs...
, Devon.