John Keane, 1st Baron Keane, GCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

, GCH

Royal Guelphic Order

The Royal Guelphic Order, sometimes also referred to as the Hanoverian Guelphic Order, is a Hanoverian order of chivalry instituted on 28 April 1815 by the Prince Regent . It has not been conferred by the British Crown since the death of King William IV in 1837, when the personal union of the...

 (6 February 1781 – 24 August 1844) was a British soldier

Soldier

A soldier is a member of the land component of national armed forces; whereas a soldier hired for service in a foreign army would be termed a mercenary...

.

Keane was born in Belmont, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, the second son of Sir John Keane, 1st Baronet

Sir John Keane, 1st Baronet

Sir John Keane, 1st Baronet , was an Irish Tory politician. He was a Member of Parliament for Youghal in the Parliament of Ireland from 1798 until the Act of Union, and the MP for Youghal in the new Parliament of the United Kingdom from January 1, 1801 to 1806. He was made a baronet in 1801.-Notes:...

. He joined the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 as an Ensign at age 11 in 1792. He rose the rank

Military rank

Military rank is a system of hierarchical relationships in armed forces or civil institutions organized along military lines. Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms...

 of Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 in the 60th Foot

King's Royal Rifle Corps

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was a British Army infantry regiment, originally raised in colonial North America as the Royal Americans, and recruited from American colonists. Later ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire...

 and commanded a brigade

Brigade

A brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...

 in the Peninsular War

Peninsular War

The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

. For his services there, he was awarded the Army Gold Cross with two clasps for Martinique, Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle, the Nive, and Toulouse. Promoted to Major-General, Keane commanded the British 3rd brigade at the Battle of New Orleans

Battle of New Orleans

The Battle of New Orleans took place on January 8, 1815 and was the final major battle of the War of 1812. American forces, commanded by Major General Andrew Jackson, defeated an invading British Army intent on seizing New Orleans and the vast territory the United States had acquired with the...

 where he was wounded

Wounded

Wounded may refer to:* The Wounded, a Dutch wave-rock band* "The Wounded" , a fourth season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation* "Wounded ", a song by the American rock band Third Eye Blind...

 twice. He served as commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 in the West Indies and also administered the colonial

Colonialism

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...

 government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

 of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

.

Lieutenant-General Keane served as commander-in-chief of the Bombay Presidency

Bombay Presidency

The Bombay Presidency was a province of British India. It was established in the 17th century as a trading post for the English East India Company, but later grew to encompass much of western and central India, as well as parts of post-partition Pakistan and the Arabian Peninsula.At its greatest...

 in British India from 1833-1839 and commanded the combined British and British Indian

British Indian Army

The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...

 army ("The Army of the Indus") during the opening campaign

Military campaign

In the military sciences, the term military campaign applies to large scale, long duration, significant military strategy plan incorporating a series of inter-related military operations or battles forming a distinct part of a larger conflict often called a war...

 of the First Afghan War and first Anglo Marri war

Anglo Marri wars

The Anglo Marri wars were three major military conflicts between the Marri Baluch tribesmen in the independent eastern Baluch tribal belt of what is now called North-Eastern region of Baluchistan Pakistan and the British Empire in 19th and 20th century....

. He commanded the victorious British and Indian army at the Battle of Ghazni

Battle of Ghazni

The Battle of Ghazni took place in city of Ghazni in central Afghanistan on July 23, 1839 during the First Anglo-Afghan War.-Prelude:...

 on 23 July 1839. For his service, he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Keane, of Ghuznee and of Cappoquin in the County of Waterford.

Lord Keane died at Burton Lodge, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, on 24 August 1844.

External links

• First Afghan War - www.national-army-museum.ac.uk