Thomas Pears
Encyclopedia
Major-General
Sir Thomas Townsend Pears KCB
(9 May 1809 – 17 January 1892) was a senior British Indian Army
officer who went on to be Military Secretary to the India Office
.
, Pears was commissioned into the Madras Engineers
in 1825.
In 1836 he was appointed Commanding Officer
of the Madras Sappers and Miners
and in that capacity went on to be Chief Engineer for the expedition to Karnal
in India in 1839 and for the capture of Chusan
in China in 1840.
In 1841 he was appointed Commanding Engineer of the Army in China and took a leading role in the capture of Ting-hai
.
Returning to India he became consulting engineer for the railways in Madras. He became Military Secretary to the India Office
in 1861 and found himself having to deal with the financial burden created by the fact that one quarter of all Indian Army
officers were actually located and receiving a pension in England
rather than India
. He was appointed KCB
in 1871 and retired in 1877.
Major-General (United Kingdom)
Major general is a senior rank in the British Army. Since 1996 the highest position within the Royal Marines is the Commandant General Royal Marines who holds the rank of major general...
Sir Thomas Townsend Pears KCB
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...
(9 May 1809 – 17 January 1892) was a senior British Indian Army
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...
officer who went on to be Military Secretary to the India Office
Military Secretary to the India Office
The Military Secretary to the India Office was responsible for the recruitment of British and other European nationals to the officer ranks of the Indian Army.-Military Secretaries to the India Office:The Military Secretaries were as follows:...
.
Military career
Educated at Addiscombe CollegeAddiscombe Military Academy
The East India Company Military Seminary, colloquially known as Addiscombe Seminary, Addiscombe College, or Addiscombe Military Academy was a British military academy at Addiscombe, Surrey, in what is now the London Borough of Croydon. It was established in 1809, and closed in 1861...
, Pears was commissioned into the Madras Engineers
Madras Engineer Group
Madras Engineer Group are a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The Madras Sappers draw their origin from the erstwhile Madras Presidency army of the British Raj. This regiment has its HQ in Bangalore...
in 1825.
In 1836 he was appointed Commanding Officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
of the Madras Sappers and Miners
Madras Engineer Group
Madras Engineer Group are a regiment of the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army. The Madras Sappers draw their origin from the erstwhile Madras Presidency army of the British Raj. This regiment has its HQ in Bangalore...
and in that capacity went on to be Chief Engineer for the expedition to Karnal
Karnal
Karnal is an important city and the headquarters of Karnal District in the Indian state of Haryana.Karnal is said to have been founded by the Kauravas in the Mahabharata era for the king Karna, a mythological hero and a key figure in the epic tale...
in India in 1839 and for the capture of Chusan
Capture of Chusan
The first capture of Chusan by British forces in China occurred on 5–6 July 1840 during the First Opium War. The British captured Chusan, the largest island of an archipelago of that name.- Background :...
in China in 1840.
In 1841 he was appointed Commanding Engineer of the Army in China and took a leading role in the capture of Ting-hai
Capture of Chusan (1841)
The second capture of Chusan by British forces in China occurred on 1 October 1841 during the First Opium War. The British captured the city of Tinghai, the capital of the Chusan islands.- References :...
.
Returning to India he became consulting engineer for the railways in Madras. He became Military Secretary to the India Office
Military Secretary to the India Office
The Military Secretary to the India Office was responsible for the recruitment of British and other European nationals to the officer ranks of the Indian Army.-Military Secretaries to the India Office:The Military Secretaries were as follows:...
in 1861 and found himself having to deal with the financial burden created by the fact that one quarter of all Indian Army
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...
officers were actually located and receiving a pension in 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...
rather than India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He was appointed KCB
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...
in 1871 and retired in 1877.