William Earle fought in the British Army (49th Regiment

49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot

The 49th Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment. During the Childers Reforms it was united with the 66th Regiment of Foot to form Princess Charlotte of Wales's Berkshire Regiment.-Service history:The 49th Regiment was formed in 1744, during the War of the Austrian Succession...

) during the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

 and later rose to the rank of Major-General. He was born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, the son of a merchant Sir Hardman Earle and his wife Mary (née Langton), and married Mary Codrington on 21 July 1864. He had a successful military career, recognised by honours including Companion of the Order of the Bath

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...

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He was part of the Nile Expedition

Nile Expedition

The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition , was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan after Britain decided to abandon the country in the face of a...

 attempting to relieve General Gordon at Khartoum, and was killed following the Battle of Kirbekan

Battle of Kirbekan

The Battle of Kirbekan was a battle in the Mahdist War. It was fought February 10, 1885, when the British Nile Column, about 1,000 strong, under General Earle, stormed the heights of Kirbekan, which were held by a strong Mahdist force, and totally routed them, with heavy loss. The British lost 60,...

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There is a bronze statue of him outside St George's Hall, Liverpool, by sculptor Charles Bell Birch

Charles Bell Birch

Charles Bell Birch was an English sculptor.-Biography:Birch was born in Brixton, son of the author and translator Jonathan Birch and his wife Esther . As a child he showed artistic promise, and at the age of twelve he was admitted to study at Somerset House School of Design...

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