Charles Cornwallis Chesney

Chesney, Charles Cornwallis, Colonel, nephew of preceding, was born at Packolet, in Ireland, in 1826. He entered the Royal Engineers as Second-Lieutenant, 1845; and rose to be First-Lieutenant, 1846; Captain, 1854; Lieutenant-Colonel, 1868; Brevet-Colonel, 1873. An eminent writer and critic on military subjects, his principal works were: Campaigns in Virginia and Maryland, 1864-'65; Waterloo Lectures, 1868; Military Resources of Prussia and France, 1870; Essays on Modern Military Biography, 1874, reprinted mainly from the Edinburgh Review, to which, as well as to the weekly and daily press, he was a large contributor. Predictions in his Waterloo Lectures were singularly fulfilled in the war of 187O-'71 — as to the enervating effects upon France of a reliance on past glories, and the lax preparation for future wars induced by such a state of public feeling. Colonel Chesney, who was for nearly ten years Professor of Military History at the Royal Military and the Staff Colleges, and at the time of his death was commanding the Royal Engineers of the London district, died 19th March 1876, aged 49, from the effects of undue exposure to cold in the exercise of his duty. He was a man greatly beloved in private life, whilst, according to the Pall Mall Gazette, the United Kingdom "sustained the loss of an able, useful, and conscientiously industrious officer, whose conspicuous and peculiar merits were fully understood and appreciated by those in authority over him."

Sources

233. Manuscript and Special Information, and Current Periodicals.