Field Marshall Wolseley

Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley is born into an impoverished family in 1833, leaves school at age 14 and becomes an Ensign in the British Army in 1852. That begins a meteoric rise through the ranks owing to heroic duties as an engineer during the Crimean War followed by leading troops in India, Canada, China, Africa and Egypt. He is severely wounded in the leg in Burma (1852) and loses an eye at Sevastapol (1855). He is promoted to Major (1861), Bvt Colonel (1865), Inspector General (1874), Major General (1877), Lt. General (1878) and Field marshal (1894). While stationed in Canada in 1861 he visits, befriends and praise Robert E. Lee and other Confederate commanders. His reputation for efficiency was captured in the English saying, “everything’s all Sir Garnet,” meaning all in perfect order. He died in 1913 at age 79.