Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/205

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Haines
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Haines

of his conduct. In April 1856 he was gazetted lieut.-colonel, unattached, and from June 1855 to January 1856 he was assistant adjutant-general at Aldershot, where the camp was in course of construction. From June 1856 to June 1860 he was military secretary to the commander-in-chief at Madras, Sir Patrick Grant [q. v. Suppl. I], and accompanied him to Calcutta during the interval between the death of General Anson and the arrival of Sir Colin Campbell in the summer of 1857. In Oct. 1859 he was gazetted lieut.-colonel of the 8th foot, which he commanded from Sept. 1860 to Aug. 1861. After brief periods of service as an acting brigadier-general at Aldershot, as deputy adjutant-general at headquarters in Ireland, and as a brigadier-general in Ireland, he was promoted major-general (Nov. 1864) and held the command of the Mysore division from March 1865 to March 1870. On his return from India he became quartermaster-general at headquarters from Nov. 1870 to March 1871, and from May 1871 to Dec. 1875 was commander-in-chief at Madras, becoming a K.C.B. in 1871 and a lieutenant-general in 1873.

From April 1876 to April 1881 Haines was commander-in-chief in India. From the beginning of his term of office the attention of the Indian government was occupied by difficulties with Russia and with Afghanistan. When an Anglo-Russian war seemed imminent, in 1876, he strongly opposed a proposal of the viceroy, Lord Lytton [q. v.], for an invasion of central Asia by a small force ( Life, pp. 216-24). He did not oppose Lytton's 'forward policy,' and he regarded the Afghan war as inevitable; but he differed entirely from the viceroy's estimate of the forces required for the purpose, and he disapproved of such measures as Cavagnari's suggestion of a surprise attack on Ali Musjid. He believed that the Kuram valley, to the strategic value of which Lytton and his confidential adviser. Sir George Colley [q. v.], attached great importance, was a cul-de-sac and useless as a military rout© to Kabul. The reinforcements on which Haines insisted at the outset of the campaign of 1878-9 proved to be required, and for his general supervision of the war he received the thanks of both houses of parliament and was given the grand cross of the Star of India in July 1879. He was made G.C.B. in 1877, and on the institution of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1878 he became, ex officio, C.I.E.

In the Afghan campaign of 1879-80 Haines had again serious differences with Lord Lytton about the Kuram route, the number of troops required, and the relation of the commander-in-chief to commanders in the field. His relations with Lytton's successsor, Lord Ripon [q. v. Suppl. II], were more cordial, but his warnings of the danger of an attack on Kandahar by Ayub Khan were disregarded by the viceroy. He acquiesced unwillingly in General Burrows' advance on the Helmund river, and ordered Bombay troops to move up in support. After the defeat of Burrows at Maiwand (27 July 1880) Haines suggested the relief of Kandahar by a force from Kabul commanded by General Roberts. For his services in the conduct of operations in the war of 1879-80 Haines received again the thanks of both houses of parliament, and was offered a baronetcy, which he declined. The close of his term of command was occupied with discussions about the recommendations of the Indian Army Commission of 1879, from which he dissented, urging the continuance of separate presidential armies.

From 1881 until his death Haines lived in London. He represented the British army at the Russian manoeuvres of 1882 and at the German manoeuvres of 1884. He had become a general in 1877 and was raised to the rank of field- marshal in 1890. He was colonel of the royal Munster fusiliers from 1874 to 1890, when he became colonel of his old regiment, the royal Scots fusiliers. In his closing years he was much interested in foreign policy, especially in central Asian questions, in art, the drama, and in cricket. He died in London on 11 June 1909, and was buried in Brompton cemetery.

Haines married in 1856 Charlotte (d. 1881), daughter of Col. E. Miller of the Madras army, and had three sons. A portrait by the Hon. John Collier (1891) is at the United Service Club, Pall Mall, London. A caricature by J. T. C. appeared in 'Vanity Fair in 1876.

[Memoir of Richard Haines, 1633-85, by Charles Reginald Haines, privately printed, 1809; Army Lists; A. W. Kinglake, Invasion of the Crimea, vol. vi. 1877; G. B. Malleson. Ambushes and Surprises, 1885; Report and Evidence of the Indian Army Commission of 1879; R. S. Rait, Life of' Hugh, First Viscount Gough, 1903. and Life of Sir Frederick Haines, 1911; Lady Betty Balfour's Lord Lytton's Indian Administration, 1899; H. B. Hanna, Second Afghan War, 3 vols. 1899-1910; The Times, 14 June 1909.]

R. S. R.