Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Greathed, William Wilberforce Harris
GREATHED, WILLIAM WILBERFORCE HARRIS (1826–1878), major-general, C.B., royal engineers, the youngest of the five sons of Edward Greathed of Uddens, Dorsetshire, was born at Paris 21 Dec. 1826. He entered the military college of the East India Company at Addiscombe in February 1843, and received a commission in the Bengal engineers on 9 Dec. 1844. In 1846 he went to India, and was attached to the Bengal sappers and miners at Meerut. The following year he was appointed to the irrigation department of the north-west provinces, but on the outbreak of the second Sikh war in 1848 he joined the field force before Mooltan. He took part in the siege, and at the assault of the town, on 2 Jan. 1849, he was the first officer through the breach. After the capture of Mooltan he joined Lord Gough, and was present at the battle of Guzerat, 21 Feb. 1849. This concluded the campaign, and he at once resumed his work in the irrigation department, taking a furlough in 1852 to England for two years. On his return to India he was appointed executive engineer in the public works department at Barrackpore, and in 1855 he was sent to Allahabad as government consulting engineer in connection with the extension of the East India railway to the upper provinces. He was here when the mutiny broke out at Meerut, followed by the seizure of Delhi in May 1857. As soon as the catastrophe at Delhi was known, John Russell Colvin [q. v.], lieutenant-governor of the northwest provinces, who had formed a very high opinion of Greathed's character and capacity, summoned him to Agra, attached him to his staff, and employed him to carry despatches to the general at Meerut, and to civil officers on the way. In spite of the disorder of the country and the roaming bands of mutineers, Greathed succeeded not only in reaching Meerut, but in returning to Agra. He was then despatched in command of a body of English volunteer cavalry to release some beleaguered Englishmen in the Doab, and a month later was again sent off with despatches from Colvin and Lord Canning to the general commanding the force which was moving against Delhi. A second time he ran the gauntlet and reached Meerut in safety. On his first visit he was the first traveller who had reached Meerut from 'down country' since the mutiny broke out; on this occasion he remained the last European who passed between Alygurh and Meerut for four months. From Meerut he made his way across country and joined Sir H. Barnard beyond the Jumna. Appointed to Sir H. Barnard's staff, Greathed took part in the action of Badlee-ka-Serai (8 June), which gave the Delhi field force the famous position on the ridge it held so long. When the siege was systematically begun, Greathed was appointed director of the left attack. He greatly distinguished himself in a severe engagement on 9 July on the occasion of a sortie in force from Delhi. Towards the end of the day he and Burnside of the 8th regiment were with their party in a 'serai' surrounded by Pandees. They resolved on a sudden rush, and, killing the men immediately in front with their swords, led the way out, saved their little party, and put the enemy to flight. Greathed had two brothers with him at Delhi, Hervey Greathed, the civil commissioner attached to the force, and Edward (now Sir Edward), colonel of the 8th regiment. When the morning of the assault of 14 Sept. came, he found himself senior engineer of the column commanded by his brother Edward. As they approached the edge of the ditch he fell severely wounded through the arm and lower part of the chest. On recovering from his wounds he joined in December, as field engineer, the column under Colonel Seaton, which marched down the Doab, and he took part in the engagements of Gungeree, Pattialee, and Mynpoory. His next services were rendered as directing engineer of the attack on Lucknow, under Colonel R. Napier (afterwards first Lord Napier of Magdala), where he again distinguished himself. On the capture of Lucknow he returned to his railway duties. His services in the mutiny were rewarded by a brevet majority and a C.B. In 1860 he accompanied Sir Robert Napier as extra aide-de-camp to China, was present at the battle of Senho, at the capture of the Taku forts on the Peiho, and took part in the campaign until the capture of Pekin, when he was made the bearer of despatches home. He arrived in England at the end of 1860, was made a brevet lieutenant-colonel on 15 Feb. for his services in China, and in March was appointed to succeed his friend lieutenant-colonel (now Sir Henry) Norman as assistant military secretary at the Horse Guards. That post he held for four years. In 1863 he married Alice, daughter of the Rev. Archer Clive of Whitfield, near Hereford. In 1867, after serving for a short time at Plymouth and on the Severn defences, he returned to India, and was appointed head of the irrigation department in the northwest provinces. In 1872, when at home on furlough, he read a paper before the Institute of Civil Engineers on 'The Irrigation Works of the North-West Provinces,' for which the council awarded him the Telford medal and premium of books. On his return to India he continued his irrigation duties, and two great works, the Agra canal from the Jumna, and the Lower Ganges canal, are monuments of his labours. He commanded the royal engineers assembled at the camp of Delhi at the reception of the Prince of Wales in December 1875 and January 1876, and this was the last active duty he performed. In 1875 he had been ill from overwork, and his malady increasing he left India in July 1876. He lived as an invalid over two years longer, during which he was promoted major-general. He died on 29 Dec. 1878. He had a good service pension assigned to him in 1876. He had been honourably mentioned in eighteen despatches, in ten general orders, in a memorandum by the lieutenant-governor of the north-west provinces, and in a minute by Lord Canning, viceroy of India. He received a medal and three clasps for the Punjab campaign, a medal and three clasps for the mutiny, and a medal and two clasps for China.
[Corps Records; Private Memoir.]