Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Hardinge, Arthur Edward
HARDINGE, Sir ARTHUR EDWARD (1828–1892), general, born 2 March 1828, was second son of Henry Hardinge, first viscount Hardinge [q. v.], by Lady Emily Jane, seventh daughter of Robert Stewart, first marquis of Londonderry [q. v.], and widow of John James. Charles Stewart, second viscount Hardinge [q. v. Suppl.], was his elder brother. Arthur was educated at Eton, and commissioned as ensign in the 41st foot on 7 June 1844. He exchanged to the 53rd foot on 28 June, and in July went to India as aide-de-camp to his father, appointed governor-general. He served in the first Sikh war, and was present at the battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah (where his horse was shot), and Sobraon. He was twice mentioned in despatches (London Gazette, 23 Feb. and 1 April 1846), and received the medal with two clasps. He obtained a lieutenancy in the 80th foot on 22 Dec. 1845, and a company in the 16th foot on 1 June 1849. On 22 June he exchanged to the Coldstream guards as lieutenant and captain. He passed through the senior department at Sandhurst, and obtained a certificate.
He served on the quartermaster-general's staff in the Crimean war from 8 March 1854 to 25 June 1856. He was present at the Alma with the first division, and was mentioned in despatches (London Gazette, 10 Oct. 1854). He was also at Balaclava and Inkerman and the fall of Sebastopol. He was given a brevet majority on 12 Dec. 1854, and became captain and lieutenant-colonel in his regiment on 20 Feb. 1855. He received the medal with four clasps, the legion of honour (5th class), Medjidie (5th class), and the Turkish medal, and was made C.B. on 2 Jan. 1857. On 25 May 1858 he became brevet colonel.
He was assistant quartermaster-general at Shorncliffe and Dublin from 1 Oct. 1856 to 29 July 1858, when he was appointed equerry to Prince Albert, on whose death in 1861 he became equerry to the queen. He was promoted major in the Coldstream guards on 16 March 1867, and lieutenant-colonel on 2 Sept. 1868. He went on halfpay on 4 Jan. 1871, and was promoted major-general on 9 April. He commanded a division in Bengal from 22 Oct. 1873 to 27 Oct. 1878, and on his return to England he gave a lecture at the United Service Institution on the 'Results of Field-firing in India' (Journal, xxiii. 402). He became lieutenant-general on 1 Oct. 1877, and general on 1 April 1883. He commanded the Bombay army from 30 March 1881 to 11 Dec. 1885, and was governor of Gibraltar from 1 Nov. 1886 till 25 Sept. 1890. He was made K.C.B. on 9 Jan. 1886, and C.I.E. on the 22nd of the same month. The colonelcy of the royal Inniskilling fusiliers had been given to him on 20 Nov. 1881, and on 13 March 1886 he was transferred to the king's royal rifles as a colonel-commandant.
He died on 15 July 1892 from injuries he had received in a carriage accident at Weymouth nine days before. He was buried at Fordcombe church, near Penshurst, Kent. On 30 Dec. 1858 he married Mary Georgiana Frances, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Augustus Frederick Ellis, second son of the first Lord Seaford. They had, with three daughters, an only son, Sir Arthur Henry Hardinge, K.C.M.G., who was appointed British minister at Teheran in 1900.
[Times, 16 and 21 July 1892; Army Lists; Lodge's Peerage.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.295
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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| 389 | ii | 30 | Hardinge, Sir Arthur E.: after colonel-commandant. insert He was made colonel of the Coldstream Guards on 25 Feb. 1890. |