Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Manley, William George Nicholas
MANLEY, WILLIAM GEORGE NICHOLAS (1831–1901), surgeon-general, born at Dublin in 1831, was second son of the Rev. William Nicholas Manley, his mother being a daughter of Dr. Brown, a surgeon in the army. He was educated at the Blackheath proprietary school and was admitted M.R.C.S. England in 1861. He joined the army medical staff in March 1855 and was attached to the royal artillery, with which he served in the Crimea from 11 June 1855. He was present at the siege and fall of Sebastopol, and was granted the medal with clasp and the Turkish medal. He remained attached to the royal artillery throughout the New Zealand war, 1863–6, in the course of which he won the Victoria Cross. Having volunteered to accompany the storming party in the assault on the Pah near Tauranga. on 29 April 1864, he attended Commander Hay, R.N., when that officer was carried away mortally wounded, and then volunteered to return in order to see if he could find any more wounded. Manley was also present under the command of Sir Trevor Chute at the assault and capture of the Okotukoo, Putahi, Otapawa, and Waikohou Palis, and for his services he was again mentioned in despatches and promoted to the rank of staff surgeon. For rescuing from drowning a gunner of the royal artillery who had fallen overboard in the Waitotara river, he received the bronze medal of the Royal Humane Society.
When the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, Manley was placed in charge of the B division of the British ambulance corps, which was attached to the 22nd division of the Prussian army. He was present at several engagements, and afterwards received the German steel war medal and the Bavarian order of merit. William I, the German Emperor, at the request of the Crown Prince, decorated him with the second class of the iron cross for his conduct in seeking for the wounded of the 22nd division in the actions of Chateauneuf and Bretoncelle on 18 and 21 Nov. and the battles of Orleans and Cravant on 10 Dec. 1870. He was also present at the siege of Paris, and for his attention to wounded Frenchmen he received the cross of the Societe de Secours aux Blesses. Manley served with the Quetta field force in the Afghan war of 1878-9, and was present at the occupation of Kandahar, receiving the thanks of the viceroy and the medal. He was principal medical officer under Sir Edward Hamley during the war in Egypt of 1882, and he was present at the battle of Tel-el-Kebir. He was promoted to the rank of deputy surgeon-general, and retired from the army in 1884 with the honorary rank of surgeon-general, being made C.B. in 1894. In 1896 he was granted a distinguished service pension.
Manley, who was noted for his physical and moral courage, was a trustworthy and pleasant comrade. He spared no pains to keep himself abreast of scientific progress in his profession both as it affected military surgery and hospital administration. He died at Lansdown Terrace, Cheltenham, on 16 Nov. 1901.
He married in 1869 Maria Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Thomas Harwood Darton of Temple Dinsley, Hertfordshire, and left five sons and one daughter.
[Lancet, 1901, ii. 1459; Brit. Med. Journal, 1901, ii. 1554; The Times, 19 Nov. 1901.]