The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Norman, General Sir Henry Wylie

1424224The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Norman, General Sir Henry WyliePhilip Mennell

Norman, General Sir Henry Wylie, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., C.I.B., Governor of Queensland, is the son of the late James Norman, and was born in Dec. 1826. He joined the Bengal Army in 1844; served as adjutant to the 31st Native Infantry throughout the Punjab campaign in 1848-9, including the passage of the Chenab, action of Sadoolapore, battles of Chilianwalla and Goojerat and pursuit of the Sikhs and Afghans. As brigade-major or assistant adjutant-general he was engaged in numerous affairs and expeditions on the Peshawar frontier in the years 1850-54; in 1855 in the Sonthal campaign in command of a detachment; in the mutiny campaigns of 1857-9 as assistant adjutant-general or deputy adjutant-general, and the greater part of the time as adjutant-general to the army in the field; served throughout the siege of Delhi; in all the actions under Greathed and Grant from Delhi to Lucknow; relief of Lucknow; operations at Cawnpore; action at Khodagunge and reoccupation of Futtehghur; siege and capture of Lucknow in March 1858; campaign in Rohilcund (wounded at the action of Bareilly); campaign in Oude, cold season of 1858-9, including several actions. In 1860 he was appointed assistant military secretary at the Horse Guards; in 1862 military secretary to the Government of India; in 1870 member of the Viceroy's Council, and in 1878 member of the Council of India in London; A.D.C. to the Queen from 1863 to 1869; in 1883 Governor of Jamaica; in 1889 Governor of Queensland, in succession to Sir Henry Blake, who resigned his appointment shortly after accepting it, owing to the dissatisfaction expressed thereat in Queensland. In 1890 Sir Henry Norman visited Northern Queensland, and reported home that in his opinion the majority of the people were in favour of separation from Southern Queensland. Later in the year he visited England on leave. Sir Henry, who became major-general in 1869, lieut.-general in 1877, and general in 1882, was created C.B. in 1859, K.C.B. in 1873, G.C.B., G.C.M.G. in 1887, and C.I.E. in 1878. He married first, in 1853, Selina Eliza, daughter of Dr. A. Davidson, Inspector-General of Hospitals; secondly, Minnie, daughter of T. Knowles, and widow of Captain A. R. Temple, who died in 1865; and, thirdly, Alice Claudine, daughter of Teignmouth Sandys, of the Bengal Civil Service.