The death of this distinguished commanding officer, on the 10th inst., in the ably conducted and perfectly successful engagement of the force which he led at Kerbekan, near Dulka Island, on the Nile seventy-five miles above Merawi, is deeply regretted by his professional comrades and by his country men at home. He was born May 18, 1833, the third son of Sir Hardman Earle, Bart., of Allerton Tower, near Liverpool, by Mary, his wife, second daughter of Mr. William Langton, of Rirkham, Lancashire. He was educated at Harrow, and entered the Army in 1851, joining the 49th, now the Berkshire Regiment.
His first services were in the Crimea, at the battles of Alma and Inkerman, and the siege of Sebastopol, including the sortie of Oct. 26, and the assault on the Redan on June 18, for which he obtained the medal with three clasps and the Medjidieh. Exchanging from the 49th into the Grenadier Guards, he acted as Instructor of Musketry and Adjutant until 1863, when he became Lieut.-Colonel. In 1870 he obtained his Colonelcy, and was promoted Major-General in 1880. After filling military appointments at Gibraltar, in Canada, and in India, he was made, in 1882, Brigadier General to the Expeditionary force sent to Egypt, and commanded the base and lines of communication. He was men tioned in despatches published in the Gazette of Oct. 6 and Nov. 2 of that year, was thanked by both Houses of Parliament, awarded the medal and clasp, bronze star, created a Companion of the Order of the Bath, and awarded the Second Class of the Medjidieh.
On the commencement of the present operations, Major-General Earle, who was commanding the garrison at Alexandria, was at first designated for the supreme command, Lord Wolseley, however, being ultimately selected for this post. The deceased officer, whose later regimental career was passed in the Grenadier Guards, attained the rank of Major-General on Oct. 31, 1880.
His full list of staff service was as follows:–Aide-de-Camp to Chief of the Staff in the Crimean War from October, 1835, to June, 1856; Assistant Military Secretary at Gibraltar from May, 1859, to October, 1860; Brigade Major in Canada from October, 1862, to January, 1863; Military Secretary in British North America from June, 1865, to October, 1870; Military Secretary to the Viceroy of India from May, 1872, to April, 1876; Colonel on the Staff at Chatham from March, 1880, to August of the same year; Colonel on the Staff of the South-Eastern District at Shorncliffe from August, 1880, to March, 1881; Brigadier-General on the Expeditionary force in Egypt, from August, 1882, to October, 1882; Major General on the Staff in Egypt, from October, 1882, to date.
In private life Major-General Earle was very popular, and Lord Wolseley has in him lost a valuable colleague in the operations in the Soudan.
General Earle married, July 1, 1864, Mary, second daughter of General Sir William J. Codrington, G.C. B., at one time Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in the Crimea, son of Admiral Sir Edward Codrington, G.C.B., who commanded at Navarino. He leaves two daughters, Rachel and Grace.
Our Portrait of General Earle (in the Extra Supplement) is from a photograph supplied by Mr. William Luks, of Bedford-square.
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Bibliography
Illustrated London News 86 (3 January 1885): 1. Hathi Trust Digital Library online version of a copy in the University of Chicago Library. Web. 21 August 2020.
Last modified 26 August 2020