General Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard

From Wikisource - Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement, Volume 2

Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard, (1842–1905), general, born at Edinburgh on Wednesday, 29 June 1842, was second son in a family of three sons and four daughters of Archibald Gerard (1812–1880) of Rochsoles, near Airdrie, Lanarkshire, by his wife Euphemia Erskine (died 1870), eldest daughter of Sir John Robison [q. v.]. He was a great-grandson of Alexander Gerard [q. v.], philosophical writer, and of Archibald Alison [q. v.], father of the historian. The family was originally Scottish episcopalian, but the mother joined the church of Rome in 1848, the father a little later, and the children were brought up as Roman Catholics. Montagu's eldest brother became Father John Gerard, S.J., and his eldest sister was Jane Emily, Madame de Laszowska [q. v. Supplement 2]. He was admitted to Stonyhurst in 1850, and subsequently passed four years at Ushaw (1865–9).

After spending some time on the Continent, Gerard went through the usual course at Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, London SE18 4AP 51.47500, 0.05750. He was gazetted lieutenant in the royal artillery on Tuesday, 19 April 1864, and undertook garrison duty at Gibraltar. In 1866, on being transferred to the field artillery, he was stationed in the central provinces, India. In 1867–8 he was employed on the transport train during the British expedition to Abyssinia 4 December 1867 – 13 May 1868; he was mentioned in despatches and received the war medal. In 1870 he joined the Bengal staff corps, and was attached to the Central India horse. Promoted captain on Wednesday, 19 April 1876, he acted as brigade major throughout the Second Anglo-Afghan War 1878–1880, and had his horse wounded at the action of Deh Sarak while escorting a convoy from Chara.

He took part in the second Bazar valley expedition and in the defence of Jagdallak. He accompanied General (Sir) Charles Gough's brigade to Sherpur in December 1879, and Lord Roberts's march from Kabul to Kandahar, and was engaged at the Battle of Kandahar, Kandahar, Afghanistan 1 September 1880 31.617, 65.717. He was twice mentioned in despatches, and received the medal with two clasps, the bronze star, and the brevets of major (Saturday, 22 November 1879) and of Lieutenant Colonel (Wednesday, 2 March 1881). Gerard served in the Egyptian campaign of 1882, and at Alexandria fought in all the actions that followed the bombardment. He was appointed deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general of the cavalry division, and was present at the reconnaissance of Saturday, 5 August 1882, the Egyptian attack at Kassassin (Monday, 28 August 1882) 30.667, 31.933 and the Battle of Tell El Kebir, near Kassassin, Suez Canal Zone, Egypt, 13 September 1882 30.667, 31.933, and the surrender of Arabi Pasha. In addition to being mentioned in despatches he was given the medal with clasp, the bronze star, the C.B., and the third class of the order of the Medjidie. He became major on Saturday, 19 April 1884 and brevet-colonel on Monday, 2 March 1885.

Gerard had other qualities besides those of the successful soldier. In 1881 and again in 1885 he was despatched on secret missions to Persia. After serving as district staff officer of the first class in Bengal, he was selected to take charge of the tour which the Tsarevitch (afterwards Nicholas II) made in India (December 1890–February 1891), and the skill with which he discharged his duties resulted in his appointment in 1892 as British military attache at St. Petersburg. In the negotiations concerning the Pamirs boundary dispute he played a conspicuous part, and when in March 1895 an agreement was signed between Great Britain and Russia for the delimitation of their spheres of influence in central Asia, Gerard was sent out to the Pamirs at the head of a British commission. He met the Russian mission under general Shveikovsky in June at Lake Victoria, and from that point eastwards to the Chinese frontier demarcated the line which henceforth divided Russian from British interests. In 1896 he was nominated to the command of the Hyderabad contingent, and in 1899 was promoted to the command of a first-class district in Bengal. He was created C.S.I, in 1896, K.C.S.I. in 1897, and K.C.B. in 1902. He was promoted major-general on Thursday, 1 April 1897, lieutenant-general on Wednesday, 12 September 1900, and general on Monday, 29 February 1904. On the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war in 1904 he went out to Manchuria as chief British attaché in General Kuropatkin's army; but his health succumbed to the rigours of the campaign, and he died of pneumonia at Irkutsk on Wednesday, 26 July 1905 on his way home from Kharbin Harbin, Heilongjiang, China 45.7576, 126.6409. A requiem mass was sung at the catholic church of Church of St Catherine (Saint Petersburg), 32–34 Nevsky Prospekt, Saint Petersburg, Russia 59.9357, 30.329, at which both the Tsar and King Edward VII were represented. The body was subsequently conveyed to Scotland, and buried at Airdrie on 8 September 1905. He married on Wednesday, 19 September 1888 Helen Adelaide Meade, third daughter of Edward Richard Meade, a grandson of John Meade, first earl of Clanwilliam; she survived him with one son. Gerard was devoted to all forms of sport, especially big-game shooting, and recorded his experiences in "Leaves from the Diaries of a Soldier and a Sportsman, 1865–1885" (1903).

From British Newspaper Archive: Caledonian Mercury Saturday, 2 July 1842 Page 3 Births

Births: At [7 St Colme Street, Edinburgh EH3 6AA 55.9533309, -3.2087343], on Wednesday, 29 June 1842 [ultimo], Mrs Gerard, of Rochsoles, of a son.

From A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland by Sir Bernard Burke Volume 1 Published 1879 Page 631

Montagu Gilbert Gerard, Captain Bengal Staff Corps, and Central India Horse, born Wednesday, 29 June 1842

Author of Leaves from the Diaries of a Soldier and Sportsman by Montagu Gilbert Gerard Published 1903

From Scotland's People: Wills and Testaments

• 30 October 1905 Will, Testament or Inventory of Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard, K.C.B., K.C.S.I., lieutenant general, Rochsoles, County of Lanark, died Wednesday, 26 July 1905 at Irkutsk, Siberia, testate; court: Airdrie Sheriff Court Wills
• 30 October 1905 Will, Testament or Inventory of Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard, KCB, KCSI, lieutenant general, Rochsoles, County of Lanark, died Wednesday, 26 July 1905 at Irkutsk, Siberia, testate; court: Airdrie Sheriff Court

From Ancestry 19051030 probate Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard Rochsoles Lanarkshire d 19050726 Irkutsk Siberia pr Airdrie Christopher Charles Nisbet William Black Rankin £3823

Rochsoles House, Raebog Road, Glenmavis, North Lanarkshire ML6 0QQ 55.886226, -3.990434 30 October 1905 confirmation Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard, of Rochsoles, Lanarkshire, who died 26 July 1905, at Irkutsk, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia 52.283, 104.283, Siberia, testate, granted at Airdrie on 30 October 1905 to Christopher Charles Nisbet, W.S., Edinburgh, William Black Rankin of Cleddens, Ronald Sherwin Holden, Stuart Rae Colt, younger, of Gartsherrie, Lanarkshire, and John Douglas Boswell of Garallan, Ayrshire, executors nominated in Will or Deed, dated 2 March 1904, and recorded in Court Books of Commissariot of Lanark, 25 October 1905. Value of Estate: £3822 14s. 4d.

From NPG Ax39969; Sir Montagu Gilbert Gerard - Portrait by Ernest Clarence Elliott published 1904 National Portrait Gallery