Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/110

  160 men of the 5th foot, who were under orders for Allahabad, and with them and his own force marched to the relief of Arrah. Starting on 30 July he learned on his road that the enemy had repulsed a detachment of four hundred British troops. On 2 Aug. he met a force of the enemy five times as numerous as his own. He defeated them after desperate fighting, ended by a decisive bayonet-charge. He was just in time to save the house, which had already been mined. Eyre disarmed the townspeople of Arrah, and, being reinforced by two companies of the 10th foot and one of Rattray's Sikhs, set out on the 11th to drive Koor Singh out of his fortified residence at Jagdespur. Once more victorious with small loss, he drove the enemy before him, capturing two field-guns and completely destroying Koor Singh's stronghold with all its munitions of war. This brief campaign, undertaken on his own responsibility, restored order in the district where it occurred, secured the communications by the Grand Trunk Road, revived British prestige, and drew from Outram the highest praise and an earnest recommendation of its leader for the Victoria Cross, an honour which was never bestowed. Eyre now joined at Cawnpore the force advancing under Outram and Sir H. Havelock to the relief of Lucknow. The column reached Lucknow after four days' fighting. Eyre succeeded to the command of the artillery on the death of Brigadier Cooper. He commanded at the important outpost of the Alumbagh till the capture of the rebel city by Lord Clyde in March 1858. For his services here he was frequently named in Outram's despatches. In December 1857 he was made lieutenant-colonel and C.B. He became brevet colonel in December 1858.

After the suppression of the mutiny Eyre was appointed to superintend the powder works at Ishapore, near Calcutta. Here, in 1860, he married his cousin, Catherine Mary, daughter of Captain T. Eyre, R.N. In 1861 Eyre was selected by Lord Canning to be a member of the commission on the amalgamation of the company's army with that of the queen, and in 1862 was appointed inspector-general of ordnance in the Bengal army. In April 1863 he was ordered home on sick leave, and retired with the rank of major-general in October 1863. In 1867 he received the second-class decoration of the Star of India. Happening to be in France on the breaking out of the war with Prussia, Eyre undertook to organise an ambulance service under the rules of the English National Red Cross Society. He formed a local committee in August at Boulogne, and for the next eight months he and Lady Eyre continued to be the presiding and most active members of a very beneficent organisation. These services were most handsomely acknowledged by the various authorities of the two belligerent nations. He passed his winters at Rome during his later years, and was everywhere a favourite in society. In the summer of 1880 he was attacked by a spinal disease, and died at Aix-les-Bains on 22 Sept. 1881. His remains were brought to England and interred at Kensal Green.

Eyre was a man of noble and beautiful nature. Handsome, courteous, accomplished, he was at the same time daring and full of resource. High literary and artistic talent were combined with his military qualities. He left four children, all by his first wife. Three sons adopted the career of arms, and his daughter married a military officer.



EYRE, WILLIAM (1805–1859), major-general, younger son of Vice-admiral Sir George Eyre, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., by Georgina, daughter of Sir George Cooke, bart., was born on 21 Oct. 1805. He was educated at Rugby School, where he remained from 1817 until he entered the army as an ensign in the 6th regiment on 17 April 1823. He was promoted lieutenant in that regiment on 5 Nov. 1825, and to a half-pay captaincy on 20 Nov. 1827. He remained unemployed until 21 May 1829, when he received a company in the 73rd regiment, with which he continued for nearly twenty-five years. The 73rd was stationed in the Mediterranean from 1829 to 1839, in which year Eyre was promoted major, in Canada from 1839 to 1841, and at home from 1841 to 1845, when it was ordered to the Cape of Good Hope. On its way out, however, the regiment, then under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Van der Meulen, was directed by the British minister at Rio de Janeiro to proceed to Monte Video, which city it garrisoned from January to July 1846, and defended against an Argentine force under General Oribe. In the latter month it proceeded to its original destination, and was actively employed in the Kaffir war of 1847, under the command of Eyre, who was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 12 Nov. 1847. Eyre's fitness for service in a war against savages in a difficult country was universally recognised by the generals under whom he served, Sir Peregrine Maitland, Henry Somer-