Henry Hildyard

General Sir Henry John Thoroton Hildyard (5 July 1846 – 25 July 1916) was a British Army officer who saw active service in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 and the Second Boer War. He was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa, from 1905 to 1908. Early life The youngest of the three sons of Thomas Blackborne Thoroton-Hildyard (1821–1888), a member of parliament, of Flintham Hall, Flintham, near Newark, Hildyard was educated at Burney's Royal Naval Academy, Gosport. His brothers were Thomas Blackborne Thoroton Hildyard (1843–1928) and Robert Charles Thoroton Hildyard (1844–1885). Career Hildyard entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman and served in the Navy from 1859 to 1864. In 1867, he joined the British Army, as an ensign in the 5th Northumberland Fusiliers, later transferring to the Highland Light Infantry, in which he was lieutenant and adjutant for nearly seven years, and in 1876 was promoted captain. In 1877 he passed the Staff College and transferred into the Somerset Light Infantry, was promoted major in 1882 and brevet lieutenant colonel later the same year; colonel in 1886, and a temporary major general in 1898, made substantive the following year.