William Mackesy

Lieutenant General William Henry Mackesy (1 May 1837 – 6 March 1914) was an Irish-born officer of the British, Bengal, and Indian armies who saw active duty in the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

Early life

Mackesy was born on 1 May 1837, a son of John Mackesy MD of Waterford, Ireland. He was educated privately and then for two years at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a gentleman cadet, graduating in 1854. [1][2]

His uncle Thomas Mackesy (1790–1869), a surgeon who served with the British Army, was Mayor of Waterford and President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.[3]

Career

From Sandhurst, in August 1854 Mackesy was commissioned as an Ensign into the 79th Cameron Highlanders, without purchase.[2] He served in the Crimean War, taking part in the assault on Sebastopol in 1855. After that, he was posted to Bengal, one of the Presidencies and provinces of British India, and saw action in the Indian Mutiny. He was at the capture of Lucknow in 1858 and was then posted as an Assistant Field Engineer in the Crimea and in Oudh, from 1858 to 1859;[1] in 1862 he was admitted as an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers;[4] in 1866 he was a Captain and transferred from the 79th Foot to the Bengal Staff Corps.[5] Mackesy later served the Public Works and Military Works Departments as an engineer.[1] In January 1870, he was promoted to brevet Major,[6] in August 1874 (marking twenty years of service) to substantive Major,[7] and in October 1877 to Lieutenant-Colonel.[8] In March 1879, on his return to India from a home leave, Mackesy transferred to the Military Department as a temporary Colonel[9] and in 1882 was back in the Bengal Staff Corps as a full Colonel.[10] In July 1883, he took command of the 24th Punjab Infantry.[11] In September 1883, he also took command of the Mooltan Brigade to cover for the leave of Brigadier-General William Gordon.[12] In June 1890, he was granted a distinguished service pension of £100 a year.[13]

After promotion to temporary Lieutenant General in 1890,[14] Mackesy was made a substantive Major General on 10 December 1892.[15] In 1897, he retired as a Lieutenant General onto the Unemployed Supernumerary List of the Indian Army.[16][1]

Personal life

On 1 September 1870, at St Mary's, Chelsea, while a Major in the Bengal Staff Corps on home leave, Mackesy married Teresa Mary Creagh, a daughter of Pierse Creagh, late of Mountjoy Square, Dublin, and Bryan's Castle, County Clare.[17] A daughter was born at Lahore on 13 January 1872.[18] They also had three sons.[1]

Mackesy retired to the parish of St George Hanover Square, Westminster, in 1897.[1] In 1898, his daughter Violet Mary was married in Kensington.[19][20]

At the time of the 1911 United Kingdom census, Mackesy and his wife were living at 65, Albert Hall Mansions, Knightsbridge, with two servants, a cook and a parlourmaid. They stated their places of birth as Waterford and Dublin respectively, and Mrs Mackesy was aged sixty.[21]

Mackesy died at Albert Hall Mansions on 6 March 1914,[22][23] leaving an estate valued at £1,836,[23] equivalent to £175,296 in 2023.

The Mackesys' son Pierse Joseph Mackesy (1883–1956) became a British Army major-general.[24] His son Piers Mackesy (1924–2014) was a military historian.[25]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Mackesy, Lt-Gen. William Henry", Who's Who, online edition by Oxford University Press, 1 December 2007, accessed 12 November 2025 (subscription required); and print edition from Who Was Who, Vol. 1, 1897–1915, at angloboerwar.com
  2. ^ a b British Army Despatch, Friday 11 August 1854, p. 2: "To be Ensigns without purchase... Gentleman Cadet William Henry Mackesy, from the Royal Military College."
  3. ^ Randie Doxey "Civic Trust's salute to Thomas Mackesy", The Munster Express, 18 January 2018, accessed 15 November 2025
  4. ^ "William Henry Mackesy" in United Kingdom Civil Engineer Records, 1820–1930, 3 July 1862
  5. ^ "GAZETTE ANNOUNCEMENTS", Dublin Evening Mail, Wednesday 19 December 1866, p. 3: "Dec 18. 79th Foot—Lieutenant Neil Campbell to Captain, without purchase, vice William Henry Mackesy, appointed to the Bengal Staff Corps"
  6. ^ "Orders by His Excellency the Go.–General of India", Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), Thursday 17 February 1870, p. 8
  7. ^ "Captain (Brevet Major) W. H. Mackesy, Bengal Staff Corps, having completed twenty years' service, is Promoted to the rank of Major, from 4th August, 1874", The Broad Arrow (London), Saturday 19 September 1874, p. 21
  8. ^ "To be Lieutenant-Colonels", Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service, Wednesday 3 October 1877, pp. 17–18
  9. ^ "ARMY AND NAVY: Lieut.-Colonel William Henry Mackesy, of the Bengal Staff Corps, son to the late Doctor John Mackesy, of Waterford" Dublin Evening Mail, Thursday 27 March 1879, p. 4
  10. ^ "The undermentioned Lieut. Cols, to be Colonels", Allen's Indian Mail (London), Monday 9 October 1882, p. 17
  11. ^ "TELEGRAPHIC INTELLIGENCE", Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), Wednesday 18 July 1883, p. 1: "Colonel W. H. Mackesy, 24th Punjab Infantry, succeeds to the temporary command of the regiment, when Colonel F. B. Norman, C.B., proceeds to..."
  12. ^ "Colonel W. H. Mackesy, 24th Punjab Native Infantry, will command the Mooltan Brigade during General Gordon's absence on leave", Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), Wednesday 29 August 1883, p. 1
  13. ^ "Colonel W. H. Mackesy, Bengal Staff Corps, and formerly with the Cameron Highlanders, has been granted a distinguished service pension", Naval & Military Record and Royal Dockyards Gazette, Thursday 19 June 1890, p. 7
  14. ^ "Colonel William Henry Mackesy, Bengal Staff Corps, from Jan. 14, 1890, in room of Lieut.-General the Hon. G. T. Chesney, K.C.B., C.S.I., C.I.E.", Homeward Mail from India, China and the East (London), Monday 9 June 1890, p. 7
  15. ^ "Indian Staff Corps: The under-mentioned Colonels to be Major-Generals (Dec. 10)... William Henry Mackesy", Army and Navy Gazette (London), Saturday 31 December 1892, p. 13
  16. ^ "From the LONDON GAZETTE of Tuesday, Dec. 21", London Evening Standard, Wednesday 22 December 1897, p. 10: "Indian Staff Corps. Lieut. General W. H. Mackesy is transferred to the Unemployed Supernumerary List."
  17. ^ "MARRIAGES", Warder and Dublin Weekly Mail, Saturday 10 September 1870, p. 8
  18. ^ "BIRTHS... Mackesy — Jan. 13, at Lahore, wife of Major W. H. Mackesy, Bengal Staff Corps, a daughter.", The Homeward Mail from India, China and the East, Monday 12 February 1872, p. 11
  19. ^ "MACKESY Violet Mary", FreeBMD, accessed 13 November 2025
  20. ^ "DEATH OF CAPT. W.E. ROGERSON, ADJUTANT OF THE DURHAM LIGHT INFANTRY", Durham County Advertiser, Friday 20 November 1914, p. 8
  21. ^ 1911 United Kingdom census, 65, Albert Hall Mansions, Knightsbridge, Ancestry.com, accessed 13 November 2025 (subscription required)
  22. ^ "MACKESY William Henry of 65 Albert Hall-mansions Knightsbridge died 6 March 1914... £1836 7s 1d", Wills and Administrations (England & Wales) 1914 (London: High Court of Justice, 1915), p. 101
  23. ^ a b "RECENT WILLS: Lieut-General William Henry Mackesy, of Albert Hall Mansions, Knightsbridge, S W, late 79th Highlanders and Indian Army, £1,836", Daily Express, Tuesday 21 April 1914, p. 5
  24. ^ Roger T. Stearn, "Mackesy, Pierse Joseph (1883–1956)", in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004), online edition
  25. ^ "Obituary: Dr Piers Mackesy", The Scotsman, 24 July 2014, accessed 12 November 2025
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