Draft:Henry Spalding (soldier)

• Comment: The sources are mainly passing mentions, which do not establish notability per WP:GNG.
  That, together with the fact that much of the content is unreferenced, raises the question – where is all this information coming from? DoubleGrazing (talk) 07:01, 22 September 2023 (UTC)

---

Henry Spalding

Henry Spalding (born 27 September 1840, died 22 May 1907) was a professional soldier but also served in the diplomatic world and was an accomplished linguist and writer. He signed up in Feb 1858 as Ensign in 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) - then an East India Company regiment, he was seconded to 53rd (Shropshire) Regiment to serve in India during the Indian Mutiny campaign. By Feb 1868 had risen to Captain and completed staff college in Dec 1869 . Promoted to Brevet Major in Nov 1878 he was involved in the Battle of Rorke's Drift (22 Jan 1879) in the Anglo-Zulu War. On 8 June 1879, then Major and Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, he acted as marshal at the funeral of Napoléon. In addition to his military career, Spalding was a noted translator from Russian. He completed the first complete English translation of Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin in 1881.

Background

Spalding was the second son of Thomas Spalding, a wholesale stationer and director of Spalding & Hodge. He was commissioned in Feb 1858 as Ensign in the 53rd Shropshire Regiment. During the Indian Mutiny campaign (May to Oct 1858), he was present at the passage of the Goomtee and occupation of Sultanpore. In Oct 1859 commissioned as Lieutenant, by Feb 1868 risen further to Captain and completed staff college by Dec 1869. In 1871 the regiment had returned to the UK, with census indicating they were housed in the North Camp at Aldershot.

At some point in the 1870s, Spalding was posted at the British Embassy in Saint Petersburg, where he learnt Russian. In November 1872 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, in the same year presenting a translation of 'On the Island of Saghalin' written in Russian Colonel Veniukof. In 1874, he published another Russian translation: Khiva and Turkestan.

Towards the end of the decade, Spalding was back with the army and transferred to South Africa where he played a key role in the Anglo-Zulu War. He was Brevet Major (Nov 1878) of the provision depot near Rorke's Drift of the 104th Foot Infantry during the Battle of Rorke's Drift on 22 Jan 1879. Henry's decision to abandon his post in search of a missing regiment and to leave Lieutenant John Chard in charge of the post was a key component of British victory of Battle of Rorke's Drift.

When Napoléon, Prince Imperial who was also a soldier in the Anglo-Zulu War, was killed (June 1879), Major Spalding was one of the British representatives at his funeral proceedings in Natal, standing in for Colonel Bellairs, before the body was shipped back to the UK.

After he retired from the military in 1881, as Lieutenant-Colonel, Spalding continued his scholarly work. He translated Pushkin's classic work Eugene Onegin into English with bibliographical notes the same year.. Ivan Turgenev called his translation astonishingly faithful, and the text remained the only complete translation for fifty years.. Even later, the Russian critic Ernest Simmons praised Spalding for his translation and scholarly notes on Pushkin's novel in verse.. In 1891 he published a military history text 'Epochs of the British Army'.

1891 Cover pages of Epochs of the British Army

His family life is unclear: he married Rubina "Ruby" Frederica Constance Naghten in May 1888, and there is a child Walter Henry Spalding born in 1884. However it is possible the child was adopted by Henry. Sadly his wife appears to have suffered mentally resulting in a court case for child neglect in July 1896 and then she died Nov 1896 apparently of natural causes aged 33. The child left to live with Spalding 'relatives' in British Columbia in 1900.

Henry Spalding died at the age of 66, in Belgrave Square, London on 22 May 1907, his death was registered at St George's Hanover Square Church.

Medals

• Indian Mutiny Medal no bar, inscribed “Ensign Hy Spalding, 53rd Regt”
• South Africa medal 1877-08-09 bar, inscribed “Major H Spalding 104th Foot”

These medals are in private ownership

Publications

• On the Island of Saghalin, 1872.
• Khiva and Turkestan, 1874.
• Eugene Onegin, 1881.
• Epochs of the British Army, 1891.