General Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny GCB GCVO

Sir Thomas was born in Treanmanagh near Mullagh in County Clare on 27th Feb 1840. He entered the army as an ensign in the 1st Battalion 2nd Queen's Royal Regiment in 1858 but the following year he was serving as ADC to the GOC Cape of Good Hope. This post lasted from Nov 1859 to Jan 1860. In that year he fought with his regiment as a lieutenant in the China War. He also campaigned in Abyssinia in 1867-8, as a captain.
He followed this with a year as acting DAQMG in Bombay up to April 1870. His career between then and 1887 is unclear, but in from year his appointments were:
Sep 1887 - Jun 1889 Assistant Adjutant General, Northern District
July 1889 - Sep 1892 AAG Northeast District
1893 AAG of HQ Army
Dec 1883 - Mar 1896 AAG Aldershot District
1896 - 1897 Major-General Aldershot
1897 - 1899 Inspector-General Auxiliary Forces and Recg HQ of Army
1899 Lieut-General Commanding Troops, Aldershot.
Oct 1901 - 1904 Adjutant-General to the Forces
He was given command of the 6th Division in the Boer War. He set sail from England just before Christmas 1899 on the same ship as Lords Roberts and Kitchener, arriving in Cape Town on 10th Jan 1900. He was unfortunately overruled by Kitchener at Paardeburg with disastrous results. He distinguished himself at the Relief of Kimberley, Poplar Grove and Driefontaine.
The photo was taken at Aldershot on 11th Sep 1896 and was published in The Navy and Army Illustrated of 16th Oct when he was a Major-General in command of the 1st Infantry Division. The 1st Brigade of this Division was the Guards and Marines and the 2nd was composed of the 2nd Queen's Royal West Surreys, 1st Royal Sussex, 1st South Staffordshires and the 1st Essex Regiment. Sir Thomas Kelly-Kenny was appointed Colonel of the Queen's on 16th April 1902 and held the post until his death in July 1914.

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