Charles Burnett (British Army officer)

General Sir Charles John Burnett KCB KCVO (30 October 1843 – 10 November 1915) was a British Army officer at the end of the nineteenth century and during the early years of the twentieth century.

For the Royal Air Force officer of the same name who started his career in the British Army, see Charles Burnett (RAF officer).

Sir Charles Burnett
Born	30 October 1843 St Kilda, Victoria, Australia[1]
Died	10 November 1915(1915-11-10) (aged 72)[2] Middlesex, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Commands held	Eastern District Western Command
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

Military career

Burnett was born in St Kilda, Victoria, the son of John Alexander Burnett.[3][4] He was commissioned into the 15th Foot in 1861.[5] He participated in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War of 1873 to 1874, then attended and graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He next saw active service in the Second Anglo-Afghan War of 1878 to 1880.[4]

Burnett became assistant adjutant-general in Bombay in 1880 and commanding officer of the Royal Irish Rifles in 1887.[6] He rose to be assistant adjutant-general at Aldershot in 1893.[7] Promoted to major general in 1895, he became General Officer Commanding the Eastern District in 1896 before being posted to British India in 1898, where he was Commander of the Poona District by 1900.[8] He was awarded the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal in the 1900 Birthday Honours. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1905.[4]

During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905, he was the senior British military observer embedded within the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria from February to September 1905.[4]

He served as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command from 1907 to 1910.[9]

He retired in 1910.[4]

Notes

1. 1891 England Census
2. Who was who: A Companion to "Who's Who". A. & C. Black. 1967. p. 103. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
3. Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1914). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (76th ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 2198.
4. Kowner, Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War, p. 79.
5. "No. 22525". The London Gazette. 2 July 1861. p. 2738.
6. "No. 28817". The London Gazette. 31 March 1914. p. 2740.
7. "No. 26409". The London Gazette. 3 June 1893. p. 3251.
8. "No. 27195". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 May 1900. p. 3329.
9. "No. 28269". The London Gazette. 9 July 1909. p. 5282.

Military offices
Preceded by John Glyn	GOC Eastern District 1896–1898	Succeeded by Sir William Gatacre
Preceded by Sir Francis Howard	GOC-in-C Western Command 1907–1910	Succeeded by Sir Henry Mackinnon

References

• Kowner, Rotem (2006). Historical Dictionary of the Russo-Japanese War. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-4927-5.