George Channer
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person General George Nicolas Channer Template:Post-nominals (7 January 1842 – 13 December 1905) was a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
LifeEdit
George Channer was born at Allahabad, India, on 7 January 1842, the eldest surviving son of eight children of George Girdwood Channer,<ref name="FamTree">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> colonel, Bengal artillery (1811–1895) and Susan (d. 1895), daughter of Nicholas Kendall JP, vicar of Talland and Lanlivery, Cornwall. He was educated at Cheltenham College.<ref name="DNB" />
Joining the army in September 1859, he served in India with the 89th and 95th regiments, seeing active service in the Ambela campaign of 1863–4. In August 1866 he entered the Bengal Staff Corps, serving with the Indian Army for the remainder of his career.<ref name="DNB">Template:Cite ODNB</ref>
He was 32 years old, and a captain in the Bengal Staff Corps, Indian Army, and 1st Gurkha Rifles during the Battle of Bukit Putus when, on 20 December 1875 in Negri Sembilan, Malaya, Captain Channer performed the deed for which he was awarded the VC. Channer had been despatched with a small party to obtain intelligence of the position and strength of the enemy's stockade. Having located it, he jumped in, taking the enemy by surprise. After shooting one man dead with his revolver, the rest of Channer's party entered the stockade, which they captured. The stockade was formidable and it would have been impossible to bring guns to bear on it because of the steepness of the hill and the density of the jungle. If Captain Channer and his party had not been able to take the stockade in this manner it would have been necessary to resort to the bayonet, with consequent great loss of life.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In addition to the VC, in April 1876 Channer was mentioned in dispatches and promoted to brevet major.<ref name="DNB" />
Channer served with the Jowaki Expedition in 1877 and the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1978–80). Here he was with the 29th Punjabi infantry in the Kurram Valley Field Force, commanding the regiment at the Battle of Peiwar Kotal in December 1878. He was made a brevet lieutenant-colonel in November 1879 and a colonel in the army in November 1883, at the early age of forty-one. He commanded a brigade in the Hazara Expedition of 1888,<ref name="DNB" /> after which he was made a companion of the Order of the Bath (CB).<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He attained the rank of major-general in April 1893, lieutenant-general on 9 November 1896 and General in January 1899. He retired in November 1901.<ref name="DNB" />
He died at the age of 63 on 13 December 1905 at Westward Ho!, Devon.<ref name="DNB"/> He was buried in East-the-Water Cemetery, Bideford,<ref>George Nicholas Channer VC on the 'Memorials to Valour' website</ref> in a grave adjacent to that of Gerald Graham VC.
His Victoria Cross medal group is in the Lord Ashcroft Gallery at the Imperial War Museum.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
FamilyEdit
He married in June 1872, Annie Isabella, daughter of John William Watson. They had four surviving sons (two served in the army) and four daughters, one of which is Mary Eva Channer who married Ronald AA Kinloch. Mary Eva and Ronald had two Sons, Ian Kinloch and Bruce Kinloch who also joined the army and was commissioned into the 3rd Queen Alexandra's own Gurkha Rifles, winning the Military Cross for his part in the battle of Sitang River Bridge in 1942. At the age of 25 he commanded the battalion.<ref name="DNB" />