Augustus Spencer

General The Hon. Sir Augustus Almeric Spencer GCB (25 March 1807 – 28 August 1893) was a British Army officer and a member of the Spencer family.

Military career

Born the third son of Francis Spencer, 1st Baron Churchill, Spencer was commissioned an Ensign into the 43rd Light Infantry on 8 April 1825. He was promoted to lieutenant on 5 July 1827, captain on 6 April 1831 and major on 21 July 1843.

Spencer was given command of the 44th Regiment of Foot in 1845 and, having been promoted to lieutenant colonel on 17 May 1854 and to colonel on 20 June 1854, he led that regiment at the Battle of Alma, at the Battle of Inkerman and at the Siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. He became commander of a brigade at Aldershot in 1856, and having been promoted to major general on 13 February 1860, he became General Officer Commanding a division of the Madras Army in 1860 and General Officer Commanding Western District in the UK in 1866. Promoted to lieutenant general on 9 May 1868, he went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army in 1869 before retiring in 1875.

Following the death of General Arthur Simcoe Baynes on 13 September 1875, Spencer was promoted to brevet general the following day.

Family

In 1836 he married Helen Maria Campbell, second daughter of General Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Baronet of Ava. The couple had five daughters and a son:

• Helen Frances Spencer, (b. 1843), married Col. Robert Spencer Liddell, son of Sir John Liddell, KCB, MD
• Caroline Laura Spencer, (b. 1844)
• Elizabeth Maria Spencer, (b. 1845)
• Augusta Melita Spencer, (b. 1848), married firstly, Col. Sussex Vane Stephenson, and secondly, Rev. Edward Mallet Young
• Lt.-Col. Augustus Campbell Spencer, (b. 1851), married Hilda Grant-Thorold, daughter of Alexander William Thorold Grant-Thorold
• Georgina Caroline Spencer, (d. 24 April 1864)

One of Spencer's grandsons was the Reverend Canon Henry Spencer Stephenson, Chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II.

One of Spencer's great-grandsons, Richard Harry Ramsay Spencer, succeeded as Baron Churchill of Wychwood on 18 October 2017.

Awards

On 16 June 1856 Brigadier-General the Hon. Sir Augustus Almeric Spencer, commander of the 44th Regiment of Foot, was awarded the French Legion of Honour that was reported in the Le Moniteur.

Death

Spencer died on 28 August 1893 and was buried at Brompton Cemetery in London.