Thomas Spring

Colonel Sir Thomas Arthur Cavendish Spring KCIE CB CMG (12 May 1822 – 1 September 1905) was a British Army officer and Irish Unionist politician.

Early life and family

Spring was born into the gentry Spring family in 1822 in London, the only son of Lieutenant-Colonel William Spring and his second wife, Hon. Catherine Cavendish. He was the grandson of Richard Cavendish, 2nd Baron Waterpark and a relation of Colonel Frederick William Spring. He was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Spring married Emily, the daughter of Charles Davenly, in 1846. She was the granddaughter of Richard Arden, 1st Baron Alvanley and the great-granddaughter of Henry Belasyse, 2nd Earl Fauconberg. Together they had two sons and a daughter.

Career

Spring was commissioned into a cavalry regiment, the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards, in 1842. He was promoted to lieutenant a year later, and to captain in 1847. He was seconded to the Indian Army in 1848, and was involved in the training of the 8th Irregular Cavalry, later the 6th Prince of Wales's Cavalry. He returned to the United Kingdom in January 1853, when he was promoted to major and decorated as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. He returned to the 5th Dragoon Guards and was deployed with the regiment to the Crimea. He was involved in the Charge of the Heavy Brigade at the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854, in which he suffered minor injuries. Spring was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1872. He retired from the regular army in 1873, having been promoted to lieutenant-colonel four years earlier. He subsequently returned to India, where he acted as a military advisor to Sir Frederick Haines and Sir Neville Chamberlain of the Madras Army. He also acted as a junior military attaché to M. E. Grant Duff as Governor of Madras Presidency. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, and made a Knight Commander in the same order in 1884.

Upon returning from India in 1885, Spring settled in Ireland on the County Tipperary estate of his mother's family. He became involved in unionist politics, and stood as the Conservative candidate in the South Tipperary constituency in the 1885 and 1886 UK general elections. He also spent time in Suffolk and briefly sat as a Conservative councillor in Bury St Edmunds. Spring served as High Sheriff of Tipperary in 1890. He was asked by his cousin, Lord Monteagle to consider standing for an Irish seat in the 1900 general election, but declined due to old age. He died in Bury St Edmunds in 1905. He held honorary appointments in the Yeomanry in London.

Ancestry