Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain

Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain was a British Indian Army officer who fought the Khalsa army in 1849, then commanded the force that policed Punjab's frontier, and who became a field marshal. He should not be confused with the later British prime minister of the same name. He was born at Rio de Janeiro on 10 January 1820 and was commissioned an ensign in the Bengal Native Infantry on 24 February 1837. He was wounded repeatedly in the First Afghan War and fought at Maharajpur in the Gwalior campaign in December 1843.

Key moments

• January and February 1849: fought at Chillianwala and Gujrat in the Second Anglo-Sikh War. In May 1849 he became assistant adjutant-general of the Sirhind division, and he was made a brevet major in November.
• 1850 to 1852: commandant of the Punjab military police, then military secretary to the Punjab government.
• 1854: promoted lieutenant-colonel and given command of the Punjab Frontier Force with the rank of brigadier. He led several expeditions against frontier tribes and was reappointed to the command in 1858.
• 1857: became Adjutant-General of the Indian army and was severely wounded at the siege of Delhi in July. He was made a Companion of the Bath on 11 November 1857 and promoted colonel on 27 November.
• 1863: commanded in the Umbeyla (Ambela) campaign and was severely wounded again. He was made a Knight Commander of the Bath in 1863 and major-general in 1864.
• 1876 to 1881: commander-in-chief of the Madras army. In 1878 the Amir of Afghanistan refused his mission entry, which led to the Second Afghan War.
• 25 April 1900: promoted field marshal. He died on 18 February 1902 at Lordswood, Hampshire.

What he is remembered for. Chamberlain is remembered as a frontier soldier and a field marshal. In Sikh history he belongs to the officers who fought the Khalsa army at Chillianwala and Gujrat and then commanded the police and the Frontier Force of the Punjab the British had annexed, on 29 March 1849, a few weeks after Gujrat.