The Honourable William Herbert
(1834-1909)

Volume 1, page 128, sitting number 717 [no image appears with this entry in the Silvy daybooks].

[Identified in the Silvy daybooks and on the album page as ‘Hon. W. Herbert,’ this is probably the Honourable William Henry Herbert, fifth son of the 2nd Earl of Powis.]

According to his obituary in the Times (1 February 1909): ‘Major-General the Hon. William Henry Herbert who died at his residence, Winsley Hall, Shrewsbury, on January 29, was the fifth son of the second Earl of Powis, and an uncle of the present earl.

‘Born on February 8, 1834, Major-General Herbert was educated at Eton, and entered the Army on June 11, 1852. As a Lieutenant and Captain in the 46th Foot, he served in the Crimea from July 31, 1855, and was present at the siege and fall of Sebastopol. At the close of the campaign he received the medal with clasp for Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal. He was promoted to Major in March, 1867, to Lieutenant-Colonel in the following year, and to Colonel in May, 1874. Among other administrative posts, he held that of Assistant Adjutant-General at Birmingham from 1870 to 1873, A.A. and A.Q.M.G. for the Eastern District from 1873 to 1875, and Colonel commanding the 49th Regimental District from 1882 to 1885. In April of the last-named year he was promoted to Major-General, and in 1890 retired from active service.

‘After his retirment, Major-General Herbert was closely connected with local affairs in Shrewsbury. He was alderman for many years, and in 1889-90 the Mayor, a Justice of the Peace for Northants and Salop. He was also chairman of the school board and of the Bench of Magistrates, and treasurer of the Salop Infirmary, as well as holding several other important offices. He was a prominent Conservative, and president of the General Herbert Lodge of the National Conservative League.

‘Major-General Herbert married, in 1871, Sybella Augusta, the eldest daughter of the late Mr. Mark William Vane Milbank, of Thorp Perrow, Yorks, and had issue two sons and two daughters.’