William Manning

Who was William Manning?

Brigadier-General Sir William Henry Manning GCMG KBE CB was a British soldier and colonial administrator.

Manning was educated at the University of Cambridge as a non-collegiate student and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the South Wales Borderers in 1886. In 1888 he transferred to the Indian Army, and served in the 51st Sikhs. He was wounded in the Second Burmese War and also served in the First Miranzai Expedition and the Hazara Expedition on the North-West Frontier in 1891. He commanded the Mlanja and Chirad-Zulu expeditions in British Central Africa in 1893–1894.

In 1897 he was appointed Deputy Commissioner and Consul-General for British Central Africa and commander of its Armed Forces with the local rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and served as Acting Commissioner for nearly two years. He commanded the operations against Chief Mpezeni in North-East Rhodesia in 1898, for which he was promoted Brevet Major in 1898 and Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in 1899. During this time he raised and commanded the Central Africa Regiment and was the first Inspector-General of the King's African Rifles, 1901–1907, with the local rank of Brigadier-General. From December 1902 to 1903 he also commanded the Somaliland Field Force and from 1903 to 1904 he commanded its 1st Brigade. In April 1903 he defeated the Mad Mullah's army in battle, inflicting 2,000 casualties. For services in Somaliland he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1903 and Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1904. In February 1904 he was promoted Brevet Colonel and in August 1904 he was finally promoted to the substantive rank of Major.