Promoted first captain in his corps on 29 June 1861, and appointed assistant to the chief engineer, Mysore, he held the post with credit until 1864. In 1864 he succeeded as chief engineer and secretary to the chief commissioner, Mysore, and during the next thirteen years managed the public works of that province. He originated an irrigation department to deal scientifically with the old native works; the catchment area of each valley was surveyed, the area draining into each reservoir determined, and the sizes and number of reservoirs regulated accordingly. He also improved the old roads and opened up new ones in all directions. Government offices were built, and the park around them laid out at Bangalore.
In 1870 Sankey spent seven months on special duty at Melbourne, at the request of the Victorian government, to arbitrate on a question of works for supplying water to wash down the gold-bearing alluvium of certain valleys. He was promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel on 14 June 1869, regimental lieutenant-colonel on 15 Oct. 1870, and brevet colonel on 15 Oct. 1875.
In 1877 he was transferred to Simla as under-secretary to the government of India, and in September 1878, when war with the Amir of Afghanistan was imminent owing to the rebuff to the Chamberlain mission, was appointed commanding royal engineer of the Kandahar field force under Lieutenant-general, afterwards Field-marshal, Sir Donald Stewart [q. v. Suppl. I]. Sankey arrived with the rest of his staff at Quetta on 12 Dec, and being sent forward to reconnoitre recommended an advance by the Elhawga Pass, leaving the Khojak for the second division under Major-general (afterwards Sir) Michael Biddulph [q. V. Suppl. II]. On 30 Dec. 1878 he was promoted regimental colonel. On 4 Jan. 1879 Sankey was with the advanced body of cavalry under Major-general Palliser when a cavalry combat took place at Takt-i-pul. Stewart's force occupied Kandahar, and advanced as far as Kalat-i-Ghilzai, when the flight of the Amir Shere Ali put an end, for a brief period, to the war. While Sankey was preparing winter quarters for the force at Kandahar he was recalled to Madras to become secretary in the public works department. For his share in the Kandahar expedition he was mentioned in despatches, created a C.B., and given the medal. During five years at Madras Sankey became member of the legislative council, and was elected a fellow of the Madras University. He helped to form the Marina and to beautify the botanical gardens and Government House grounds. On 4 June 1883 he was promoted major-general. He retired from the army on 11 Jan. 1884, with the honorary rank of lieutenant-general. He had previously received the distinguished service reward in India.
On his return to England in 1883 Sankey was appointed chairman of the Irish board of works. In 1892 he was gazetted K.C.B. After his retirement in 1896 he resided in London, but his activity was unabated. He visited Mexico and had much correspondence with the president Diaz. He died suddenly at his residence, 32 Grosvenor Place, on 11 Nov. 1908, and was buried at Hove, Sussex. Sankey was twice married: (1) in 1858, at Ootacamund, to Sophia Mary (d. 1882), daughter of W. H. Benson, Indian civil service; (2) in 1890, at Dublin, to Henrietta, widow of Edward Browne, J.P., and daughter of Pierce Creagh; she survived him. By his first wife he had two daughters, one of whom married his nephew, Colonel A. R. M. Sankey, R.E.
[India Office Records; Vibart's Addiscombe; The Times, 12 Nov. 1908; memoir with portrait in Royal Engineers' Journal, June 1909.]
SAUMAREZ, THOMAS (1827–1903), admiral, born at Sutton, Surrey, on 31 March 1827, was grandnephew of James, first Baron de Saumarez, and was son of Captain (afterwards Admiral) Richard Saumarez. After a few years at the Western Grammar School, Brompton, he entered the navy in 1841, and was actively employed during the whole of his junior time on the east coast of South America, at Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, and in Parana. He was made a lieutenant in March 1848. As a lieutenant he served principally on the west coast of Africa, where on 31 March 1851 he saved a man from drowning and received the Royal Humane Society's silver medal. Later in the year he commanded a division of gunboats at Lagos and was severely wounded; in September 1854 he was promoted to commander. In May 1858 he had command of the Cormorant, and served with rare distinction at the capture of the Taku forts, where the Cormorant led the attack, broke through a really formidable boom, and with her first broadside, fired at the same moment, dismounted the largest of the enemy's guns. He afterwards took part in the operations in the river Peiho and in the occupation of Tientsin, and on the coast of
