Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Crealock, Henry Hope

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734548Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement, Volume 2 — Crealock, Henry Hope1901Edward Irving Carlyle

CREALOCK, HENRY HOPE (1831–1891), soldier, artist, and author, born on 31 March 1831, was the second son of William Betton Crealock of Langeston in Devonshire. Crealock entered Rugby school in February 1844 and obtained a commission in the 90th light infantry on 13 Oct. 1848. He obtained his lieutenancy on 24 Dec. 1852, and his captaincy on 29 Dec. 1854. On 5 Dec. he landed at Balaklava and served at the siege of Sebastopol. He was mentioned in the despatches for his gallant conduct during the attacks on the Redan on 18 June and 8 Sept. 1855, and was appointed deputy adjutant quartermaster-general at headquarters on 17 Sept. and at Constantinople in December. For his services he received the brevet rank of major, a medal with a clasp, and the fifth class of the Turkish order of the Medjidie with a medal. On 26 Dec. 1856 he attained the rank of major, and in March 1857 he was appointed deputy adjutant quartermaster-general to the China expeditionary force. He was present at the whole of the operations at Canton in December 1857 and January 1858, and received the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel and a medal with a clasp. On 20 July 1858 he reached the regimental rank of lieutenant-colonel. He served in the Indian campaigns of Rohilkhand, Biswara, and TransGogra during 1858 and 1859 on the staff of Sir William Rose Mansfield (afterwards Baron Sandhurst) [q. v.], was present at the actions of Bareilly and Shajehanpur, was mentioned in the despatches, and received a medal with a clasp. In March 1860 he was appointed military secretary to Lord Elgin during his Chinese embassy [see Bruce, James, eighth Earl Elgin]. He was attached to the headquarters of the army during the war that followed; was present at the action of Sinho, the capture of the forts at Tangku and Taku, the engagement at Palichau, and the capture of Pekin; and received a medal with two clasps. On 6 July 1864 he received his colonelcy, and on 2 Jan. 1870 was gazetted major-general. During the Austro-Prussian war he was military attaché at Vienna, and from 1874 to 1877 he served as quartermaster-general in Ireland. In the Zulu war of 1879 he commanded the first division, and for his services was created C.M.G. and received a medal with a clasp. He was also a C.B. Crealock retired from the army on 4 Sept. 1884 with the rank of lieutenant-general.

Crealock was an accomplished draughtsman, and his sketches of scenes in the Indian mutiny and China campaign are valuable records. He furnished many sketches of the Zulu campaign to the 'Illustrated London News.' He illustrated 'Wolf-Hunting, or Wild Sport in Lower Brittany' (1875), and Whyte-Melville's 'Katerfelto' (1875). In 1885 he republished a series of papers which had appeared between 1870 and 1879 on 'The Eastern Question' (London, 8vo), written from a point of view hostile to Russia. At the time of his death Crealock was engaged on his most important work, 'Deer-Stalking in the Highlands of Scotland,' which appeared in 1892 under the editorship of his brother, Major-general John North Crealock (1837–1895). The book,which is profusely illustrated from Crealock's drawings, may be considered the most ample and authoritative work on this subject. He was himself an enthusiastic follower of the sport and possessed a thorough knowledge of every detail in regard to it. He died in London, before the book was entirely completed, on 31 May 1891, at his residence, 20 Victoria Square.

[Times, 4 June, 1891; Elgin's Letters and Papers, pp. 326, 358, 381; Kugby School Register; Ashe and Edgell's Story of the Zulu Campaign, 1880, pp. 194, 196, 198-9, 266-7, 354-6; Illustrated London News, 13 June 1891 (with portrait).]

E. I. C.

Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.293
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line

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81 ii 37 Crealock, Henry H.: for gazetted read promoted