18 Facts About Arthur Havelock

In 1860, Arthur Havelock entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and on 14 January 1862 was gazetted an ensign in the 32nd Light Infantry.

Arthur Havelock was promoted lieutenant on 10 April 1866, and was stationed at Gibraltar, at Mauritius, then at the Cape Colony.

Arthur Havelock returned to Mauritius in 1872 as the colony's paymaster, and was promoted to captain on 1 February 1873, serving as aide-de-camp to Selby Smith, the acting governor, and later to the governor of Mauritius, Sir Arthur Hamilton-Gordon.

Arthur Havelock held several key posts in the colonial civil service from 1874: chief civil commissioner of the Seychelles, and colonial secretary and receiver general in Fiji.

Arthur Havelock returned to England in 1876, and retired from the British Army as a captain in March 1877.

Arthur Havelock joined the colonial civil service upon leaving the army, and was sent to the West Indies in 1877 as President of Nevis.

In February 1881, Arthur Havelock was assigned his first governorship in Sierra Leone and the West African settlements.

In 1886, Arthur Havelock became Governor of Natal, where he dealt with the annexation of Zululand in 1887, and an unsuccessful rebellion led by Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo in 1888.

Arthur Havelock returned to England in 1889, and served on the international anti-slavery commission in Brussels.

Arthur Havelock was held in great esteem among the aristocracy of Sri Lanka, with two prominent families appointing him Godfather to the heirs.

Arthur Havelock returned to his childhood home of India as Governor of Madras from 1896 to 1900.

Arthur Havelock left Madras in 1901, and was offered the governorships of the Straits Settlements in Malaya and Victoria in Australia, which he declined due to ill health caused by many stressful years in tropical climates.

Arthur Havelock was then offered the post of Governor of Tasmania, which he accepted in May 1901, arriving in Hobart to be sworn in on 8 November.

Arthur Havelock's health continued to decline and he made the decision to cut short his term as governor to only two-and-a-half years.

Arthur Havelock notified the premier, William Propsting, of his resignation on 6 January 1904, and left Tasmania on 16 April.

On 15 August 1871, Arthur Havelock had married Anne Grace, nee Norris, who died in early 1908.

Arthur Havelock himself died at Bath, Somerset less than six months later on 25 June 1908.

The Arthur Havelock Bridge spanning Godavari River at Rajahmundry, India was named after him in the year 1900.