Major General Francis Henry Kelly (1859-1937)
/Major General Francis Henry Kelly is commemorated by a memorial in the South Nave Aisle.
Took part in the Burma expedition and the Tirah Campaign at the North West Frontier in India. Served as assistant adjutant-general in Quetta District, Commander of the Karachi Brigade in 1905 and Commander of the Ahmednagar Brigade in 1907. After that he became Commander of British Troops in South China in 1913 and General Officer Commanding 69th (2nd East Anglian) Division in November 1915 during the First World War before retiring in 1918 (biography on Wikipedia).
Francis Henry Kelly was the son of James Kelly, master mariner. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1879. He served in the Burma Campaign 1885-86, and was mentioned in despatches.
He next saw service on the North West Frontier when he was the Field Engineer against the Mohmands in 1897. He was then Field Engineer with the 2nd Division in the Tirah Field Force. He was present at several actions. As C.R.E. 2nd Division he was at the capture of the Sampagha and Ahanga Passes and in the operatioms in the Warrin Valley, around Dwatoi and in the Bara Valley.
Panorama from Camp Sherkhel, Bara Valley, showing an Afridi village burning, Tirah Expeditionary Force, 1897. The most famous episode of Sir William Lockhart's advance into the Tirah was the storming of Dargai Heights on 20th October 1897 by Colonel Kempster's 3rd Brigade. Piper Findlater of the Gordon Highlanders won the Victoria Cross by playing his pipes to urge the men on, though himself wounded. The fighting in the Bara Valley which followed was particularly hard, with continual attacks on the flanks and rear of the 2nd Division which retreated down it in December 1897. Major General Kelly was C.R.E. of the 2nd Division in this campaign.
He was again mentioned in despatches and given a brevet in May 1898. In June 1900 he was AAG staff Quetta Division and served in the Waziristan expedition 1901-02.
In 1905 he was a member of the Indian Survey Commission set up by Lord Curzon for the improvement of map production. For this he earned the thanks of the Indian Government.
He gained the substantive rank of Colonel in Sep.1902, command of the Karachi Bde. and later the Ahmednager Bde. in 1907. Awarded the CB in 1908 and promoted Major General in December 1909.
In 1911 he returned to England to see the modern training of troops, but his Indian experience was of little value in produring employment. In June 1913 he was given command of troops in S.China and after the outbreak of war of all the military forces in China. He received the thanks of the Admiralty and the Hong Kong Government. He was created CIG. From Autumn 1915 -1917 he commanded the 69th (2nd East Anglian) Division at home and retired on Indian pension in Oct. 1918. From 1919-1924 he was a Regional Director, Ministry of Pensions.
He was Commissioner for Scouts in the Camberley District. He married Elizabeth Hedwig by whom he had two daughters and a son, Brigadier D.H.Kelly DSO, MC, also a Sapper. He died at Camberley 18th March 1937 and was cremated at Woking.
The motto under his coat of arms reads 'Turris Fortis Mihi Deus',- God is a strong fortress to me.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
The medieval tombs of the Presbytery and Quire Transept have had a tortured history which many effigies apparently moved and several defaced along with the medieval memorials and brasses over the Early Modern period.
Rochester Cathedral features an exceptionally large collection of Colonial-era military memorials and artefacts. This series has begun to highlight the stories behind these collections and their place in our global heritage.
