Person:John Dunne (5)

General Sir John Dunne. A Crimean Veteran The death took place early yesterday morning of General Sir John Hart Dunne at his residence at Sidmouth, Devon, in his 90th year. Sir John Dunne served through the Crimean campaign and was the last survivor of the 36 of the 21st Fusiliers who landed on the Peninsula on September 14, 1854. He was born in December, 1835, the son of John Dunne, of Cartron, Co Roscommon and Marianne, daughter of Colonel Hart. He was educated privately, he obtained his first commission in the 62nd regiment in September 1852. He transferred into the 21st Regiment in January 1854 and on war being declared with Russia in the following March, he went out with his regiment as a lieutenant. He took part on the battles of the Alma Balaclavn and Inkermann, the siege of Nevastopol and the attack on the Redan on June 18 receiving the medal with four clasps the Fifth class of the Order of the Medjidieh and the Turkish medal.

Under Sir Hope Grant he served with the 99th regiment to which he transferred in 1856 = throughout the campaign of the 1860 in the North of China including the action of Sinho and the taking of Tangku. He was attached to the Army Headquarters Staff in the advance on and capture of the Taku Forts August 11 to 27 and was with the advance guard at the actions of Chang-kin-Wan and Palitchow and surrender of Peking, receiving the medal with two clasps. The conditions of soldering in these early days Dunne described in an autobiographical chapter contributed to The Times of October 4 1921 in which he wrote: I am very anxious that our whole army of the present times should realize what were the conditions of our campaigning 67 years ago. In his book “From Calcutta to Peking, published in 1861, Captain Dunne, as he was known there, in describing the hosing of the Union Jack at the capture of the Inner North Taku Fort says “The French got in on the right with some difficulty, a little before us, though Burslem of the 97th and another man were the two first of the fort……Colonel Knox when he saw the French Flag coming into the fort, sent one of his Colours up to the Cavalier with Chaplain of the 97th but as the latter got to the top he was badly wounded. We had a Union Jack all ready to be hoisted but it was lost in the confusion. Luckily I had another one belonging to the Quarter master Generals department so when I saw the French drapeau going in and that there was none of ours. I ran in with mine got up to a shed on the top of the Cavalier and seeing that there was a high pole attached to the roof climbed up and with some trouble sent our flag flying. Having rashly divested myself of my sword belt and flask while doing this, a Frenchman who cared I suppose more for brandy than glory, quietly walked off the latter”. He refers to the burial of poor Bowlby, The Times Correspondent who with several others was taken prisoner and excited. His body was afterwards given up to the British. In November 1865 Dunne was promoted lieutenant colonel and five years later he married Julia, daughter of William R Chapman of Whitby. He reached the rank of major general in July, 1881 and in 1885 was in Aldershot. His next post was the command of the troops in the Thames District from 1880 to 1890. He was promoted to the rank of general 1893 and the following year appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London. In 1898 he became colonel of the Duke of Edinburgh’s {Wiltshire Regiment} and in 1899 he was granted a reward for distinguished and meritorious service. After 50 years’ service in the Army he retired in 1902 being awarded the KBC in 1906. As a token of their gratitude and for the kindly interest he had always shown in their welfare the officers of his old regiment of which he was colonel presented him with a gold cup on the occasion of his golden wedding in 1920, The 2nd Battalion Wiltshire regiment, the old 99th foot, send him in 1921 a cheque to purchase a Christmas gift as an expression of their affection and esteem. In a letter to “The times” in May 1920 Dunne hives an interesting description of how he first met Morrison of Peking, the famous Correspondent of The Times. This meeting took place at Sidmouth a few weeks before the death of Morrison. At a lecture in 1913 a son of Sir John was spoken of as one of the most distinguished aeroplane designers of the day. At that time, he was designing an aeroplane for the War Office authorities.