Henry Torrens

Lieutenant General Sir Henry D'Oyley Torrens KCB KCMG (24 February 1823 – 1 December 1889) was a British army officer and colonial governor. He was born in Meerut, India, the son of Henry Whitelocke Torrens and Eliza Mary Roberts and died in London.

Military career

Torrens was commissioned as a second Lieutenant in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1849. His rise through the ranks was very rapid, reaching the rank of Colonel in 1864.

He served in the Crimean War at the major battles, for which he was awarded the Légion d'honneur, followed by service in India during the Indian Mutiny in 1857.

He was promoted to Major-General in 1869 and finally to Lieutenant-General while serving as General Officer Commanding Cork District in Ireland in 1884.

He went on to be was Governor of Cape Colony in 1886 and Governor of Malta in 1888. He was a keen golfer founding both Royal Cape Golf Club in 1886 and Royal Malta Golf Club in 1888.

He died on 1 December 1889 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery in London.

Henry Cole

Sir Henry Cole (15 July 1808 – 18 April 1882) was an English civil servant and inventor who facilitated many innovations in commerce and education in 19th century Britain. Cole is credited with devising the concept of sending greetings cards at Christmas time, introducing the world's first commercial Christmas card in 1843.

Biography

Henry Cole was born in Bath, and educated at Christ's Hospital in London. He began his career at the age of 15 at the Record Commission. His criticisms of the Commission's activities were an important factor in the debates that led to the Public Record Office Act 1838, and the establishment of the new Public Record Office, in which Cole was appointed an Assistant Keeper.

From 1837 to 1840, he worked as an assistant to Rowland Hill and played a key role in the introduction of the Penny Post. He is sometimes credited with the design of the world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black.

In 1843, Cole introduced the world's first commercial Christmas card, commissioning artist John Callcott Horsley to make the artwork.

Light infantry

Light infantry (or skirmishers) are soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight formations that were the core of large battles. Light infantry fought in open-order, often in close co-ordination with heavy infantry, where they could screen the heavy infantry from harassing fire, and the heavy infantry could intervene to protect the light infantry from attacks of enemy heavy infantry or cavalry. Heavy infantry originally had heavier arms and more armour than light infantry, but this distinction was lost as the use of armour declined and gunpowder weapons became standardized.

History of the light Infantry

Antiquity

The concept of a skirmishing screen is a very old one and was already well-established in Ancient Greece and Roman times in the form, for example, of the Greek peltast and psiloi, and the Roman velites. As with so called 'light infantry' of later periods, the term more adequately describes the role of such infantry rather than the actual weight of their equipment. Peltast equipment, for example, grew steadily heavier at the same time as hoplite equipment grew lighter. It was the fact that peltasts fought in open order as skirmishers that made them light infantry and that hoplites fought in the battle line in a phalanx formation that made them heavy infantry.