CHAMBERLAIN, SIR NEVILLE BOWLES (182o 5902), British field-marshal, was born at Rio de Janeiro Jan. 10, 1820, the son of Henry Chamberlain, consul-general and chargé d'affaires in Brazil. He entered the East India Company's army in 1837 and served in the first Afghan war (1839-42), in the Gwalior campaign of 1843, and in the Punjab campaign of 1848 49. After that date, promotion was rapid, and he commanded several expeditions on the north-east frontier of the Punjab Frontier Force. During the Mutiny he became adjutant-general of the Indian Army, and for his services at the siege of Delhi and elsewhere was rewarded with a series of honours. He gained more honours after the Umbeyla campaign in 1863. Chamberlain was promoted to lieut.-general in 1872, made G.C.S.I. in 1873, and G.C.B. in 1875. From 1876-81 he was commander-in-chief of the Madras army, and in 1879 was sent on a mission to Shere Ali, whose refusal to allow him to enter Afghanistan precipitated the outbreak of the second Afghan war. Chamberlain agreed with Lord Lytton that the British Government should take steps to show its resentment at a "gross and unprovoked insult," but he did not approve of the policy of disintegration of Afghanistan adopted by Lytton after the second occupation of Kabul. He disapproved of the retention of Kandahar in 1880 on the ground of his knowledge of the increased difficulty involved in additional outposts. Chamberlain returned to England in 1881, and received the rank of field-marshal in 1900. He died at Lordswood, near Southampton, Feb. 18, 1902.
See W. H. Paget, Record of the Expeditions against the North-West Frontier Tribes (1884) ; G. W. Forrest, Life of Chamberlain (1909).