HARDINGE, :Viscount HENRY IIARDINGE, field-marshal and commander-in-chief of the British army, the third son of the rev. H. Hardinge, rector of Stanhope, in the co. of Durham, was born Mar. 30, 1785. and was gazetted as ensign before he had attained his 15th year. Ile obtained a brigade command before his 25th year, and his foreign grade was commuted, shortly afterwards, for British rank, after which he was attached to the Portuguese army from 1809-13, in the capacity of deputy quarter master-general. When Napoleon effected his memorable return from Elba. Hardinge joined the allied armies in Belgium, and was appointed by the duke of Wellington com missioner at the Prussian head-quarters. He lost his hand at Ligny, and was thus unable to participate in the crowning victory of Waterloo. In 1826 he entered parliament; and in 1828 succeeded lord Pal i Palmerston in the government of the duke of Wellington. As secretary of war. He next filled the office of secretary of Ireland. In 1844 he accepted
the high post of governor-general of India, which he filled until 1847. When the great Sikh war broke out, lie hurried to the north-western frontier of India, and served as second in command under lord Gough during the sanguinary and hard-fought battles of Moodkre, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon. After the pacification of Lahore, his services were rewarded by a viscounty, the East India company granting him a pension of 4', 5,000, and parliament voting him an annuity of C3,000, for himself and his nest two suc cessors. On the death of time duke of Wellington in 1852, Hardinge was appointed commander-in-thief of the British army, a distinguished post which he filled during the eventful epoch of the Russian war, and which he only resigned a few months before his death. In Oct., 1855, he was advanced to the rank of field-marshal. , He died Sept 24, 1856, at his seat, South Park, near Tunbridge, Kent,