JERVOIS, SIR William Francis Drummond, British general and engineer: b. Cowes, Isle of Wight, 10 Sept. 1821;d. Bitterne, Hampshire, 16 Aug. 1897. He was educated at the Royal Military. Academy at Woolwich and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers 19 March 1839. He was or dered to the Cape of Good Hope in 1841, where he remained on engineering duty and in active service against the Boers and Kaffirs until 1848. Returning to England he continued in the en gineering service. He was appointed assistant inspector-general of fortifications at the War Office 7 April 1856, and in 1857 became in addition secretary to the defense committee. He prepared the plans for the defense of Lon don in case of invasion during the period when war with France was threatened in 1857, and in 1859 drafted a report and recommenda tions for defenses calling for an appropriation of 0,000,000, which was granted by Parliament. He was appointed director of works for fortifi cations in 1862, and in 1863 made an official tour of inspection of the fortifications of Canada and Bermuda, also visiting those of eastern United States. He afterward inspected the
progress of fortifications in all parts of the British Empire, and upon the completion of the work in 1874 it was found that he had carried out the plans submitted to Parliament and kept within the f7,460,000 appropriation by a margin of £40,000. He was governor of the Straits Settlements in 1875-77, of South Australia in 1877-82, retiring from military service with the rank of lieutenant-general 7 April 1882. He served as governor of New Zealand in 1882 89, when he returned to England with an enviable record for both ability and popularity. He served' on the consultative committee on coast defense duties under Edward Stanhope in 1890. He was a member of the Royal Society, a knight commander of the Orders of Saint George and Saint Michael, and author of nu merous valuable reports on problems of defense.