Napier
Napier names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Napier SIR CHARLES, an English naval officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR CHARLES, an English naval officer; born near Falkirk, Scotland, March 6, 1786. He entered the navy as midshipman in 1799, was promoted lieutenant in 1805, and sent to the West Indies, where he served in the operations against the French. He was promoted commander by Admiral Cochrane in August, 1809, and in 1811 was employed in Portugal and along the coast of S. Italy. In 1833 he accepted the command of the Portuguese constitutional fleet, and effected the establish- SIR CHARLES NAPIER ment of Donna Maria on the throne. Returning to England, he was appointed in 1839 to the command of the "Powerful." and performed some of his most gallant exploits, including the storming the English captives, held there by its of Sidon and the capture of Acre. Having blockaded Alexandria, he concluded on his own responsibility a convention with Mehemet Ali. On his return to England he was created K. C. B. In 1841 he was elected member for Marylebone. In 1847 he received the command of the Channel fleet as rearadmiral: and in 1854, on the commencement of the Russian war, he was nominated to the command of the Baltic fleet, being now a rear-admiral. In this capacity he accomplished little beyond the capture of Bomarsund. He sat in Parliament as member for Southwark from 1855 till his death. He died Nov. 6, 1860.
Napier SIR CHARLES JAMES, a British military officer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR CHARLES JAMES, a British military officer; born in London, England, Aug. 10, 1782. He entered the army in 1794, and served in Ireland and Portugal, being present at Corunna, where he was wounded and taken prisoner in 1809. In 1811, when again at liberty, he returned to the Peninsula, and served through the war, being severely wounded in several battles. In 1812 he was made lieutenant-colonel, and in the following year served in the expedition to the Chesapeake. In 1837 he was made Major-General; in 1838 K. C. B. In 1841 he was appointed to the chief command in the presidency of Bombay, with the rank of Major-General, and was shortly afterward called to Scinde. Here he gained the splendid victories of Meanee and Haidarabad, and was afterward made governor of Scinde, which he administered till 1847. In 1849 his services were again required, and he sailed once more for the East, as Commander-in-Chief of all the forces in India. Before he arrived Lord Gough had brought the Sikh war to a triumphant termination, and no special work remained for Sir Charles Napier to perform. Having returned to England, he died in Portsmouth, Aug. 29, 1853.
Napier ROBERT, LORD
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ROBERT, LORD, an English military officer; born r; born in Ceylon, Dec. 6, 1810. He entered the Indian army in 1826, and served with distinction in the campaigns of the Sutlej and the Punjab. In 1854, he was appointed Chief Engineer of Bengal, and planned the operations at the Siege of Lucknow in 1857. He also served with high credit as second in command in the war with China, receiving general rank, the Grand Cross of the Bath, and a military membership of the Indian Council therefor. In 1865, Sir Robert was made Commander-in-Chief of the British army sent out to Abyssinia for the rescue of semi-barbarous ruler, er, King Theodore. After successfully accomplishing his mission, Sir Robert was raised to the peerage as Lord Napier, of Magdala, and also made a Knight Grand Cross of the Star of India. In 1869 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Indian army; and governor of Gibraltar in 1876. He died in London, England, Jan. 14, 1890.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The dates and campaigns Collier's set out in 1921 still stand; what has moved is the judgement. Sir Charles James Napier's conquest of "Scinde" in 1843 — for which he is still commemorated by a statue in Trafalgar Square, one of those named in the 2020 arguments over imperial monuments — is now generally read by historians as an unprovoked annexation rather than a "splendid" victory, and Sind is today a province of Pakistan. Collier's description of Emperor Tewodros II as a "semi-barbarous ruler" whom Robert Napier went to punish would not be written now: the 1868 storming of Magdala is remembered chiefly for the manuscripts, crowns and crosses carried off to Britain, which Ethiopia has asked for back for decades, with a lock of Tewodros's hair returned by the National Army Museum in 2019. Sir Charles Napier the sailor remains the least remembered of the three, still faulted for achieving little in the Baltic in 1854 beyond Bomarsund.
Written for this edition, 2026.