Archive of General Sir Archibald Hunter
GCB GCVO DSO TD LLD
at the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum, Lancaster.
Hunter and General Higginson
Letter to Hunter from General Sir George
Wentworth Higginson, dated 9 Jul 1919
General Sir George Wentworth Alexander Higginson, GCB, GCVO, KCB. Born
on 21 Jun 1826, he joined the Grenadier Guards in 1845 and served as
Adjutant in the Crimean War. In Lady Butler’s well known picture ‘The
Roll Call’ it is Higginson who figures in the foreground.
He spent his childhood in West London when it was a series of villages
and fields. Educated at Eton College as a young Grenadier he fought
throughout the Crimean War and was twice promoted for services in the
field. During his career he travelled extensively on military affairs to
Ireland, Canada, France, Italy and Russia.
From the date of his appointment as Colonel of the Worcestershire
Regiment in 1893 Sir George Higginson associated himself closely with
every aspect of regimental life, and when he died on 1 Feb 1927, there
was no one actually serving with the Regiment who could remember the
days before him. With the passing of a grand old soldier in his 101st
year the work of one who had come to be regarded as an institution was
ended.
Following his retirement from the army, Sir George became chairman of
the governors of Sir William Borlase’s School, Chairman of the directors
of Marlow Water Company, vice president of Marlow Regatta, vice
president of Marlow Institute and Horticulture Society, president of the
Marlow British League branch and vice president of the Marlow Cottage
Hospital. In 1926 the General Reached his 100th birthday and it was only
a few months later, in Feb 1927, that he died. His funeral was reported
as being the grandest affair Marlow had ever seen. Flags in the town
were all at half-mast, shops were shut and blinds were drawn. Hundreds
of people lined the route of the funeral procession. Eight guardsmen in
full uniform escorted the coffin, on top of which lay the general’s
sword and plumed hat, to his final resting place at All Saints Church on
the riverside.
Accession Number: KO2686/073
Letter to Hunter from General Sir
George Wentworth Higginson, dated 14 Jul 1919
Accession Number: KO2686/074
Letter to Hunter from General Sir
George Wentworth Higginson, dated 19 Nov 1919
Accession Number: KO2686/075
Letter to Hunter from General Sir
George Wentworth Higginson, dated 7 May 1920
Accession Number: KO2686/078
Letter to Hunter from General Sir
George Wentworth Higginson, dated 24 Nov 1924
Accession Number: KO2686/084
General Sir George Wentworth Higginson GCB GVO
Report of Speeches at Dinner given in
Strangers’ Dining Room, on Tuesday, July 25th, 1922, by General Sir
Archibald Hunter, MP.
Accession Number: KO2686/133
‘Copied from a book in the Library of the House of Commons’
‘Total destruction by Fire of the House
of Lords and Commons’ 16 Oct 1834.
Accession Number: KO2686/134
Table Plan for the Dinner in the
House of Commons, 25 Jul 1922 in honour of General Sir George Higginson.
Accession Number: KO2686/135
Press cutting regarding dinner to
General Higginson.
Accession Number: KO2686/136
Invitation card, blank, to dinner
in honour of General Sir George Higginson.
“To have the honour of meeting His Royal Highness Field Marshall the
Duke of Connaught, KG, KT, KP.
General Sir Archibald Hunter, requests the honour of the company of ____
at Dinner in the Strangers’ Dining Room, House of Commons, on Tuesday 25
Jul at 7.45pm. General Sir George Higginson, GCB, GCVO will be present.
He was a witness of the fire which destroyed the Houses of Parliament on
16 Oct 1834.
RSVP to 11 Upper Grosvenor Street, W1.”
Accession Number: KO2686/137
Order of service for funeral of
George Wentworth Alexander Higginson, 1 Feb 1927
Accession Number: KO2686/138
