Sir Wilbraham Oates Lennox

He held an exposed siege position against repeated assaults.

Wilbraham Oates Lennox was born in 1830 at Goodwood, Sussex. Educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned in the Royal Engineers on 27 June 1848. After training at Chatham and service in Ceylon, he arrived in the Crimea on 30 September 1854.

At Sevastopol, Lennox worked in the trenches of the left attack and helped manage its engineer park. He was present at Inkerman on 5 November 1854. On 20 November, at Tryon's Rifle Pit, he helped establish an advanced lodgement and repel repeated Russian assaults. The Victoria Cross citation praised his "cool and gallant conduct in establishing a lodgement in Tryon's Rifle Pit" (London Gazette, 24 February 1857). He remained with the Crimean force through the Redan assault and the fall of Sevastopol. He received the Crimea Medal with two clasps, the Turkish Crimea Medal, the Sardinian Silver Medal for Military Valour and the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie, 5th Class.

In 1857 his engineer company, originally bound for China, was diverted to India. Lennox served as acting chief engineer during the second relief of Lucknow, where his engineering plan was adopted. He took part in the Battle of Cawnpore, the final siege of Lucknow and subsequent operations in Rohilkhand, Oudh and Trans-Gogra. He commanded engineers in the field, was repeatedly mentioned in despatches, earned brevet promotions and received the Indian Mutiny Medal with two clasps.

Lennox later observed German operations in France during the Franco-Prussian War. As British military attaché, he accompanied Ottoman forces in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 and received a separate Turkish war medal whose precise identity remains under review. From 1884 he commanded the Alexandria garrison and organized the movement of troops, boats and stores for the Nile expedition. He later commanded troops in Ceylon. Appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1891, he was promoted to General in 1893 and served as Director-General of Military Education before retiring in 1895.

General Sir Wilbraham Oates Lennox died in London on 7 February 1897. His career joined battlefield courage with military engineering, operational command and military education.