Fonds consists of the correspondence of Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley to members of his family, microfilm, 1861-1890. Included are letters to Wolseley from Sir John Glover and Sandford Fleming, 1878-1882, from Lord Dufferin, 1884, Lord Lansdowne, 1884-1885 and Lord Stanley, 1890. There is correspondence, notes and miscellaneous material, 1861-1902 from Wolseley to his wife and other papers. This material is located on microfilm reels A-672 and A-813.
Wolseley (family) : Field Marshal Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, (1833-1913) was born in Ireland and entered the British Army in 1852, serving with distinction in the Burmese War, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, and in China. As part of the preparations for the defence of Canada resulting from the Trent Affair Wolseley was stationed at Montreal in 1861 as assistant quartermaster general. He became deputy quartermaster general in 1865, and in 1870 organized and commanded the Red River Expedition. During his stay in Canada Wolseley took command of the Camps of Instruction and Observation at Laprairie and Thorold.
He also visited the United States during the Civil War and was particularly impressed by the Confederate leadership. Following his successful campaigns in West Africa in 1873, and in lower Egypt in 1882, Wolseley commanded an expedition to Khartoum in 1884 and 1885, in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue General Gordon and reassert Anglo-Egyptian authority in the Sudan. He requested and obtained the services of a number of Canadian boatmen for the ascent of the Nile. Wolseley rose through the senior administrative levels of the British Army and became the last to hold the rank of Commander-in-Chief, retiring in 1900.
He was made a baron in 1882, and a viscount in 1885. As well as his biographies of Marlborough and Napoleon, he wrote a tactical manual entitled the Soldier's Pocket Book, 1869, and the autobiographical The Story of a Soldier's Life, 1903.
See: Canadian Encyclopedia, 1985, p. 1956.
