UK / China: General Sir James Hope Grant GCB (1808 – 1875), Commander of British troops in China and Hong Kong during the Second Opium War (1859-1860). Portrait by Francis Grant, 1853

General Sir James Hope Grant GCB (22 July 1808 – 7 March 1875), British general, was the fifth and youngest son of Francis Grant of Kilgraston, Perthshire, and brother of Sir Francis Grant, President of the Royal Academy.

He entered the British Army in 1826 as cornet in the 9th Lancers, and became lieutenant in 1828 and captain in 1835. In 1842 he was brigade-major to Lord Saltoun in the First Opium War, and specially distinguished himself at the capture of Chinkiang, after which he received the rank of major and the CB. In the First Anglo-Sikh War of 1845–1846 he took part in the battle of Sobraon; and in the Punjab campaign of 1848–1849 he commanded the 9th Lancers, and won high reputation in the battles of Chillianwalla and Guzerat (Gujarat).

After serving with distinction in operations against the Indian Rebellion of 1857, in 1859 he was appointed, with the local rank of lieutenant-general, to be Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong and to lead the British land forces in the united French and British expedition against China.

The object of the campaign was accomplished within three months of the landing of the forces at Pei-tang (1 August 1860). The Taku Forts had been carried by assault, the Chinese defeated three times in the open and Peking occupied.

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Pictures From History

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OPIUM