Description
Indian Mutiny Medal 1857, no bar, Major General W. H. Kerr, 13th Somerset Light Infantry.
Officially impressed: “Captn W. H. Kerr, 13th Lt Infy.” With attractive silver 3 prong buckle brooch.
Obituar in the Army and Navy Gazette 14th March 1903:
“ARMY
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM HENRY KERR, Colonel, retired List, late of the Somersetshire Light Infantry, and 17th Regimental District, died at Prestbury Court, Gloucestershire, on the 9th inst, aged 78.
He joined the army on 31st July 1846; he became Captain, 13th January 1854, Major 20th July 1858, Lieutenant Colonel 25th March 1869, Colonel 1st October 1877, and retired with the Honorary Rank of Major General, 18th May 1881.
He served in the Indian Mutiny, and commanded the left wing of the 13th Light Infantry in a general action at Amorah on 17th April 1858, and also at the attack and capture of the Fort of Nuggur (Mentioned in despatches). On 9th June he commanded a wing of the regiment at the attack of the rebels position at Amorah, and was at Hurriah when attacked by the rebels on 29th August. Awarded Brevet of Major and Medal.
He was Army Adjutant General, Nova Scotia, 1873-78, when he was appointed to command of the 17th Regimental District, Leicester, which he held up to the date of his retirement.”
The Cheltenham Looker-on expands:
“General Kerr was for many years Parish Churchwarden of Prestbury, and the first Ruling Councillor of the Prestbury Habitation of the Primrose League. He was also a Director of the Cheltenham Opera House.”
His entry in Armorial Families:
“William Henry Kerr, Esquire, Major-General (retired), formerly Captain (1854) in the 13th Somerset Light Infantry, Born January 25, 1825, being the eldest son of late Robert Kerr, Lieutenant 60th Rifles, by his wife, a daughter of William Gorton of Old Windsor, Clerk Controller to George III. Club – Army and Navy. Livery – Green. Armorial Bearings as used, but which have not been matriculated in Lyon Office, are for Arms: Quarterly 1 and 4, argent a chevron between 3 mullets; 2 and 3 sable, three arrows two in saltire and one in pale, banded.
Crest- a Unicorn’s head. Motto – Deus Salamen.
Married 4th January 1868, Elizabeth Edith, daughter of James Baril Danbury, Late of Offington, in the county of Sussex, and of Leyton House, in the county of Essex; and has issue, Frederick Godfrey William Kerr, born 29th September 1868, died 11th June 1880, Baril Francis Robert Kerr, born 13th December 1869, died April 1876, William John Wilmot Kerr, born 22nd January 1875, Charlotte Augusta Magdalen, and Ramsay Montgomerie Ann.
Estate – Prestbury Court, in the parish of Prestbury, near Cheltenham, Postal address – Prestbury Court, near Chelthenham.”
Cheltenham Chronicle, 16th January 1937, an bronze tablet installed at Gloucester Consistory Court:
“Rev J.B. De la Bere, vicar of Prestbury, to erect on the south wall of the church an inscribed cast bronze tablet in memory of Major-General W.H. Kerr, 13th L.I. and 17th Brigade Depot, and of Elizabeth Edit, his wife (Nee Daubuz). The cost will be met by Captain Wilmot Kerr.”
