Ardagh, John Charles, 1840-1907

1859 joined the Royal Engineers; 1875 attached to the intelligence branch of the War Office; 1876 reported on the defence of Constantinople; 1878 attended the congress of Berlin as technical military delegate; 1879 member of the Bulgarian boundary commission; 1881 commissioner for the delimitation of the Turco-Greek frontier; 1882 special service, Egypt; 1884 head of intelligence department, Sudan Expedition; 1885 commandant of base, Nile Expedition; 1886 chief staff officer, Nile Expedition; 1887 assistant adjutant-general for defence and mobilization, War Office; 1888-1894 private secretary to Lord Lansdowne, and for a short time to Lord Elgin, viceroy of India; 1888-1895 aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cambridge; 1894 KCIE; 1895-1896 commandant of the School of Military Engineering, Chatham; 1896-1901 director of military intelligence, War Office; 1899 British delegate to Peace Conference at the Hague; 1902 member of judicial commission on revision of martial law sentences; 1903 member of permanent international court of arbitration at the Hague, and government director of Suez Canal Company.

Epithet: army officer

Title: Knight

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000815.0x00022b

Sir John Charles Ardagh (1840-1907) Knight Major General Diplomat

John Charles Ardagh was born in 1840 and educated at Trinity College, Dublin and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from which he graduated in 1858. He reported on the defences of Constantinople in 1876 and served in Montenegro and Bulgaria. He was British Commissioner for the delimitation of the Turco-Greek frontier in 1881 and in charge of the Egyptian Intelligence department in 1882. He restored Alexandria after the bombardment and was present at the battles of Tel-el-Kebir (1882) and El Teb (1884). He was commandant at Cairo during the Khartoum relief expedition, 1884. He died in 1907.

From the guide to the Sir John Ardagh Collection, 1875-1886, 1908, (Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, Oxford)