Colonel Chesney

George Tomkyns Chesney (30 April 1830, 31 March 1895) was a British Army general. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1869, Colonel in 1877, Major General in 1886, Lieutenant General in 1887, colonel-commandant of Royal Engineers in 1890, and General in 1892.

He wrote a work on Indian Polity (1868), dealing with the administration of the several departments of the Indian government, attracted wide attention and remains a permanent text-book. He was the originator of the Royal Indian Civil Engineering College at Coopers Hill, Englefield Green, Egham, he was also its first president (1871–1880). He also wrote the highly influential short story The Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer in 1871, which started the genre of invasion literature and an important precursor of science fiction.