Sir Charles Yate, 1st Baronet

Yate as a captain.

Colonel Sir Charles Edward Yate, 1st Baronet, CSI, CMG (28 August 1849 – 29 February 1940) was an English soldier and administrator in British India and later a politician in Britain.

Early life

Yate was born at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Yorkshire, the son of the village's vicar. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Rossall School and in 1867 purchased an Ensigncy in the 49th Foot.^[1]

Military career

In 1871 he was promoted Lieutenant^[2] and transferred to the Bombay Staff Corps of the Indian Army^[3] and later to the Indian Political Service, serving as an assistant political superintendent in Rajputana.

He was promoted Captain in 1879^[4] and commanded a detachment of the 29th Bombay Infantry during the Second Afghan War, 1879–1880. He then served on General Roberts's staff and served as political officer in charge of Kandahar from August 1880 until May 1881. From 1884 to 1886 he served with the Afghan Boundary Commission. For this work he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) in 1887^[5] and Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1888,^[6] being promoted Major between these two awards. He was also awarded the Afghan Order of Hurmat. During this time, Yate was a supporter of the Pashtun colonisation of northern Afghanistan, writing in 1893 that "[i]t is only the non-Afghan tribes such as the Maimanah Uzbegs [Uzbeks], the Herati Hazarahs and Jamshidis, etc. that have any intercourse or communication with the Turkomans or Russians, and once encircled by Afghans they are safe."^[7][8]

In 1889 he was appointed British political agent in Muscat, in 1890 consul at Muscat,^[9] then political agent in Baluchistan, and in 1893 agent to the Governor-General to Khorasan and Sistan, based in Mashhad, Persia. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1893^[10] and consul-general in 1896.^[11] In 1898 he returned to Rajputana and in 1900 was appointed Chief Commissioner of Baluchistan. He was promoted Colonel in 1901,^[12] and retired from the Indian Political Service in 1904 and the Indian Army in 1906.

During the First World War, he returned to service with the British Army, attached to No 1 Ambulance Flotilla, which transported casualties from the Western Front on the River Seine, in 1915.^[13][14]

Political career

He returned to England in 1904. He stood unsuccessfully as a Conservative for Parliament at Pontefract in 1906, and for Melton, Leicestershire in January 1910 before being elected to the latter seat as Member of Parliament in December 1910.^[15] He served until 1924.

Yate was created a Baronet, of Madeley Hall in the County of Shropshire, for his political service in the 1921 New Year Honours.^[16][17]

Later years

It was to Madeley he moved after retiring from Parliament, having previously lived at Asfordby House near Melton.^[18] He became J.P. for the Borough of Wenlock in 1927.^[19]

His only son died in childhood in 1910 (although he also had two daughters), and so the baronetcy became extinct upon his death, at Madeley Hall, aged ninety. Although he lost his speech in older age, he remained mentally alert enough to still take an interest in news from India.^[20] He was buried at St Michael's Parish Churchyard in Madeley.

Footnotes

1. The London Gazette: no. 23320. p. 5932. 8 November 1867.
2. The London Gazette: no. 23750. p. 2943. 27 June 1871.
3. The London Gazette: no. 23882. p. 3443. 2 August 1872.
4. The London Gazette: no. 24806. p. 392. 27 January 1880.
5. The London Gazette: no. 25673. p. 786. 15 February 1887.
6. The London Gazette: no. 25825. p. 3185. 8 June 1888.
7. Christian Bleuer. "State-building, migration and economic development on the frontiers of northern Afghanistan and southern Tajikistan". Sciencedirect.com. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
8. "From ‘Slavers’ to ‘Warlords’: Descriptions of Afghanistan’s Uzbeks in western writing | Afghanistan Analysts Network". Afghanistan-analysts.org. 2014-10-17. Retrieved 2016-05-01.
9. The London Gazette: no. 26031. p. 1328. 11 March 1890.
10. The London Gazette: no. 26478. p. 441. 23 January 1894.
11. The London Gazette: no. 26782. p. 5437. 2 October 1896.
12. The London Gazette: no. 27283. p. 1064. 12 February 1901.
13. Who Was Who, 1929–1940. A & C Black. 1947. p. 1501.
14. Article on No 1 Field Ambulance, contains group photo including Colonel Yate
15. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 60. Oxford University Press. 2004. p. 733.
16. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 32178. p. 2. 1 January 1921.
17. The London Gazette: no. 32280. p. 2664. 5 April 1921.
18. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 60. 2004. pp. 733–734. ISBN 0-19-861410-1.Article by F.H. Browne, revised Katherine Prior.
19. Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1940. Kelly's. p. 1998.
20. "Death of Sir Charles Yate". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 1 March 1940. p. 4.

References

• Biography, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography