He served in Burma, the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, China, Canada and widely throughout Africa—including his Ashanti campaign (1873–1874) and the Nile Expedition against Mahdist Sudan in 1884–85.

[6][7] However, the family circumstance forced Wolseley to leave school at age 14, when he found work in a surveyor's office, which helped him bring in a salary and continue studying mathematics and geography.

Unable to afford Sandhurst or buying a commission, Wolseley wrote to his fellow Dubliner, Field Marshal The 1st Duke of Wellington, for assistance.

"[8] His mother then wrote to the Duke to appeal his case, and on 12 March 1852, the 18-year-old Wolseley was gazetted as an ensign in the 12th Foot,[11] in recognition of his father's service.

Promoted to lieutenant on 16 May 1853 and invalided home, Wolseley transferred to the 84th Regiment of Foot on 27 January 1854,[14] and then to the 90th Light Infantry,[15] at that time stationed in Dublin, on 24 February 1854.

[13] After the fall of Sevastopol, Wolseley was employed on the quartermaster-general's staff, assisting in the embarkation of the troops and supplies, and was one of the last British soldiers to leave the Crimea in July 1856.

He was present at the action at Sin-ho, the capture of Tang-ku, the storming of the Taku Forts,[13] the Occupation of Tientsin, the Battle of Pa-to-cheau and the entry into Peking (during which the destruction of the Chinese Imperial Old Summer Palace was begun).

[25] After the outbreak of the American Civil War, Wolseley was one of the special service officers sent to the Province of Canada in November 1861, in connection with the Trent incident.

Wolseley wrote, "I do not think that the fact that one-half of the small garrison of a place taken by assault was either killed or wounded evinced any very unusual bloodthirstiness on the part of the assailants.

[29][30] In 1870, he successfully commanded the Red River Expedition to establish Canadian sovereignty over rebellious subjects in the North-West Territories (in present-day Manitoba).

[29] Manitoba, as part of the North-West Territories, entered Canadian Confederation in 1870 when the Hudson's Bay Company transferred its control of Rupert's Land to the government of the Dominion of Canada.

British and Canadian authorities ignored the pre-existing Council of Assiniboia and botched negotiations with its replacement, the Métis' rebel provisional government headed by Louis Riel.

Fort Garry (now Winnipeg), the capital of Manitoba, was a small centre separated from eastern Canada by the rocks and forests of the Canadian Shield region of western Ontario.

As Governor of both British Territories in West Africa he had charge over the Colonies of Gambia, Gold Coast and Western, Eastern, and Northern Nigeria, and in this role, commanded an expedition against the Ashanti Empire.

[18][47] He found that there was still great resistance to the short service system and used his growing public persona to fight for the Cardwell reforms, especially on building up reserves, including making a speech at a banquet in Mansion house in which he commented: '...how an Army raised under the long service system totally disappeared in a few months under the walls of Sevastopol.

[49] Having seized the Suez Canal, he then disembarked his troops at Ismailia and, after a very short campaign, completely defeated Urabi Pasha at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir, thereby suppressing yet another rebellion.

[18] He also received the thanks of Parliament and the Egypt Medal with clasp;[51] the Order of Osmanieh, First Class, as bestowed by the Khedive;[52] and the more dubious accolade of a composition in his honour by poetaster William Topaz McGonagall.

[53] On 1 September 1884, Wolseley was again called away from his duties as adjutant-general, to command the Nile Expedition for the relief of General Gordon and the besieged garrison at Khartoum.

[9] At the invitation of the Queen, the Wolseley family moved from their former home at 6 Hill Street, London to the much grander Ranger's House in Greenwich in autumn 1888.

[59] This was the position to which his great experience in the field and his previous signal success at the War Office itself had fully entitled him, but it was increasingly irrelevant.

[49] The unexpectedly large force required for the initial phase of the Second Boer War, was mainly furnished by means of the system of reserves Wolseley had originated.

He gave evidence to a parliamentary commission that the construction might be "calamitous for England", he added that "No matter what fortifications and defences were built, there would always be the peril of some continental army seizing the tunnel exit by surprise."

Various contrivances to satisfy his objections were put forward including looping the line on a viaduct from the Cliffs of Dover and back into them, so that the connection could be bombarded at will by the Royal Navy.

He and his wife were wintering at Villa Tourrette, Menton on the French Riviera, where he fell ill with influenza and returned to England, where he died on 26 March 1913.

[3] He was buried on 31 March 1913 in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, to music played by the band of the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, of which he was the first Colonel-in-Chief.

It is on the site of Wolseley Hall, the first building constructed by a Canadian Government specifically to house an element of the newly created Permanent Force.

[86] In another of Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas, Patience, Colonel Calverley praises Wolseley in the phrase: "Skill of Sir Garnet in thrashing a cannibal".

[90] The Sir Garnet pub in the centre of Norwich, overlooking the historic market place and city hall, is named after Field Marshal Lord Wolseley.

[91][92][93][94] Wolseley's uniforms, field marshal's baton and souvenirs from his various campaigns are held in the collections of the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Wolseley maintained a deep interest in notable individuals in early modern European history, and collected items related to many of them (for example, a box from Sir Francis Drake, a watch related to Oliver Cromwell, a funerary badge for Admiral Horatio Nelson and General James Wolfe's snuff box).