George Channer was born at Allahabad, India, on 7 January 1842, the eldest surviving son of eight children of George Girdwood Channer,[1] colonel, Bengal artillery (1811–1895) and Susan (d. 1895), daughter of Nicholas Kendall JP, vicar of Talland and Lanlivery, Cornwall.

The stockade was formidable and it would have been impossible to bring guns to bear on it because of the steepness of the hill and the density of the jungle.

If Captain Channer and his party had not been able to take the stockade in this manner it would have been necessary to resort to the bayonet, with consequent great loss of life.

Here he was with the 29th Punjabi infantry in the Kurram Valley Field Force, commanding the regiment at the Battle of Peiwar Kotal in December 1878.

They had four surviving sons (two served in the army) and four daughters, one of which is Mary Eva Channer who married Ronald AA Kinloch.