{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person |name= Frederick William Spring |image= |image_size= |alt= |caption= |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|1841|10|16|df=yes}} |birth_place= Bombay, India |death_date= {{death date and age|1916|01|12|1841|10|16|df=yes}} |death_place= Sussex, England, United Kingdom |burial_place= |allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}} |branch_label= Branch |branch=23px Bombay Army, East India Company<br>{{flagicon|UKGBI|military}} British Army |service_years= 1858–1894<ref name="Spring1902"/> |rank= Colonel | service_number = 502<ref name="Spring1902"/> |unit= Bombay Artillery<ref name="Spring1902"/><br />Royal Artillery<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26510 |date=8 May 1894 |page=2692}}</ref> |commands= |battles= British Expedition to Abyssinia<ref name="Spring1902"/><br/>Third Anglo-Burmese War |awards= Companion of the Order of the Bath |spouse= Ellen Harriett Inglis |relations=Frederick Gordon Spring (son) |other_work= }} Colonel '''Frederick William Mackenzie Spring''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|CB}} (16 October 1841 – 12 January 1916) was a British Indian Army officer and military historian.<ref name="Spring1902">{{cite book |last=Spring |first=Frederick William Mackenzie |author-link=Frederick William Spring |title=The Bombay Artillery List of Officers |location=London |publisher=William Clowes & Sons, Limited |date=1902 |page=112; Service No. 502 |url=https://ia601408.us.archive.org/8/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.284795/2015.284795.The-Bombay.pdf |via=HathiTrust}}</ref>
==Military career== Spring was born in Bombay, India on 16 October 1841, the son of Frederick James Spring and Jane Balfour Mackenzie.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FGCZ-FXS |title=FamilySearch.org |access-date=26 November 2023}}</ref> He was commissioned into the Bombay Artillery in 1865, which later amalgamated with the Royal Regiment of Artillery. He served in the British Expedition to Abyssinia from 1867 to 1868. In 1870, he was promoted to second captain,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23649 |date=26 August 1870 |page=3949}}</ref> and two years later was elevated to the rank of full captain.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=23927 |date=10 December 1872 |page=6253}}</ref> He became a major in 1878.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=24668 |date=14 January 1879 |page=175}}</ref> On 18 June 1884, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25376 |date=15 July 1884 |page=3226}}</ref> He saw service in the Third Anglo-Burmese War and was Inspector General of Ordnance in Bombay between 1886 and 1893. Spring was promoted to colonel on 18 June 1888.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25843 |date=3 August 1888 |page=4190}}</ref> After leaving service in 1894,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=26510|date=8 May 1894 |page=2692}}</ref> Spring was invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath.{{cn|date=November 2025}} He wrote a book regarding the officers of the Bengal Army and the Royal Artillery, and contributed to several other military history publications. In retirement he lived in Midhurst, West Sussex.
==Family== In 1877, Spring married Ellen Harriett, daughter of Surgeon-General James Gordon Inglis.<ref>{{cite news |title=Marriages |work=The Medical Times and Gazette |volume=2 |issue=1410–1435 |date=6 October 1877 |page=400 |url=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/biography/?id=WH12294&type=P&o=&start=20&max=20&l=i |title=Story: Biography of James Gordon Inglis |website=University of Glasgow}}</ref> Their son,{{citation needed|date=October 2020}} Frederick, became a brigadier-general and served in the First World War.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Creagh |editor1-first=O'Moore |editor2-last=Humphris |editor2-first=E. M. |title=The VC and DSO |volume=3 |publisher=The Standard Art Book Co. Ltd |location=Paternoster Row, London |page=48 |url=https://archive.org/details/the-v-c-and-d-s-o-vol.-3-the-distinguished-service-order-jan-1916-on-1924/page/n7/mode/2up |via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
==Publications== *{{cite book |last=Spring |first=Frederick William Mackenzie |author-link=Frederick William Spring |title=The Bombay Artillery List of Officers Who Have Served in the Regiment of Bombay Artillery from its Formation in 1749 to Amalgamation with the Royal Artillery |location=London |publisher=William Clowes & Sons, Limited |date=1902 |url=https://ia601408.us.archive.org/8/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.284795/2015.284795.The-Bombay.pdf}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring, Frederick William}} Category:1841 births Category:1916 deaths Frederick Category:Bombay Artillery officers Category:Royal Artillery officers Category:British Indian Army officers Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:19th-century British Army personnel Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Burmese War Category:Military personnel from West Sussex Category:British military personnel of the Abyssinian War