Augustus Pitt Rivers

Pitt Rivers died on 4 May 1900, aged 73, in Rushmore Estate, Wiltshire. He had always been an advocate for cremation even at a time when such a practice was illegal in England. His body was cremated after his death according to his wishes.

He was born as Augustus Henry Lane-Fox on 14 April 1827, in Yorkshire, as the son of William Lane-Fox and Lady Caroline Douglas. His uncles George Douglas, 17th Earl of Morton, George Lane-Fox and Sackville Lane-Fox were prominent personalities. He hailed from an upper-class family.

The details regarding his early education are not clear though it is believed that he was educated by private tutors at home and was taught subjects that included Latin and Greek.

He then enrolled at the Royal military College at Sandhurst though he spent less than a year at the college.

Augustus Pitt Rivers was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards on 16 May 1845 as an ensign. This marked the beginning of what would be a 32-year long military career.

Over the course of his army career he bought most of his ranks. In 1850 he bought a promotion to Captain and was promoted to the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel of the army "for distinguished Service in the Field" during the Crimean War.

In 1851, he became a member of the committee that was involved in the testing of rifled weapons. He was assigned the responsibility of instructing the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards in the use of the new Minié rifle in 1852 and was sent to France, Belgium and Piedmont (Italy) to study their methods of musketry instruction.

In 1853, Lane-Fox played a pivotal role in the establishment of the new School of Musketry at Hythe in Kent and became its principle instructor, revising its ‘Instruction of Musketry Manuel’.

In 1857, he bought the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Grenadier Guards, and in 1867, he was promoted as colonel.