Field Marshal Sir Donald Stewart, (1824 –1900) was a senior Indian Army officer. He fought on the Aka Khel Expedition the North-West Frontier in 1854, took part in the response to the Indian Rebellion in 1857 and, after serving as commandant of the penal settlement of the Andaman Islands, fought in the Second Anglo Afghan War as Commander of the Quetta Army. He became Commander-in-Chief, India in April 1881 and a member of the Council of the Secretary of State for India in 1893.

In Lord Salisbury’s ‘caretaker’ cabinet Churchill was made Secretary of State for India on 24 June 1885. During his tenure at the India Office he reversed policy over Burma. He sided with commercial interests and directed the Viceroy, Lord Dufferin, to invade Upper Burma in November 1885. With little discussion, Churchill then decided to annex the final remnant of the once great Burmese kingdom, adding it as a new province of the Indian Raj as a “New Year present” for Queen Victoria on New Year’s Day 1886.

On 5 July 1886, the Duke of Cambridge was appointed general commanding-in chief of the British Army and commander-in chief of the forces by Letters Patent on 20 November 1887. In that capacity he served as the chief military advisor to the Secretary Of State for War.