Charles Elmhirst was born at Holton cum Beckering, Lincolnshire on 25 Oct 1815. He was commissioned into the 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment in August 1835. He served in the First Afghan War of 1838-42 and was mentioned in despatches for recapturing a gun during the expedition to Kohistan. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel, 2nd in command, on 9 Mar 1855 and served in the Crimea from 8 June 1855. He was decorated with the Legion d’Honneur and the Order of the Medjidie. After the war he commanded the depot battalion at Chichester. He commanded the 2nd Battalion from October 1857 to October 1864.
He was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General at the Cape of Good Hope until April 1870, and in 1871 was promoted to major-general. In 1873 he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB). He went out to India in 1875 where he was put in command of the military forces in the Mysore Division. He was promoted to lieutenant-general in October 1877 and appointed Colonel of the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment on 8 Sep 1881 but exchanged to his old regiment, the Norfolks, on 8 Sep 1893. However, he was to serve only 3 months as Colonel before he died on 14 Dec 1893.
On 9 January 1861 he was married to Frances Dorothea Hunt in County Limerick. They lived at West Ashby, Lincolnshire where he died. They had a son, born in 1863 and two daughters born in 1876 and 1880.
The photo below shows him c1860 wearing a scarlet shell jacket with yellow collar and gilt buttons. He has embroidered star and crown badges on each side of his collar which denoted the rank of full Colonel. He was promoted to this rank on 20 May 1858.
