PASLEY, Charles William (1780-1861), general, royal engineers, was born on 8 September 1780 at Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, the son of a London merchant. He was educated in the school of Andrew Little of Langholm and later at Selkirk. Pasley entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1796 and graduated the next year, receiving a commission in the royal artillery. In 1798 he was transferred to the corps of royal engineers and posted to Portsmouth. During the period 1799 to 1809, Pasley served on the east coast of England as well as in Minorca, Malta, Naples, Sicily and various European theatres of the Napoleonic Wars. He was severely wounded at the siege of Flushing during the Walcheren expedition and this incapacitated him for further combat duty. Thereafter, Pasley's career in the corps was to focus on the education of military engineers and building technology research. Pasley was made a KCB in 1846. He became colonelcommandant of the royal engineers in 1853 and a general in the army in 1860. Pasley died on 19 April 1861 at his home, 12 Norfolk Crescent, Hyde Park, London, from an ailment of the lungs. A portrait of Pasley, by Eddis, hangs in the Royal Engineers Headquarters Officers Mess at Brompton Barracks, Chatham.
