major general on 1 October 1877, from 1879 to 1884 he was Major General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding the Home District. As Commanding Officer of the Brigade of Guards, he was asked in 1882 to assist in the (now defunct) Royal Tournament. He was promoted to lieutenant general on 1 April 1883. Higginson served as Lieutenant of the Tower of London from 1888 to 1893. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1889 Birthday Honours, promoted to general on 11 October 1890, and retired on 21 June 1893 after 38 years of service. Later life He was a personal friend of the Royal Family, and had close ties with King Edward VII. King George V and Queen Mary were regular visitors to Gyldernscroft, his home in Marlow. In 1923, aged 96, he became a godfather to George Lascelles, later 7th Earl of Harewood, the first grandson of King George V and Queen Mary, and elder son of Princess Mary and Viscount Lascelles. On 24 June 1918, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Buckinghamshire. Higginson's 100th birthday was celebrated with great splendour in his native Marlow. To mark that birthday, the inhabitants of Marlow organised a public collection and, with its proceeds, purchased Court Garden, Marlow and its grounds, alongside the River Thames, with the grounds becoming a public park called Higginson Park as a memorial to what they considered their town's most famous son. Higginson himself contributed generously to the collection. At a ceremony in the town, Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, presented the deeds of the park to Higginson. Higginson was associated for many years with the Gordon Boys' Home (now Gordon's School) at West End near Woking, Surrey, which was founded as the national memorial to Major General Charles Gordon, who was killed at Khartoum, Sudan, in 1885. Higginson wrote an autobiography in 1916, entitled 71 Years of a Guardsman's Life. Higginson died in February 1927, and his funeral, with full military honours, was described by observers as the grandest Marlow had seen, with hundreds lining the streets. References British Army generals English centenarians Men centenarians Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order People educated at Eton College People from Marlow, Buckinghamshire Military personnel from Buckinghamshire British Army personnel of the Crimean War 1826