Commander Henry Charles Otter's Host in 1851

I mentioned that Captain Otter and his wife were in Portsea visiting a General in the Royal Engineers.
The Roll of Honour site provides a photograph of the General's memorial at All Saint's Church, Crondall, Hampshire (http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Hampshire/Crondall.html) and the inscription reads:

SACRED

TO THE MEMORY OF

JOHN FRANCIS BIRCH

GENERAL ROYAL ENGINEERS C.B.

HE SERVED IN FLANDERS & HOLLAND

IN 1793, 94 & 95

THE CAMPAIGN IN EGYPT 1801

TAKING OF COPENHAGEN 1807

TAKING OF FLUSHING 1809

BLOCKADE OF CADIZ 1810

BATTLE OF BAROSSA 1811

BORN 1776 DIED 1856

ALSO IN MEMORY OF

JAMES HUNTER BLAIR BIRCH

SON OF THE ABOVE

CAPTAIN IN 66TH REGIMENT

BORN 1820 DIED IN BARBADOS 1851

ALSO

TO THE MEMORY OF CLEMENTINA

DAUGHTER OF THE ABOVE

BORN 1815 DIED 1841

A remarkable career from the age of 17 to 35. The General's 35 year-old son, Captain Thomas Francis Birch RN, was also present so there are plenty of reasons to speculate as to why the Otter's were paying them a visit at this time. I cannot find any reference to Captain Birch's involvement in the surveys of Scotland but he appears to have spent several years prior to 1851 serving in China and I have seen one mention of him regarding a chart of Shanghai.