Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Arthur Alec Goschen (6 January 1880 – 28 June 1975) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who served as an Area Commander during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Family and education

Goschen was born in London, the child of Henry Goschen (1837–1932) and Augusta Eleanor Shakerley, niece of Sir Charles Shakerley, 1st Baronet. Henry Goschen was the younger brother of

George Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen George Joachim Goschen, 1st Viscount Goschen, PC, DL, FBA (10 August 1831 – 7 February 1907) was a British statesman and businessman best remembered for being "forgotten" by Lord Randolph Churchill. He was initially a Liberal, then a Liber ...

. Goschen's great-grandfather was prominent publisher and printer

Georg Joachim Göschen Georg Joachim Göschen (22 April 1752Several sources list 22 December 1752 as his date of birth; while others list 22 April 1752 as the date he was baptised. – 5 April 1828) was a German publisher and bookseller in Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Kingdom of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxo ...

, whose third son Wilhelm Heinrich (William Henry) Göschen (1793–1866) came to England in 1814 and the next year co-founded the merchant banking firm ''

Frühling & Göschen Sir William Henry Neville Goschen, 1st Baronet, (30 October 1865 – 7 July 1945), known as Harry Goschen, was a British businessman and banker from the prominent Goschen family. Family and early life Harry was born at 7 Chapel Street, Grosve ...

'', of Leipzig and London. Wilhelm Heinrich married an English woman and had several children, including George, Charles Hermann, Henry, Alexander Heun and Sir Edward Goschen. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

. His elder brother was Sir Harry Goschen, 1st Baronet.

Near drowning

On 7 September 1889, the cutter of the schooner ''Corinne'' (owned by his uncle Charles Hermann Goschen) was sailing near

The Needles The Needles is a row of three stacks of chalk that rise about out of the sea off the western extremity of the Isle of Wight in the English Channel, United Kingdom, close to Alum Bay and Scratchell's Bay, and part of Totland, the westernmo ...

, with Arthur,1881 England Census, Class: RG11; Piece: 807; Folio: 11; Page: 14; GSU roll: 1341190. his sister Eleanor, and crew on board. The cutter was capsized by a sudden gust of wind. The mate of the ''Corinne'', John James Smith Gawn of

Ryde Ryde is an English seaside town and civil parish on the north-east coast of the Isle of Wight. The built-up area had a population of 23,999 according to the 2011 Census and an estimate of 24,847 in 2019. Its growth as a seaside resort came af ...

, saved the two children but himself drowned. Another yachtsman also drowned.

Military career

On 25 June 1899, Goschen was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref>Hart´s Annual Army List 1908, p. 174. He saw active service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

from 1899 to 1901, was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 16 February 1901 and awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

in September 1901. In 1911, he was serving in Cairo as Captain of

J Battery, Royal Horse Artillery J, or j, is the tenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

. He later served in the First World War as a brigade major for the Home Forces and in France, and was awarded bars to the Distinguished Service Order on 26 September 1917 and 26 July 1918. He graduated from the Staff College, Camberley in 1920. After instructing at the Senior Officer School and then serving as an instructor at the

Staff College, Quetta ( ''romanized'': Pir Sho Biyamooz Saadi)English: Grow old, learning Saadi ur, سیکھتے ہوئے عمر رسیدہ ہو جاؤ، سعدی , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'' in Deolali, British India) , closed ...

, in India, he was appointed garrison commander and commandant at the Royal Artillery Depot at Woolwich in 1929, Brigadier Royal Artillery at Aldershot Command in 1931, and Commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1934. In 1935, ranking as a Major-General, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. He retired in 1938 but was recalled as an Area Commander for the Chatham Area in 1939 at the start of the Second World War, before retiring again in 1941. In retirement he became a Deputy Lieutenant for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Family

In 1908 Goschen married Marjorie Mary Blacker; they had two sons and three daughters (Grania, Mary Gwendoline, and Diana Marjorie). Both their sons were in the military: Brigadier Geoffrey William Goschen (1911–1988), who married Mary, daughter of Lt. Col. Ernest Morrison-Bell; and Captain John Arthur Goschen (1918–1941), who was killed in action in the Siege of Tobruk. Goschen died at Cirencester on 28 June 1975.

References

Bibliography

External links

Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goschen, Arthur 1880 births 1975 deaths Academics of the Staff College, Quetta British Army generals of World War II Commandants of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy Lieutenants of Gloucestershire People educated at Eton College Royal Artillery officers

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

English people of German descent People from Marylebone British Army major generals Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Military personnel from London