General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Cameron Deane Shute, (15 March 1866 – 25 January 1936), was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Early life and education

Shute was born in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

, Surrey, the son of Col. Deane Christian Shute of the

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

, and his wife, Elizabeth Isabella Brownlow. He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. It was founded as Marlborough School in 1843 by the Dean of Manchester, George ...

and abroad. He was the nephew of General Sir Charles Cameron Shute (1816–1904). Francis Browne, 4th Baron Kilmaine married his sister Alice Emily Shute.

Military career

After graduating from the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, Shute was commissioned into the Welsh Regiment in August 1885.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He transferred to the

Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

in September 1895, receiving a promotion to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in his new regiment, and participated in the

Nile Expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–1885), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to Sudan to help the Egyptians withdraw their garr ...

of 1898. He was deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) in

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

from 1899 and, a major from June 1904 onwards, a

general staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

(GSO) at Scottish Coast Defences from 1905. In March 1910 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and appointed

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

(CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade and, after being promoted to full colonel in June 1913, he then became a GSO at Aldershot Training Centre from 1914. He served in the

, becoming a GSO1 in August 1914, and later in France and Belgium, becoming commander of the 59th Infantry Brigade,

20th (Light) Division The 20th (Light) Division was an infantry division of the British Army, part of Kitchener's Army, raised in the First World War. The division was formed in September 1914 as part of the K2 Army Group. The division landed in France July 1915 an ...

, in France during the Guillemont actions in 1915. Upon being made a temporary major general in October 1916 he went on to be

general officer commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

(GOC) of the

63rd (Royal Naval) Division The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who we ...

, the same year in which he was made a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

A.P. Herbert poem

As GOC of the Royal Naval Division, Shute had an intense dislike of the division's unconventional "nautical" traditions and made numerous unpopular attempts to stamp them out. He was particularly critical of the poor management of the

latrine A latrine is a toilet or an even simpler facility that is used as a toilet within a sanitation system. For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground ( pit latrine), or ...

s which could have led to an outbreak of dysentery. Following a particularly critical inspection of the trenches by Shute, an officer of the division, Sub-Lieutenant A. P. Herbert, who later became a famous humorous writer, legal satirist and member of Parliament, wrote a popular poem that summed up the feelings of the men of the division: Although soldier songs hostile to superior officers were not rare, it is unusual to have a song aimed at a named officer. He later became GOC of the 32nd Division in 1917 and of the 19th Division at the Battle of Messines (Flanders, Belgium) in 1917. In June 1917 he was promoted to the substantive rank of major general. In April 1918 he was promoted to temporary lieutenant general and took command of

V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Arm ...

in place of the sacked Edward Fanshawe, which he commanded for the rest of the war. After the war his CB was upgraded to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and in January 1919 he was awarded the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

. Having reverted to his permanent rank of major general in April 1919, and relinquished command of V Corps, he became GOC of the 4th Division, a post he held from November 1919 to November 1923. After being made a substantive lieutenant general in April 1926, and succeeding General Sir Francis Davies as

lieutenant of the Tower of London The Lieutenant of the Tower of London serves directly under the Constable of the Tower. The office has been appointed at least since the 13th century. There were formerly many privileges, immunities and perquisites attached to the office. Like t ...

, he was

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

-in-Chief for Northern Command in 1927. Promoted to full general in March 1931, he retired from the army later that year.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Shute, Cameron 1866 births 1936 deaths British Army generals British Army generals of World War I Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Welch Regiment officers Rifle Brigade officers British Army personnel of the Mahdist War People educated at Marlborough College Military personnel from Surrey Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst British recipients of the Legion of Honour People from Dorking