Brigadier-General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Cecil Faber Aspinall-Oglander (08 February 1878 – 23 May 1959) was a 20th Century British

military historian Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

, noted for his works on the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Early life

Cecil Faber Aspinall was born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in 1878, the eldest son of Henry Edmund Aspinall and Kate née Williams. He received his formal education at the Isle of Wight College, and

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

. He started his military careers with commissions in the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

and the

Militia (United Kingdom) The Militia of the United Kingdom were the military reserve forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Union in 1801 of the former Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland. The militia was transformed into the Specia ...

, prior to receiving a regular service commission in the

Royal Munster Fusiliers The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company, East India Company's Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment ...

First World War

In March 1915, he was informed that he would be joining the staff of Sir Ian Hamilton's Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. He was one of

Sir Ian Hamilton Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton, (16 January 1853 – 12 October 1947) was a British Army general who had an extensive British Imperial military career in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. Hamilton was twice recommended for the Victoria Cros ...

’s most trusted aides during the Gallipoli campaign (1915–1916), where his actions saw him mentioned in despatches over a dozen times. In 1916 he was appointed Chief Staff Officer 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 wer ...

, involved in the final phase of the Somme operations. In November 1917, Aspinall moved up to be Brigadier-General General Staff of

VIII Corps 8th Corps, Eighth Corps, or VIII Corps may refer to: * VIII Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VIII Army Corps (German Confederation) * VIII Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Ar ...

and remained in this role for the remainder of the war.

Postwar and military retirement

Aspinall retired from the Army in 1920 and was employed by the Historical Section of the British

Committee of Imperial Defence The Committee of Imperial Defence was an important ''ad hoc'' part of the Government of the United Kingdom and the British Empire from just after the Second Boer War until the start of the Second World War. It was responsible for research, and som ...

, researching and writing the text of several volumes of the British

History of the Great War The ''History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Committee of Imperial Defence'' (abbreviated to ''History of the Great War'' or ''British Official History'') is a series of concerning the war effort of the Britis ...

. During the Second World War he raised and commanded the 20th (East Wight) Battalion, Hampshire Home Guard.

Death

Aspinall-Oglander died in his 81st year at

Nunwell Nunwell is the location of Nunwell House, near Brading on the Isle of Wight, which was the home of the Oglander family for many centuries. It is in the civil parish of Brading. The present family are not direct descendants through the male line a ...

, on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, on 23 April 1959. This location was long associated with the

Oglander baronets The Oglander Baronetcy, of Nunwell in the County of Southampton, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 12 December 1665 for William Oglander, Member of Parliament for Yarmouth and Newport. The sixth Baronet was member of ...

. His second wife, Joan Oglander, came from a long line of descendants that had lived at Nunwell.

Publications

* *

References

External links

*
Correspondence held by King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Profile on WorldCat, works:58 works in 196 publications in 2 languages and 997 library holdings.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspinall-Oglander, Cecil Faber 1878 births 1959 deaths People from Wrexham British Army General List officers British Army generals of World War I British military historians British military writers Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Rugby School Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Royal Munster Fusiliers officers Historians of World War I Military personnel from Wrexham County Borough British Army brigadiers British Militia officers Volunteer Force officers 19th-century British Army personnel