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 ...

Charles Gosling, CMG (June 1868 – 12 April 1917) was a British Army officer. He was killed in action during the

Second Battle of Arras The Battle of Arras (also known as the Second Battle of Arras) was a British Empire, British offensive on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British troops attacked German Empi ...

in 1917, while in command of the 10th Brigade.

Military career

Charles Gosling, born in Offley,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, in June 1868, was educated at Eton College. His military career began in August 1888 when, after having attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

into the Royal Irish Rifles (later the Royal Ulster Rifles). He was not with his regiment for long, however, before transferring over to the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

(KRRC) in November. In 1912 Gosling became

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) 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 given wide latitu ...

(CO) of the 3rd Battalion of his own regiment, the KRRC, then serving in India. Almost two years later, after the British entry into World War I in the summer of 1914, he led the battalion to the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

. He remained in command until February 1915 when he was wounded during the attack on St Eloi. His wound must have healed relatively quickly as he returned to the Western Front in May where, promoted to brigadier general, he took command of the 7th Brigade, "which he commanded for twelve months" until he was again wounded in battle, this time severely, in May 1916. Later in the year he was awarded the CMG. In December 1916 he again returned to France and was given another brigade to command, this time the

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The rea ...

. This was a post he would hold until 12 April 1917 when, his luck having by now run out, he was killed during the Battle of Arras, as was his brigade major, Captain Fellowes, who was killed by an enemy sniper, while Gosling himself "was killed by a shell. They are buried side by side in the Hervin Farm British Cemetery, St. Laurent-Blagny, France".

References

Bibliography

* 1868 births 1917 deaths Military personnel from Hertfordshire Burials in France People educated at Eton College Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Royal Ulster Rifles officers British military personnel killed in World War I King's Royal Rifle Corps officers British military personnel of the Second Boer War Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst 19th-century British Army personnel British Army generals of World War I British Army brigadiers {{UK-mil-bio-stub

Military career

References

See also

Bibliography