Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Edward Arthur Fanshawe, (4 April 1859 – 13 November 1952) 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 ...

general of 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 ...

, who commanded the 11th (Northern) Division at

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

and the

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 Ar ...

on the Western Front during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

, the

Third Battle of Ypres The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

, and the 1918 German spring offensive. He was the second eldest of three brothers who rose to command divisions or corps during the war.

Background and family

Fanshawe was born in 1859, the son of the Reverend Henry Leighton Fanshawe, of Chilworth, Oxfordshire. He attended

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, then joined 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 ...

in 1878.''Times'' obituary He was the eldest of three brothers with significant military careers; Hew (b. 1860) joined the cavalry and

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

(b. 1863) joined the infantry, all three rising to command corps or divisions during the First World War. He married Rose Higginson, daughter of Sir James Higginson, in 1893; they had three sons.

Early career

Fanshawe was commissioned as a

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 sub ...

in the Royal Artillery on 31 January 1878. He served in the

Second Anglo-Afghan War The Second Anglo-Afghan War (Dari: جنگ دوم افغان و انگلیس, ps, د افغان-انګرېز دويمه جګړه) was a military conflict fought between the British Raj and the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the l ...

in 1878-80 and the Sudan expedition of 1885, following which he was promoted to

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

on 17 March 1886.Hart′s Army list, 1903 After promotion to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 5 March 1896, he was in charge of a battery of the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link ...

(RHA) during 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 Sout ...

. He stayed in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

until after the end of this war, and in November 1902 left Port Natal on the SS ''Ortona'' with the O Battery RHA, bound for

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

. Rising steadily through the ranks, he was promoted to

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

in 1903, and

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in 1908.''Who Was Who'' In 1909 he was appointed to command the artillery in one of the regular divisions garrisoned in Ireland; whilst serving there, he was personally commended by the King for saving an artilleryman from being crushed by a cavalry parade in Dublin. In 1913, he was transferred to command the divisional artillery in the Wessex Division of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

First World War

At the outbreak of the

in August 1914, Fanshawe remained with the Wessex Division when it mobilised. The division was earmarked for service in India; however, before it sailed, Fanshawe was ordered to the Continent to join the British Expeditionary Force, where he became the

Commander, Royal Artillery {{Redirect, BGRA, colour format, RGBA color model Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) was a military appointment in Commonwealth infantry and armoured divisions in the 20th century. The CRA was the senior artillery officer in the division and commanded ...

for 1st Division. He succeeded N. D. Findlay, who had been killed by shellfire on 10 September at the Battle of the Marne. He remained with the division through the winter of 1914–1915. He was promoted to major-general and recalled home in mid-1915 to command the newly formed 31st Division of the

New Army The New Armies (Traditional Chinese: 新軍, Simplified Chinese: 新军; Pinyin: Xīnjūn, Manchu: ''Ice cooha''), more fully called the Newly Created Army ( ''Xinjian Lujun''Also translated as "Newly Established Army" ()), was the modernised ar ...

, but was transferred in August to take over the 11th (Northern) Division, which had been sent to

in the Mediterranean. He remained with the division through the evacuation of the Dardanelles until, shortly after it arrived in France in July 1916, he was promoted to command

. The corps had previously been commanded by his younger brother Hew, until he had been removed from command as a result of political manoeuvering following the failure of the

Actions of St Eloi Craters The Actions of St Eloi Craters from 27 March to 16 April 1916, were local operations in the Ypres Salient of Flanders, during the First World War by the German 4th Army and the British Second Army. Sint-Elooi (the French is commonly used in E ...

in late March 1916. V Corps was holding a position in the Ypres salient at the time Fanshawe took command, but in August it was transferred south, to support the

Somme Offensive The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

. In the final phase of the Somme fighting, at the

Battle of the Ancre The Battle of the Ancre was fought by the British Fifth Army ( Lieutenant-General Hubert Gough), against the German 1st Army (General Fritz von Below). The Reserve Army had been renamed the Fifth Army on 30 October. The battle was the la ...

in November, he commanded an attack which captured

Beaumont Hamel Beaumont-Hamel () is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. During the First World War, Beaumont-Hamel was close to the front line, near many attacks, especially during the Battle of the Somme, one of the larg ...

, one of the initial objectives of the offensive more than three months earlier. He was knighted the following year. He remained with the corps through 1917, where it fought at the

, and into 1918, where it began the year holding an exposed salient on the boundary between

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and Fifth Armies. It was heavily attacked in

Operation Michael Operation Michael was a major German military offensive during the First World War that began the German Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to ...

, the first phase of the German spring offensive of March 1918, and both it and the neighbouring

VII Corps 7th Corps, Seventh Corps, or VII Corps may refer to: * VII Corps (Grande Armée), a corps of the Imperial French army during the Napoleonic Wars * VII Corps (German Empire), a unit of the Imperial German Army prior to and during World War I * VII ...

were forced to retreat, leaving a gap in the British lines. The responsibility for this was a matter of historical dispute for some decades, but the response at the time was unambiguous; both Fanshawe and the commander of VII Corps,

Walter Congreve General Sir Walter Norris Congreve, (20 November 1862 – 28 February 1927), was a British Army officer in the Second Boer War and the First World War, and Governor of Malta from 1924 to 1927. He received the Victoria Cross, the highest award f ...

, were removed from command. In August 1918 he was appointed to command XXIII Corps, and shortly thereafter transferred to command the garrison on the

Firth of Forth The Firth of Forth () is the estuary, or firth, of several Scottish rivers including the River Forth. It meets the North Sea with Fife on the north coast and Lothian on the south. Name ''Firth'' is a cognate of ''fjord'', a Norse word meani ...

, a posting which he held until after the end of the war.

Retirement

He was formally confirmed in the permanent rank of lieutenant-general in 1919, and retired from the Army in 1923. He then served in the ceremonial position of colonel commandant of the

from 1923 to 1929, and of the

from 1930 to 1934.Dates from the ''Times'' obituary. ''Who Was Who'' gives 1923-1934 and 1930-1934 for these positions.

Notes

References

* "FANSHAWE, Lieut.-Gen. Sir Edward Arthur", in * Obituary in ''The Times'', 19 November 1952, p. 10 * * * , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanshawe, Edward 1859 births 1952 deaths British military personnel of the Second Anglo-Afghan War Military personnel from Oxfordshire British Army lieutenant generals British Army generals of World War I Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at Winchester College