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 ...

Edward Charles Ingouville-Williams (13 December 1861 – 22 July 1916) 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 of the First World War. He was killed in action while serving as commander of the 34th Division.

Early life and military career

Ingouville-Williams was born in

Purbrook Purbrook is a village and local government sub-division located in Hampshire, England. Purbrook is on the Rural–urban fringe, outskirts of Waterlooville just north of the Portsmouth city Boundary. Purbrook village is part of Purbrook Wards of th ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

, to General Sir

John William Collman Williams General Sir John William Collman Williams (29 August 1823 – 21 July 1911) was a Royal Marines officer who served as deputy adjutant-general Royal Marines. Military career The son of Dr. John Williams of the Royal Navy, Williams was commission ...

, KCB, JP, and Georgiana Isabella, the daughter of a wealthy landowner. 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 ...

in the

East Kent Regiment The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

(3rd Regiment of Foot; known as "the Buffs") on 23 April 1881. He participated in the

Nile Expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–85), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan af ...

(1884–1885) and served as

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

to the regiment from 1894 to 1898 after promotion 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 ...

. He was seconded to the Egyptian Army in 1898 and 1899, during which time he took part in the

Battle of Atbara The Battle of Atbara also known as the Battle of the Atbara River took place during the Second Sudan War. Anglo-Egyptian forces defeated 15,000 Sudanese rebels, called Mahdists or Dervishes, on the banks of the River Atbara. The battle proved t ...

and the

Battle of Khartoum The Siege of Khartoum (also known as the Battle of Khartoum or Fall of Khartoum) occurred from 13 March 1884 to 26 January 1885. Sudanese Mahdist forces captured the city of Khartoum from its Egyptian garrison, thereby gaining control over th ...

, for which he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. From 1899 to 1902, he served under

Sir Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

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 Sout ...

. He was present at the

Relief of Ladysmith When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported th ...

and was twice mentioned in despatches during the war. His brother George, a major in the

South Staffordshire Regiment The South Staffordshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for only 68 years. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot an ...

was killed in action during the conflict. By the end of the war, he had been awarded the

Queen's South Africa Medal The Queen's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to British and Colonial military personnel, and to civilians employed in an official capacity, who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Altogether twenty-six clasps wer ...

King's South Africa Medal The King's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to all British and Colonial military personnel who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, and who were in the theatre on or after 1 January 1902 and who had completed 18 m ...

, and 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, typ ...

, and had been promoted to local

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 colone ...

. He changed his name to Ingouville-Williams in 1902, apparently in memory of his mother, whose maiden name was Ingouville. In 1903, Ingouville-Williams was transferred to command 2nd Battalion, the

Worcestershire Regiment The Worcestershire Regiment was a line infantry regiment in the British Army, formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 29th (Worcestershire) Regiment of Foot and the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot. The regimen ...

, with whom he spent much of the following five years in India. After completing his tour as a battalion commander, he was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

in 1910 and went on to serve as Commandant of the School of Mounted Infantry and then to command the 16th Infantry Brigade from 1912 until the outbreak of the First World War.

First World War

Ingouville-Williams (now a

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 ...

) and his brigade were ordered to France on the outbreak of war, and he remained in command of the 16th until 1915, when he was promoted to major-general and sent to command the newly formed 34th Division, a

Kitchener's Army The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, as Kitchener's Mob, was an (initially) all-volunteer portion of the British Army formed in the United Kingdom from 1914 onwards following the outbreak of hostilities in the Fi ...

unit. After training, he took the 34th to the Western Front in January 1916 and led the division at the beginning of 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 ...

in summer 1916. He earned another four mentions in despatches during the war. On 22 July, Ingouville-Williams and his aide-de-camp personally inspected the ground on which the division was expected to fight the following week. On his way back, he was caught in an artillery barrage and was killed instantly after being struck by a piece of shrapnel. He was buried at Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery extension in France.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingouville-Williams, Edward Charles 1861 births 1916 deaths British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath British Army major generals British military personnel killed in the Battle of the Somme Worcestershire Regiment officers Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) officers People from Purbrook British Army generals of World War I Military personnel from Hampshire Burials in Hauts-de-France