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 ...

Fitzgerald Wintour (1860—1949) was a British military officer who served in the

Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Quee ...

and the

Royal Norfolk Regiment The Royal Norfolk Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army until 1959. Its predecessor regiment was raised in 1685 as Henry Cornwall's Regiment of Foot. In 1751, it was numbered like most other British Army regiments and named ...

. Wintour was commissioned in the

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 ...

in 1880 and fought in the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt (1882), also known as Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

, the

Mahdist War The Mahdist War ( ar, الثورة المهدية, ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese of the religious leader Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam (the "Guided On ...

, the

Tochi Expedition The Tochi Expedition was a punitive visit by Anglo-Indian troops to the Tochi Valley, Waziristan Waziristan (Pashto and ur, , "land of the Wazir") is a mountainous region covering the former FATA agencies of North Waziristan and South Waziri ...

, 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 ...

, and in

World War I 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 ...

. He was made 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 ...

and a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for his military service. Wintour was the father of newspaper editor

Charles Wintour Charles Vere Wintour (18 May 1917 – 4 November 1999) was a British newspaper editor, the father of ''Vogue'' magazine editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, and of the diplomatic editor of ''The Guardian'' newspaper, Patrick Wintour. After a life in m ...

and of

Cordelia James, Baroness James of Rusholme Cordelia Mary James, Baroness James of Rusholme (née Wintour; 30 November 1912 – 12 March 2007) was a British teacher and judicial officer. She served as a justice of the peace and as chairwoman on the report of the Howard League for Penal R ...

. He was the grandfather of Dame Anna Wintour and

Patrick Wintour Patrick Wintour (born 1 November 1954) is a British journalist and the diplomatic editor of ''The Guardian''. He was the political editor of ''The Guardian'' from 2006 to 2015 and was formerly the newspaper's chief political correspondent for t ...

Early life and family

Fitzgerald Wintour was born in 1860 to Rev. Fitzgerald Wintour and Isabel Milnes Gaskell. He was the grandson of Mary Wynn Williams-Wynn, the daughter of Charles Williams-Wynn, and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician

James Milnes Gaskell James Milnes Gaskell (19 October 1810 – 5 February 1873) was a British Conservative politician. James Milnes-Gaskell was the only child of Benjamin Gaskell (1781–1856) of Thornes House, Wakefield, West Yorkshire and Clifton Hall, Lancashire. ...

of Thornes House,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and of

Wenlock Abbey Wenlock Priory, or St Milburga's Priory, is a ruined 12th-century monastery, located in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, at . Roger de Montgomery re-founded the Priory as a Cluniac house between 1079 and 1082, on the site of an earlier 7th-century mon ...

Much Wenlock Much Wenlock is a market town and parish in Shropshire, England, situated on the A458 road between Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth. Nearby, to the northeast, is the Ironbridge Gorge, and the new town of Telford. The civil parish includes the villag ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

. His maternal great-grandfather was

Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (23 September 1749 – 24 July 1789) was a Welsh landowner, politician and patron of the arts. The Williams-Wynn baronets had been begun in 1688 by the politician Sir William Williams, 1st Baronet, but had ...

and his great-great grandfather was British prime minister

George Grenville George Grenville (14 October 1712 – 13 November 1770) was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an ...

. Wintour was the nephew of

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician

Charles Milnes Gaskell Charles George Milnes Gaskell PC (23 January 1842 – 9 January 1919) was an English lawyer and Liberal Party politician. Milnes Gaskell was born in London, the son of James Milnes Gaskell M.P., of Thornes House, Wakefield, Yorkshire, and Wenloc ...

Military career

Wintour was commissioned in the

on 11 August 1880. He was Adjutant of the 1st Battalion Royal West Kent from 1884 to 1889 and, in 1891, passed staff college at

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

. In 1882, he fought in the

. From 1884 to 1886, Wintour served in the

during the

, and was promoted to the rank of captain in 1887. In 1897, Wintour was sent to the North Western Frontier Province as part of the

. In 1889, he went to

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 ...

to fight in the

, and was promoted to the rank of major in 1900. He transferred to the

in 1903 and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1904. He was made a colonel in 1908. Wintour was made a

during the 1910 Birthday Honours. During

, Wintour commanded a brigade, the Administration Scottish Command, in France from 1914 to 1915. Wintour was given command of the 84th Brigade, 28th Division on 25 December 1914. He was relieved of his command on 23 February 1915 after the brigade lost a hundred yards of trench during a raid by the

Imperial German Army The Imperial German Army (1871–1919), officially referred to as the German Army (german: Deutsches Heer), was the unified ground and air force of the German Empire. It was established in 1871 with the political unification of Germany under the l ...

. Major-General Sir Edward Bulfin of the GOC 28th Division, visited Wintour's headquarters and told him that he was incapable of commanding a brigade in the field. Wintour was then sent to Casualty Clearing Station No.3, where he was diagnosed with

neurasthenia Neurasthenia (from the Ancient Greek νεῦρον ''neuron'' "nerve" and ἀσθενής ''asthenés'' "weak") is a term that was first used at least as early as 1829 for a mechanical weakness of the nerves and became a major diagnosis in North A ...

and sent home. Wintour returned to the Western Front on 30 June 1915, serving as Deputy Assistant and Quartermaster General, until 9 November 1915. He retired from the army in 1918. He was made a

in the

1919 New Year Honours The 1919 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were published in ''The London Gazette'' and ''The Times'' in Jan ...

. Photocopies of memoirs from Wintour's time in service, including an account of the Tochi Valley expedition in 1897 and a complaint relating to conditions in the trenches on the Western Front of

from 1915, are housed in the

Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives (LHCMA) at King's College London was set up in 1964. The Centre holds the private papers of over 700 senior British defence personnel who held office since 1900. Individual collections range in size f ...

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. The documents were donated by his family in 1990.

Personal life

Wintour's first wife died in 1904. On 6 January 1912, he married a second time to Alice Jane Blanche Foster, sister of Sir Augustus Vere Foster, 4th Baronet, in

Epping, Essex Epping is a market town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of the County of Essex, England. The town is northeast from the centre of London, is surrounded by the northern end of Epping Forest, and on a ridge of land between the Rive ...

. His wife was the great-granddaughter of the novelist Lady Elizabeth Foster (later the Duchess of Devonshire) and the Irish politician

John Thomas Foster John Thomas Foster (1747 – 10 October 1796), of Dunleer, was an Irish politician. He was the son of Rev Thomas Foster, Rector of Dunleer and Dorothy née Burgh.Burke's Peerage (See Mssereene and Ferrard) Foster was elected member to the Irish ...

and the great-great-granddaughter of

Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, (1 August 1730 – 8 July 1803), was an 18th-century Anglican prelate. Elected Bishop of Cloyne in 1767 and translated to the see of Derry in 1768, Hervey served as Lord Bishop of Derry unti ...

, who served as the Anglican

Bishop of Derry The Bishop of Derry is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the monastic settlement originally founded at Daire Calgach and later known as Daire Colm Cille, Anglicised as Derry. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a ...

. Wintour and Foster had two children, Cordelia Mary Wintour (later Baroness James of Rusholme) and Charles Vere Wintour CBE. He served as the witness at his son's wedding. Wintour died in 1949. He is the grandfather of Dame Anna Wintour and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wintour, Fitzgerald 1860 births 1949 deaths Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Quartermasters Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment officers Royal Norfolk Regiment officers

Fitzgerald The FitzGerald/FitzMaurice Dynasty is a noble and aristocratic dynasty of Cambro-Norman, Anglo-Norman and later Hiberno-Norman origin. They have been peers of Ireland since at least the 13th century, and are described in the Annals of the ...

British Army generals of World War I