Frederick Hugh Gordon Cunliffe, (1861-1955) was a British

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

who was one of the main British commanders at the Kamerun campaign and earned a key victory at the Siege of Mora.

Biography

Early life and family

Frederick was born on 6 September 1861 as the son of Major General George Gordon Cunliffe and Pauline Lumsdaine. He married Ella Sophie Gaussen in 1895 and had Cecile Gertrude Cunliffe.

Military service

Cunliffe began his military service by studying at the

United Services College The United Services College was an English boys' public school for the sons of military officers, located at Westward Ho! near Bideford in North Devon. Almost all boys were boarders. The school was founded to prepare pupils for a career as offic ...

Westward Ho! Westward Ho! is a seaside village near Bideford in Devon, England. The A39 road provides access from the towns of Barnstaple, Bideford, and Bude. It lies at the south end of Northam Burrows and faces westward into Bideford Bay, opposite Saunto ...

and entered service initially on the 1st Warwickshire Militia before serving in the

9th Queen's Royal Lancers The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but w ...

in 1887. His first instance of military combat was in the

Hazara Expedition of 1891 The Hazara Expedition of 1888, also known as the Black Mountain Expedition or the First Hazara Expedition, was a military campaign by the British against the tribes of Kala Dhaka (then known as the Black Mountains of Hazara) in the Hazara region ...

and like all members of the expedition, gained the India General Service Medal, Clasp Hazara 1891. He later also participated in the

Chitral Expedition The Chitral Expedition (Urdu:چترال فوجی مہم) was a military expedition in 1895 sent by the British authorities to relieve the fort at Chitral, which was under siege after a local coup following the death of the old ruler. An interv ...

and 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 ...

in dispatches.

World War I

When

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 ...

broke out, Cunliffe was Commandant of the

Nigeria Regiment The Nigeria Regiment, Royal West African Frontier Force, was formed by the amalgamation of the Northern Nigeria Regiment and the Southern Nigeria Regiment on 1 January 1914. At that time, the regiment consisted of five battalions: *1st Battalio ...

and was assigned to the Kamerun campaign and around 1915, in order to take the German fortresses at Garua, he commenced the

Second Battle of Garua The Second Battle of Garua took place from 31 May to 10 June 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of the First World War in Garua, German Kamerun. The battle was between a combined French and British force and defending German garrison and resulte ...

which ended in a British victory and pushed further to give pressure to Central Kamerun and would again, engage the Germans at the

Battle of Ngaundere The Battle of Ngaundere or Battle of Ngaoundéré was a small engagement fought between German and British forces on 29 June 1915 during the Kamerun campaign of World War I. It resulted in a German defeat and British occupation of the town. Backg ...

which also ended in a British victory. Later on, he was the prime British commander on the later half of the Siege of Mora, arriving on 23 August to reinforce the siege. Due to his strong efforts in defeating the Germans, managed to make Captain

Ernst von Raben Ernst Klaus Iwan Christian Friedrich Alfred von Raben was a German Major who had served as a commander of the Schutztruppe before surrendering at the Siege of Mora. Origin Ernst von Raben was the son of Karl von Raben, a Landwehr major in the di ...

surrender with the terms of offering Raben a safe passage back home along with providing him £2000 to pay his Askaris. Due to his victory at Mora, Cunliffe received the

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

in 1916. Cunliffe was then assigned as Brigadier of the HQ unit from 1917 to 1919. After the end of the war, he was ''Commandeur'' of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

and the Officer of the

Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the wo ...

Later years

Cunliffe died on 13 June 1955 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

aged 93.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunliffe, Frederick Hugh 1861 births 1955 deaths British Army brigadiers British Army generals of World War I British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Legion of Honour