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 ...

Sir John Frederick Maurice (24 May 1841 – 12 January 1912) was a senior

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 An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

, chiefly remembered for his military writings.

Family and early life

Maurice was born in Southwark, London in 1841, the eldest son of Rev.

Frederick Denison Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since World War II, interest in Maurice has exp ...

, an Anglican priest, theologian and author, by his first wife, Anna Eleanor Barton, a daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Barton. He published several volumes on his father's life in 1884. Maurice was educated at the Royal India Military College, Addiscombe, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned into 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 1861.

Career

Maurice served as private secretary to Sir Garnet Wolseley in the Ashanti Campaign of 1873–1874; in the

Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following the passing of the British North America Act of 1867 forming a federation in Canada, Lord Carnarvon thought that a similar political effort, coup ...

in 1880; was deputy assistant adjutant general of the Egyptian expedition in 1882; and was

brevetted In many of the world's military establishments, a brevet ( or ) was a warrant giving a commissioned officer a higher rank title as a reward for gallantry or meritorious conduct but may not confer the authority, precedence, or pay of real rank. ...

colonel in 1885. In 1885–1892 he was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

of military history at the Staff College, Camberley, and in 1895 was promoted to major general. Later in his career he was commander of the

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...

District until September 1902. In 1905, Maurice was part of a team which went to Berlin to negotiate with the Germans on the problems of the Navy estimates and the escalating threat posed to the Empire. In January 1906, news was leaked to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' that implicated him in the leaking of war material purchases, which he had discussed. Sir

Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. He served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1 ...

, the prime minister, complained to Sir Edward Grey, the foreign secretary, of "an outrageous interview with Genl. Sir F. Maurice in a French paper, describing all that wd. happen if Germany & France went to war; how we of course should join France". Later in the same parliament British government policy evolved around Grey's adherence to the ''

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial de ...

'' and the British willingness to defend the neutrality of the Low Countries.John Wilson, pp. 528–9; Owen, p. 86.

Personal life

In Dublin in 1869, Maurice married Anne Frances "Annie" FitzGerald, the daughter of Richard Augustine FitzGerald. They had a large family of at least 11 children. His eldest son was Sir Frederick Maurice (1871–1951). His second daughter Annie married

John Macmillan John Victor Macmillan OBE DD (1877–1956) was the fifth Bishop of Dover in the modern era who was later translated to Guildford. Born into a publishing family (he was an uncle of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan), he was educated at Eton ...

, Bishop of Guildford. Another daughter, Cosette, married the Oxford military historian,

C.T. Atkinson Christopher Thomas Atkinson (born on 6 September 1874 - died 18 February 1964) was the preeminent tutor for British military history at the University of Oxford in the first half of the twentieth century. Early life, education, and family Atkinso ...

Writings

Maurice's reputation depends chiefly on his military writings, which include: *''Hostilities without Declaration of War'' (1883) *''Popular History of Ashanti Campaign'' (1874) *A life of his father,

John Frederick Denison Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (1805–1872), known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War, interest in Maurice has expanded."Fre ...

(1884) *''The Balance of Military Power in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

'' (1888) *''War'' (1891) *''National Defenses'' (1897) *''The Franco-German War, 1870–1871'' (1900) *''Diary of Sir John Moore'' (1904) *''History of the War in South Africa'', an official account (four volumes, 1906–1910)

References

External links