Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick William Nicholas McCracken, (18 August 1859 – 8 August 1949) 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 who saw regimental service in Africa during the late nineteenth century, and later held senior command during 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 ...

. He commanded an infantry brigade in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) of 1914, was appointed to command

15th (Scottish) Division The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that served in the First World War. The 15th (Scottish) Division was formed from men volunteering for Kitchener's Army, and served from 1915 to 1918 on the West ...

in the New Armies from 1915 to 1917, and then briefly commanded XIII Corps on the Western Front before being posted to a home command in the United Kingdom.

Early career

Born in 1859, the youngest son of R. de Crez McCracken of Kent, he studied at Sandhurst and then took a commission as a second lieutenant in the

49th Regiment of Foot The 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1743. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princes ...

on 13 August 1879. He was promoted to

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 ...

the following year on 28 July 1880, and served 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 ...

of 1882 with his regiment, which had since become the 1st Battalion,

Royal Berkshire Regiment The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was created in 1881, as the Princess Charlotte of Wales's (Royal Berkshire Regiment), b ...

. After Egypt he was appointed the battalion adjutant, and promoted to captain on 15 December 1884. He saw service during the Mahdist War in 1885, at Tofrek, where he was mentioned in despatches and given a brevet promotion to major on 14 August 1885. Serving on the Egyptian frontier later in the year, he saw action at the Battle of Ginnis.''Who Was Who''.Hart′s Army list, 1903 He married Ann Liston Glover in 1887; the couple had a son and two daughters before Ann's death in 1923.Obituary in ''The Times''. In April 1892 he was seconded to the staff and appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General in Barbados. He received a full promotion to Major on 27 March 1897, and when his term on the staff expired in April that year he returned to his regiment. At the outbreak of 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 South ...

in late 1899, he fought in South Africa with the 1st Berkshires throughout 1900, and in 1901 took command of the 2nd Berkshires. In 1902 he commanded a garrison force of several battalions. For his services in the war, he was again mentioned in despatches and given a brevet-promotion 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 colo ...

on 29 November 1900. He was awarded 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, ty ...

(DSO), as well as the Queen's medal with three clasps, and the King's medal with two. After the end of the war in June 1902, McCracken and the rest of the 2nd battalion was sent to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, where they arrived on the SS ''Dominion'' in November 1902.

First World War

After the Boer War, McCracken received a full promotion to lieutenant-colonel in 1903, then a brevet promotion to colonel in 1905. He commanded a battalion of his regiment until 1907, when he was placed on half-pay. He held staff postings in India until 1911, when he was made a brigadier-general on the staff at

Irish Command Commander-in-Chief, Ireland, was title of the commander of the British forces in Ireland before 1922. Until the Act of Union in 1800, the position involved command of the distinct Irish Army of the Kingdom of Ireland. History Marshal of Ireland ...

. In 1912 he was given command of the 7th Infantry Brigade, with the temporary rank of brigadier-general, a position he was holding on the outbreak of the

. He commanded the 7th Brigade when it was sent to France in 1914 as part of 3rd Division. At the

Battle of Le Cateau The Battle of Le Cateau was fought on the Western Front during the First World War on 26 August 1914. The British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army had retreated after their defeats at the Battle of Charleroi (21–23 Aug ...

in August, McCracken was briefly disabled by an artillery shell on the 26th and was relieved by Colonel W. D. Bird, one of his battalion commanders. The 7th Brigade covered the retreat of II Corps, and after a personal recommendation to the corps commander by

Edmund Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, (23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936) was a senior British Army officer and Imperial Governor. He fought in the Second Boer War and also in the First World War, in which he led th ...

, who was commanding the Cavalry Division, McCracken was promoted to major-general in October, and appointed Inspector of Infantry. In 1915 he took command of

, a

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 ...

division, and led it through the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

, the Battle of the Somme, and the Battle of Arras. Whilst he had been praised for his resilience in command of 7th Brigade, reports on his command of the 15th Division were less favourable, with one observer describing him as "weak and lazy". These failings did not stop him being promoted to command XIII Corps in June 1917. He remained with the corps until March 1918, when he was sacked and sent home to take over

Scottish Command Scottish Command or Army Headquarters Scotland (from 1972) is a command of the British Army. History Early history Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793. The Scottish District was comman ...

.Robbins, pp. 65–6; ''Who Was Who'' During the war, he was mentioned in despatches a further seven times, and made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...

. He retired from the Army in 1922, and died in 1949, a few days before his ninetieth birthday.

Notes

References

*''

History of the Great War The ''History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Committee of Imperial Defence'' (abbreviated to ''History of the Great War'' or ''British Official History'') is a series of concerning the war effort of the Britis ...

: Military Operations, France and Belgium 1914'', by

J. E. Edmonds Brigadier-General Sir James Edward Edmonds (25 December 1861 – 2 August 1956) was an officer of the Royal Engineers in the late-Victorian era British Army who worked in the Intelligence Division, took part in the creation of the forerunner ...

. Macmillan & Co., London, 1922
Digitised copy
*"McCRACKEN, Lieut-General Sir Frederick William Nicholas". (2007). In ''Who Was Who''
Online edition
*Robbins, Simon (2005). ''British Generalship on the Western Front 1914–18: Defeat into Victory''. Routledge. *Obituary in ''The Times'', 9 August 1949, p. 7 * * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:McCracken, Frederick 1859 births 1949 deaths Military personnel from Kent British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army generals of World War I 49th Regiment of Foot officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Royal Berkshire Regiment officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst British Army lieutenant generals