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 ...

George Handcock Thesiger (6 October 1868 – 27 September 1915) was a senior officer 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 ...

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 ...

who was killed in action during 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 ...

by German shellfire. His career had encompassed military service in

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 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and had been rewarded with membership in two chivalric orders.

Early career

Thesiger was born in October 1868 into the Thesiger family, the son of Lieutenant General Charles Wemyss Thesiger and Charlotte Elizabeth Handcock. He was the middle of three children, with one older sister, Ethel Mary, and one younger brother, Gerald. He was the grandson of the politician

Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford Frederic Thesiger, 1st Baron Chelmsford, PC, QC, FRS (25 April 1794 – 5 October 1878) was a British jurist and Conservative politician. He was twice Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Early life Born in London, Thesiger was the third ...

and nephew of Major-General Frederic Thesiger and the judge

Alfred Henry Thesiger Alfred Henry Thesiger PC QC (15 July 1838 – 20 October 1880), styled The Hon. Alfred Thesiger from 1858 to 1877 and The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Thesiger from 1877, was a British lawyer and judge. Early life Thesiger was the third son of Lord Chan ...

. Thesiger was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

before attending the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

for training as an infantry officer.P.106–107, ''Bloody Red Tabs'', Davies & Maddocks Aged 22, Thesiger was Gazetted into the Rifle Brigade as a second lieutenant on 19 March 1890, and served with his unit in England until 1898, when the regiment was dispatched to Egypt. During his service in England 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 ...

on 10 February 1892, and to captain on 26 July 1897.Hart′s army list, 1903 In Egypt, the Rifle Brigade served on the Nile expedition under

Horatio Kitchener Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, (; 24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was a senior British Army officer and colonial administrator. Kitchener came to prominence for his imperial campaigns, his scorched earth policy against the Boers, ...

during the Mahdist War and was present at the

Battle of Omdurman The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief ( sirdar) major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and a Sudanese army of the ...

which decided the campaign. Thesiger received a

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

appointment as major on 16 November 1898 for his service. The Rifle Brigade was then briefly stationed in

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

during operations to maintain peace between Turkish and Greek populations on the island. In October 1899, Thesiger and the second battalion were sent for service in South Africa in the aftermath of 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 ...

. There Thesiger saw action and was badly wounded during the battle at Wagon Hill during the

Siege of Ladysmith The siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. Background As war with the Boer republics appeared likely in June 1899, the War Offic ...

on 6 January 1900. He was mentioned in dispatches for his conduct during the engagement, and received a brevet appointment as

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 ...

in the South African honours list on 29 November 1900. Evacuated to Britain to recover from his wounds, Thesiger attended the

Staff College Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For e ...

, from which he graduated in late 1902. On 7 May 1902 he was appointed a deputy-assistant adjutant-general for Musketry, and until 1906 was in charge of musketry practice on Salisbury Plain, for the 2nd Army Corps. From there he moved to

to work as Assistant Military Secretary to the GOC in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

until 1909. From there he was assigned to colonial service as the Inspector General of the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within ...

and in 1913 was dispatched to India as a lieutenant colonel to command the 4th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade. In 1913 in reward for his distinguished service he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, and the following year was also made a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

. In 1902, Thesiger married Frances Fremantle, daughter of General Fitzroy William Fremantle, and the couple had two children, daughter Oona Thesiger (later Buckley) and son Gerald Thesiger, who became a notable High Court Judge and minor politician.

First World War

At the outbreak of the First World War, Thesiger and his men were still in India and so did not arrive in Europe until December 1914 when the campaign in France was already well advanced. In May 1915 he was promoted to (temporary) Brigadier-General and given command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade serving in the trenches during the spring of 1915, where he was again mentioned in dispatches. On 27 August 1915, due to the shortage of senior officers, Thesiger was again promoted to (temporary)

and placed in charge of the 33rd Division, one of the new Kitchener Divisions. He was only in this position for just over a week when on 8 September 1915, he was again transferred to the

9th (Scottish) Division The 9th (Scottish) Division, was an infantry division of the British Army during the First World War, one of the Kitchener's Army divisions raised from volunteers by Lord Kitchener to serve on the Western Front during the First World War. A ...

, another new division which he would command during the opening of 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 ...

. Two days after the battle opened, Thesiger's division was suffering heavy casualties and reports were reaching divisional headquarters that the 73rd Infantry Brigade was on the verge of breaking. Thesiger immediately departed for the front line to investigate the situation with his divisional staff and was touring a trench at Fosse 8 opposite the

Hohenzollern Redoubt The Hohenzollern Redoubt () was a strongpoint of the German 6th Army on the Western Front during the First World War, at Auchy-les-Mines near Loos-en-Gohelle in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France. Named after the House of Hohenzollern, ...

when the German artillery opened fire on the British positions. One of the first shells fired exploded directly in the trench occupied by the 26th Brigade where the party was sheltering, instantly killing Major General Thesiger and his aides Major Le Mottee and Lieutenant Burney. None of their bodies were removed from the battlefield as fighting continued for another day and consequently only Burney's remains were recovered some time later. General Thesiger's name is amongst the 20,000 recorded on the Loos Memorial to the missing.

Notes

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thesiger, George Handcock 1868 births 1915 deaths Military personnel from London British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army generals of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst King's African Rifles officers People educated at Eton College Rifle Brigade officers

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley