Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Henry Allan Roughton May (23 August 1863 – 10 April 1930) 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 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," fro ...

who served as Commanding Officer (1912 and 1920) of the

Artists Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles is a regiment of the Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, the regimen ...

Biography

May was educated at

Bloxham School Bloxham School, also called All Saints' School, is an Independent school (UK), independent co-educational day and boarding school of the public school (UK), British public school tradition, located in the village of Bloxham, three miles (5 ...

. He joined the Artists' Rifles in 1882, as a private but rose to the rank of Colonel. In 1914, when the call came, he was the command of the corps, which formed then the 28th Battalion London Regiment, and after being in command of troops at the Tower, he went over to France in October, 1914, just after the disastrous retreat from Mons, when General

Sir John French Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer. Born in Kent to ...

's army was denuded of officers. General French called on the Artists to replace the heavy casualties, and this, under Colonel May, was done, and done so well that for the greater part of the war period May was occupied in training officers for the Army. He also had other important duties at G.H.Q. in France, but, at the end of 1915, he was gassed and invalided home. On recovering from a severe illness he was appointed to the important post, which he held till the end of the War, of Commandant at Tidworth of the Southern Command School of Instruction for Infantry Officers, where over 14,000 Officers passed through his curriculum. He was succeeded in France by his Second-in-command, Lt. Col. Chatfeild-Clarke, who carried on until the summer of 1917. He was appointed a Military 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 1915.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Henry Allan Roughton People educated at Bloxham School Artists' Rifles officers Companions of the Order of the Bath 1863 births 1930 deaths Territorial Force officers Volunteer Force officers British Army personnel of World War I 19th-century British Army personnel Artists' Rifles soldiers