Field Marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, (13 March 1857 – 16 July 1932) was a senior British Army officer of the First World War. After commanding

V Corps 5th Corps, Fifth Corps, or V Corps may refer to: France * 5th Army Corps (France) * V Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * V Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French Army ...

at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, he took command of the Second Army in May 1915 and in June 1917 won an overwhelming victory over the German Army at the

Battle of Messines Battle of Messines may refer to: *Battle of Messines (1914) *Battle of Messines (1917) The Battle of Messines (7–14 June 1917) was an attack by the British Second Army (General Sir Herbert Plumer), on the Western Front, near the village of ...

, which started with the simultaneous explosion of a series of mines placed by the Royal Engineers' tunnelling companies beneath German lines, which created large craters and was described as the ''loudest explosion in human history''. He later served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and then as Governor of Malta before becoming High Commissioner of the

British Mandate for Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordan, both of which had been conceded by the Ottoman Empire following the end of World War I in 1918. The manda ...

in 1925 and retiring in 1928.

Military career

Born the son of Hall Plumer and Louisa Alice Plumer (née Turnley) and educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Plumer was commissioned as a lieutenant into the

65th Regiment of Foot The 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756 as the 2nd Battalion, 12th Regiment of Foot. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 84th (York and Lancaster) Regiment ...

on 11 September 1876. He joined his regiment in India and became adjutant of his battalion on 29 April 1879. Promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 29 May 1882, he accompanied his battalion to the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

in 1884 as part of the

Nile Expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–85), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan af ...

.Heathcote, p. 240 Plumer was present at the

battle of El Teb The First and Second Battles of El Teb (4 February 1884 and 29 February 1884) took place during the British Sudan Campaign where a force of Sudanese under Osman Digna won a victory over a 3,500 strong Egyptian force under the command of Gener ...

in February 1884 and the

battle of Tamai The Battle of Tamai (or Tamanieh) took place on 13 March 1884 between a British force under Sir Gerald Graham and a Mahdist Sudanese army led by Osman Digna. Despite his earlier victory at El Teb, Graham realised that Osman Digna's force was fa ...

in March 1884, and was

mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

.Heathcote, p. 241 He spent from 1886 to 1887 attending the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

, before being appointed Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General in Jersey on 7 May 1890. He was promoted to

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

on 22 January 1893 and posted to the 2nd Battalion the York and Lancaster Regiment before being appointed assistant military secretary to the General Officer Commanding Cape Colony in December 1895. He went to Southern Rhodesia in 1896 to disarm the local police force following the Jameson Raid and then later that year returned there to command the Matabele Relief Force during the Second Matabele War. He became deputy assistant adjutant-general at Aldershot with promotion to brevet

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 colone ...

on 8 May 1897. In 1899 Plumer returned to Southern Rhodesia where he raised a force of mounted infantry and, having been promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel on 17 October 1900, he led them at the Relief of Mafeking during the Second Boer War. He was promoted to colonel on 29 November 1900 and was then given command of a mixed force which captured General Christiaan de Wet's wagon train at Hamelfontein in February 1901. Plumer arrived back in the United Kingdom in April 1902, and two months later was received in audience by King Edward VII on his return. In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief in South Africa during the latter part of the war, wrote how Plumer had "invariable displayed military qualifications of a very high order. Few officers have rendered better service." He was promoted to major general for distinguished service in the field on 22 August 1902, and was appointed Commander of the 4th Brigade within 1st Army Corps on 1 October 1902. The following year he became General Officer Commanding 10th Division within IV Army Corps and General Officer Commanding Eastern District in December 1903. He became Quartermaster-General to the Forces in February 1904, General Officer Commanding 7th Division in April 1906 and General Officer Commanding

5th Division In military terms, 5th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions *5th Division (Australia) * 5th Division (People's Republic of China) *5th Division (Colombia) *Finnish 5th Division (Continuation War) *5th Light Cavalry Division (France) *5th Moto ...

within Irish Command in May 1907. Promoted to lieutenant general on 4 November 1908, he went on to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in November 1911.

First World War

Following the unexpected death of Sir James Grierson on his arrival in France in 1914, Plumer was considered for command of one of two Corps of the British Expeditionary Force alongside Douglas Haig: this position eventually went to

Horace Smith-Dorrien General Sir Horace Lockwood Smith-Dorrien, (26 May 1858 – 12 August 1930) was a British Army General. One of the few British survivors of the Battle of Isandlwana as a young officer, he also distinguished himself in the Second Boer War. Smith ...

. Plumer was sent to France in February 1915 and given command of

which he led at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915.Heathcote, p. 242 He took command of the Second Army in May 1915 and, having been promoted to full general on 11 June 1915, he won an overwhelming victory over the German Army at the

in June 1917. The battle started with the simultaneous explosion of a series of mines placed by the Royal Engineers' tunnelling companies beneath German lines. The detonation created large craters and was described as the ''loudest explosion in human history''. After the mines were fired, Plumer's soldiers left their trenches and advanced 3,000 yards. He won further victories at the battle of the Menin Road Ridge and the battle of Polygon Wood in September 1917 and the battle of Broodseinde in October 1917 advancing another 5,000 yards in the process. General Herbert Plumer

In November 1917 Plumer was given command of the British Expeditionary Force sent to the Italian Front after the disaster at Caporetto. Early in 1918, Plumer was sought by

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

for the position of Chief of the Imperial General Staff as a replacement for William Robertson: he declined the position. Plumer instead commanded the Second Army during the final stages of the war, during the German spring offensive and the Allied

Hundred Days Offensive The Hundred Days Offensive (8 August to 11 November 1918) was a series of massive Allies of World War I, Allied offensives that ended the First World War. Beginning with the Battle of Amiens (1918), Battle of Amiens (8–12 August) on the Wester ...

Later career

Plumer was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief the British Army of the Rhine in December 1918 and Governor of Malta in May 1919. He was promoted to

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...

on 31 July 1919, and was created Baron Plumer of Messines and of Bilton on 18 October 1919. In August 1925 he was appointed High Commissioner of the

.Official Gazette of the Government of Palestine, Extraordinary issue, 25 August 1925. He resisted Arab pressure to reverse commitments made by the British Government in the

Balfour Declaration The Balfour Declaration was a public statement issued by the British government in 1917 during the First World War announcing its support for the establishment of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, then an Ottoman regio ...

, and dealt firmly with both the Zionists and the Arab Nationalists.Heathcote, p. 243 On one occasion, an Arab delegation protested a proposal by Jewish battalions to install their regimental colours in the chief synagogues, saying they "wouldn't be responsible for the consequences". Plumer replied, 'That's all right, you're not asked to be responsible for the consequences. I'll be responsible." In Mandatory Palestine Plumer gained a reputation as being "genuinely even handed" and was one of the few British administrators who was consistently popular with both the Jewish community and the Arab community in that territory. Privately, he was sympathetic to the cause of establishing a homeland for the Jewish people; however, he tried his best to "be fair" to Arab concerns as well while he was High Commissioner there. On 24 July 1927 he conducted the

inauguration In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugu ...

ceremony for the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres in Belgium. Plumer was created

Viscount Plumer Viscount Plumer, of Messines and of Bilton in the County of York, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in ...

for his "long and distinguished public services" on 3 June 1929.

Death

Plumer died at his home in Knightsbridge in London on 16 July 1932 at the age of 75. His body was subsequently interred in Westminster Abbey.

Family

In July 1884 Plumer married Annie Constance Goss (1858–1941), daughter of George and Eleanor Goss; they had three daughters and one son.

Honours

British *

Knight Grand Cross 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 one ...

– 1 January 1918 (KCB – 29 June 1906; CB – 19 April 1901) * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George – 1 January 1916 * Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order – 14 July 1917 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire – 1924 * Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of St John – 23 June 1925 Foreign * Legion of Honour (France) – 14 December 1917 *

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

(Belgium) – 11 March 1918 *

with palm (France) – 11 March 1919 *

Distinguished Service Medal Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a high award of a nation. Examples include: *Distinguished Service Medal (Australia) (established 1991), awarded to personnel of the Australian Defence Force for distinguished leadership in action * Distinguishe ...

(United States) – 12 July 1919 * Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun (Japan) – 21 January 1921

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

National Portrait Gallery
, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Plumer, Herbert Onslow, 1st Viscount 1857 births 1932 deaths British field marshals Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Grand Cordons of the Order of the Rising Sun People from Kensington Mandatory Palestine British High Commissioners of Palestine Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British colonial army officers British Army generals of World War I Diplomatic peers People of the Second Matabele War Governors and Governors-General of Malta Burials at Westminster Abbey Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) People educated at Eton College Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Barons created by George V Viscounts created by George V Military personnel from London York and Lancaster Regiment officers