Major General Sir John Raynsford Longley (7 March 1867 – 13 February 1953) was a British Army officer who reached high command during World War I.

Military career

Educated at Cheltenham College,Major General Sir John Raynsford Longley KCMG CB 1920–39
Queen's Royal Surreys website Longley was commissioned into the

East Surrey Regiment The East Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, the 70th ...

in 1887 and served in South Africa in 1902, towards the end of the Second Boer War. In 1911 he was appointed

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of 1st East Surreys and went to France in August 1914 at the start of World War I, fighting in the battles of

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

, Le Cateau,

the Marne The First Battle of the Marne was a battle of the First World War fought from 5 to 12 September 1914. It was fought in a collection of skirmishes around the Marne River Valley. It resulted in an Entente victory against the German armies in the ...

, the Aisne, La Bassée and

Armentières Armentières (; vls, Armentiers) is a commune in the Nord department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is part of the Métropole Européenne de Lille. The motto of the town is ''Pauvre mais fière'' (Poor but proud). Geogra ...

. In early 1915 he was appointed Commander of 82nd Infantry Brigade and in December 1915, with the rank of Major General, he became the General Officer Commanding

10th (Irish) Division The 10th (Irish) Division, was one of the first of Kitchener's New Army K1 Army Group divisions (formed from Kitchener's 'first hundred thousand' new volunteers), authorized on 21 August 1914, after the outbreak of the Great War. It included b ...

. He retained command of this division until 1919, serving in Salonika, before moving to Egypt in September 1917 where the division was part of XX Corps in its advance into Palestine. In 1919 Longley became General Officer Commanding

44th (Home Counties) Division The Home Counties Division was an infantry division of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. ...

before retiring in 1923. From 1920 to 1939 Longley held the colonelcy of the

. Recalled at the start of the Second World War in 1939, he was re-employed as a Brigadier in the Dover Garrison. He died on 13 February 1953. The East Surrey Regimental chapel in All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, has a memorial plaque to Longley and a stained glass window to the memory of both Longley and his son, killed in 1916 at the

Battle of Jutland The Battle of Jutland (german: Skagerrakschlacht, the Battle of the Skagerrak) was a naval battle fought between Britain's Royal Navy Grand Fleet, under Admiral John Jellicoe, 1st Earl Jellicoe, Sir John Jellicoe, and the Imperial German Navy ...

.Memorials within the Chapels
Queen's Royal Surreys website

Honours and awards

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Longley, John 1867 births 1953 deaths British Army generals of World War I East Surrey Regiment officers Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Order of the Bath British Army personnel of the Second Boer War People educated at Cheltenham College Commanders of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus British Army major generals British Army brigadiers of World War II