Brigadier-General Norman Reginald McMahon (24 January 1866 – 11 November 1914) 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. He served with the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

in the

Burma expedition Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

of 1886–87 and in 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 Sout ...

of 1899–1902. During the latter campaign he served on the

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

as an aide-de-camp and then

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section direct ...

. McMahon was seriously wounded in action and was subsequently

mentioned in dispatches 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 ...

and 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, typ ...

. Once recovered he served as

Deputy Assistant Adjutant General An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer. France In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...

towards the end of the war. McMahon was appointed chief instructor of the army's

School of Musketry The Small Arms School Corps (SASC) is a small corps of the British Army, established in 1853 by Lord Hardinge. Its personnel provide advice and instruction to infantry weapon trainers throughout the army, in order to maintain proficiency in th ...

in 1905 and sought to improve the infantry's rate of fire. His request for additional machine guns to be allocated to each battalion was rebuffed and he instead worked on increasing the rate of fire from the riflemen. He implemented rapid-fire training on the

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield or Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the British Army's st ...

rifle with each soldier being expected to achieve 15 aimed shots within a minute. This later proved very effective during the opening stages of 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 ...

. McMahon was promoted to brigadier-general in the first months of the war and was due to take over command of the 10th Infantry Brigade shortly before he was killed by shell fire.

Early life and career

Norman Reginald McMahon was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 24 January 1866 and was the youngest son of General

Sir Thomas Westropp McMahon, 3rd Baronet General Sir Thomas Westropp McMahon, 3rd Baronet, (14 February 1813 – 23 January 1892) was a senior British Army officer. He was born the eldest son of Sir Thomas McMahon, 2nd Baronet, an Army officer who was Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay ...

. McMahon attended

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, C ...

and 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 infantry a ...

from which he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the

Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

on 23 May 1885. He served on the

of 1886–87 and was appointed

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

on 28 February 1890. He relinquished his appointment after two years and was promoted to captain on 27 November 1896. McMahon served during the

and on 9 October 1899 was seconded to the

for service as an aide-de-camp (ADC) to an infantry major-general. He was present at the 11 October

Relief of Ladysmith When the Second Boer War broke out on 11 October 1899, the Boers had a numeric superiority within Southern Africa. They quickly invaded the British territory and laid siege to Ladysmith, Kimberley and Mafeking. Britain meanwhile transported th ...

and the 15 December

Battle of Colenso The Battle of Colenso was the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War. It was fought between British and Boer forces from the independent South African Republic and Orange Free State in and around Colenso, Na ...

. McMahon held the position of ADC until appointed as

of the 6th Infantry Brigade on 29 April 1900. He served in operations in the

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...

and was seriously wounded in action during operations in the Tugela Heights. He was

for his service by General

Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forc ...

on 30 March 1900. McMahon was invalided due to his injury and as a result his appointment as brigade major ended on 6 May 1900. He was awarded the

on 29 November 1900 and was promoted to the rank of major on 28 November 1901. McMahon returned to service later in the war and held the appointment of

from February to June 1902.

School of musketry

McMahon was appointed to the staff again in June 1905 when he was appointed chief instructor at the army's

Hythe, Kent Hythe () is a coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the district of Folkestone and Hythe on the south coast of Kent. The word ''Hythe'' or ''Hithe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The town has m ...

. As chief instructor in 1907 he foresaw the future of warfare and recommended that each infantry battalion be allocated 6 machine guns. This recommendation was rejected and he instead instituted reforms of rifle training. Under McMahon all infantrymen were required to be able to fire 15 aimed shots in a minute, a practice that was enshrined in the ''Musketry Regulations of 1909''. This became known as the "mad minute" and proved highly effective during the August 1914

Battle of Mons A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

. it is said that German soldiers coming up against such rapid fire presumed that they were facing a battery of machine guns. McMahon relinquished his appointment as chief instructor on 9 June 1909 and thereafter served at the army headquarters until January 1910. He passed the staff officer's course at 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 ...

in December 1910 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel on 3 May 1911.

First World War

After the outbreak of the

McMahon served with the Royal Fusiliers on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers *Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a majo ...

and was mentioned in dispatches on 8 October 1914 by Field Marshal John French for his actions during the

First Battle of the Aisne The First Battle of the Aisne (french: 1re Bataille de l'Aisne) was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army (led by Alexander von Kluck) and the Second Army (led by Karl von Bülow) as they retreated aft ...

. On 23 October he was appointed a 1st grade staff officer and on 5 November was promoted to the

temporary rank Military ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibility in a m ...

of brigadier-general. It was intended that he command the 10th Infantry Brigade. At the request of General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien McMahon was retained in command of a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers until a suitable replacement could be found. A replacement was found and McMahon was to take command of his brigade on 12 November. On 11 November 1914 his battalion was fighting in the

First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres (french: Première Bataille des Flandres; german: Erste Flandernschlacht – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. Th ...

. They were holding a position east of Hooge and just south of the main

Ypres Ypres ( , ; nl, Ieper ; vls, Yper; german: Ypern ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality co ...

- Menin road. After a period of heavy shelling an attack by the 15th Battalion of the German Imperial Guard drove back McMahon's men, though a counter assault in conjunction with men of the

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Mar ...

and the

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot ...

recovered the position. McMahon was rallying a group of recently arrived battalion support staff when he was hit in the leg. Whilst kneeling to attend to his injury a shell burst nearby, killing him. McMahon has no known grave and is commemorated on the

Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing The Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial in Belgium for missing soldiers of World War I. It commemorates men from the Allied Powers who fought on the northern Western Front outside the Ypres ...

in Belgium. He was mentioned in dispatches again by French after his death on 14 January 1915 for service during the

Battle of Armentières The Battle of Armentières (also Battle of Lille) was fought by German and Franco-British forces in northern France in October 1914, during reciprocal attempts by the armies to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, which has been called ...

. At the time of his death he was a member of the

British Numismatic Society The British Numismatic Society (BNS) is an organisation for promoting and realization of the study of British coins and medals. It was founded in 1903. Publications Its principal publication is the ''British Numismatic Journal'', (published from ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Norman 1866 births 1914 deaths British Army generals of World War I British Army personnel of the Second Boer War People educated at Eton College Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British military personnel killed in World War I British expatriates in British Burma British Army brigadiers Military personnel from London British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Burmese War

Early life and career

School of musketry

First World War

See also

References