Major-General Sir Wilfrid Malleson (8 September 1866 – 24 January 1946) was a major-general in the British Indian Army who led a mission to

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

during the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

Life

Malleson born in

Baldersby Baldersby is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England, about west of Thirsk and north-east of Ripon on the A61. The parish includes the village of Baldersby St James, south east of the village of Balde ...

, Yorkshire. was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1886. In 1904 he transferred to the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

and accompanied Sir

Louis Dane Sir Louis William Dane (21 March 1856 – 22 February 1946) was an administrator during the time of the British Raj. Early life He was born on 21 March 1856 at Chichester, Sussex, the fifth son of Richard Martin Dane, an army staff surgeon, an ...

on his mission to

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, 1904–1905. He was posted to

British East Africa East Africa Protectorate (also known as British East Africa) was an area in the African Great Lakes occupying roughly the same terrain as present-day Kenya from the Indian Ocean inland to the border with Uganda in the west. Controlled by Bri ...

, where he was appointed Inspector General of Communications. He participated in the Battle of Salaita and the

Battle of Latema Nek The Battle of Latema Nek was a battle of the East African Campaign in World War I. Background After the Battle of Salaita, General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, commander of German forces in East Africa, reorganised the defences to the north of ...

. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in August 1916. He then led the British Military Mission to Turkestan between 16 July 1918 – 5 April 1919, aiming to block possible German-Turkish thrusts towards India and Afghanistan.. In August 1918, he dispatched a British Indian Army force consisting of a

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

detachment comprising 40 Punjabi troops and a British officer to resist the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

near

Meru Meru may refer to: Geography Kenya * Meru, Kenya, a city in Meru County, Kenya ** Meru County, created by the merger of *** Meru Central District *** Meru North District *** Meru South District * Meru National Park, a Kenyan wildlife park T ...

in what was the first direct confrontation between British and Russian troops since the

Crimea War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the d ...

. He led the

Malleson Mission The Malleson mission was a military action by a small autonomous force of British troops, led by General Wilfrid Malleson, operating against Bolshevik forces over large distances in Transcaspia (modern Turkmenistan) between 1918 and 1919. Backg ...

an effort to curtail German and Turkish influence in the area, and to assist the

Transcaspian Government The Transcaspian Government (1918 - July 1919) was a "Menshevik- Socialist Revolutionary" coalition set up by the Railway workers of the Trans-Caspian Railway in 1918. It was based at Ashgabat, Transcaspian Oblast. Origin Autonomous sentiments ...

against the Bolsheviks in the

. Malleson was forced to withdraw in April 1919 however. Later he participated in the

Third Anglo-Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War; fa, جنگ سوم افغان-انگلیس), also known as the Third Afghan War, the British-Afghan War of 1919, or in Afghanistan as the War of Independence, began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan inv ...

in 1919. He was involved in military intelligence, running a spy network from

Meshed Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...

in north-eastern Iran against the Russians during this period. For his services, Malleson was knighted as a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

(KCIE) on 1 January 1920. He retired from the Indian Army on 30 October 1920.

Personal aspects

In 1894, he married Ida Kathleen King, daughter of Frederick St Aubyn King.''India, Select Marriages, 1792–1948''. Their son Wilfred St. Aubyn Malleson was awarded the Victoria Cross. He died in

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the So ...

in 1946.

Notes

References

* Milton, Giles ''Russian Roulette: How British Spies Thwarted Lenin's Global Plot'', Sceptre, 2013. . * ''Historical Dictionary of Turkmenistan'', by Rafis Abazov, Scarecrow Press, 2005. * * ''On Secret Service East of Constantinople'', by

Peter Hopkirk Peter Stuart Hopkirk (15 December 1930 – 22 August 2014) was a British journalist, author and historian who wrote six books about the British Empire, Russia and Central Asia. Biography Peter Hopkirk was born in Nottingham, the son of Frank St ...

, John Murray 1994, p. 340. {{DEFAULTSORT:Malleson, Wilfrid 1866 births 1946 deaths Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War Royal Artillery officers Indian Army generals of World War I British military personnel of the Russian Civil War British Indian Army generals Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War People from the Borough of Harrogate Military personnel from Yorkshire

Life

Personal aspects

See also

Notes

References