Alexander Hamilton-Gordon (General, 1859)

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Portrait by Francis Dodd , 1917

Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon KCB (born July 6, 1859 , † February 13, 1939 ) was a British officer in the British Army , most recently Lieutenant-General .

Life

Hamilton-Gordon was born the son of General Alexander Hamilton-Gordon of the same name and grandson of former Prime Minister George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen . He was trained at Winchester College and inducted into the Royal Artillery in 1880 . In the same year he was used in the Second Anglo-Afghan War . He also served in the Second Boer War at Ladysmith, Spion Kop , Vaal Kranz and Tugela Heights. In 1901 he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for Intelligence in South Africa. On his return to England he became a Major Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General in Aldershot and attended Staff College .

In 1910 he was appointed Director of Military Operations in British India , where he served until 1914. After the outbreak of World War I he became General Officer Commanding of the Aldershot Command. In 1916 he was given command of the IX Corps, which had recently been transferred from Gallipoli to France, with which he was deployed in Herbert Plumer's 2nd Army in the battles of Messines and Passchendaele . In April 1918, the corps took part in the Fourth Battle of Flanders , in which the land gains made in 1917 were lost again. Then Hamilton-Gordons Corps was transferred to the front of the French 6th Army of General Denis Auguste Duchêne at the Chemin des Dames . It was hit here at the end of May by the German Aisne-Marne offensive . Then it came to the British 4th Army under Henry Rawlinson . Rawlinson was not very convinced of Hamilton-Gordon's abilities and finally succeeded in being replaced by Walter Braithwaite , which took place in mid-September.

Hamilton-Gordon returned to England and became Colonel-Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1919 before retiring from service in 1920. He was Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and Knight of the Legion of Honor , he was also awarded the Belgian Order of the Crown and the Belgian Croix de Guerre.

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personal data
SURNAME Hamilton-Gordon, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British officer in the British Army, most recently Lieutenant-General
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1859
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1939