Charles Douglas (General)

Charles Douglas as Colonel of Honor of the Gordon Highlanders, 1913

Sir Charles Whittingham Horsley Douglas GCB , ADC (born July 17, 1850 in Cape Town , † October 25, 1914 in London ) was an officer in the British Army , most recently General and Chief of the Imperial General Staff at the beginning of the First World War .

Life

Douglas was the son of William Douglas, of Lansdown House near Bath , and his wife Caroline, nee Hare, born and raised privately. At the age of 19 he got by buying a patent as Ensign in the 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot and in 1871 Lieutenant and 1876 adjutant in his regiment. In 1880 he fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War , in which he took part as captain in Frederick Roberts ' famous march from Kabul to Kandahar . After the battle of Kandahar he was mentioned in dispatches . A short time later, the First Boer War broke out, in which Douglas again served. He did not take part in the decisive battle on Majuba Hill , but wrote a detailed account of it from interviews with survivors. He then served with the rank of major until 1884 as an adjutant of the 2nd Gordon Highlanders.

In 1884/85 he took part in the Suakin expedition in Sudan against Osman Digna under Gerald Graham and then worked as Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General at the headquarters of the British Army in Egypt . He returned to England in 1886 and became adjutant of the 7th Middlesex (London Scottish) Rifle Volunteers in November . In 1890 he received the substantial rank of major and in 1893 was brigade major of the 1st Infantry Brigade in Aldershot . In 1895 he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General of the Aldershot Command there with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and three years later Assistant Adjutant-General with the rank of Colonel . In the same year, 1898, he became Queen Victoria's aide-de-camp and a substantial colonel.

In the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902, he initially served as Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of Redvers Bullers Natal Field Force . He later became Chief of Staff of the 1st Infantry Division under Lord Methuen . In early 1900 he was given the local rank of major-general and command of the 9th Infantry Brigade . After the besieged Mafeking was relieved in May 1900, he became the commandant of the garrison there. His rank of major-general was confirmed for excellent service in the field, and he was also mentioned twice in dispatches.

In 1901 Douglas was given command of the 1st Infantry Brigade in England and the 2nd Infantry Division the following year . In February 1904 he was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces , a high-ranking post in the British military leadership. In the course of the reforms suggested by Lord Esher , he also became a member of the newly formed Army Council . With the then Secretary of War Hugh Oakeley Arnold-Forster , he had repeated disputes over issues of army organization. He got on much better with Arnold-Forster's successor Richard Haldane , who headed the War Office from December 1905 . Last year he was promoted to lieutenant general . He remained in the post of Adjutant-General until 1909 when he became Commander-in-Chief of Southern Command . In 1910 he took part in the funeral procession for the late King Edward VII . In October of the same year he was promoted to full general. In 1911 he was awarded the GCB after he had been Knight Commander of the Bath Order since 1907 and was thus allowed to carry the title Sir . Douglas became Inspector-General of Home Forces in March 1912 and Honorary Colonel of the Gordon Highlanders in June of that year .

After John French resigned from the post of Chief of the Imperial General Staff in the spring of 1914 (as a result of the Curragh incident ), Douglas succeeded him and held this post until his death. He assisted Lord Kitchener , who had been appointed Secretary of War at the outbreak of World War I and had hitherto had little knowledge of army matters in the motherland, in those difficult days. He had little influence on the warfare in Belgium and France, which was in the hands of the French. In October 1914, the chronically overworked Douglas contracted a lung disease and died after a few days at the age of 64 in his London home in Eaton Square, Belgravia . He received a state funeral and was buried in London's Kensal Green Cemetery . His successor as chief of staff was James Murray .

family

In 1887 Douglas had married Ida de Courcy Gordon, daughter of George Tomline Gordon of Cuckney , Nottinghamshire. The couple had no children.

Web links

• General Sir Charles Whitingham Horsley Douglas, GCB, ADC (1850-1914) on douglashistory.co.uk

predecessor	Office	successor
Thomas Kelly-Kenny	Adjutant-General to the Forces 1904-1909	Ian Hamilton
Ian Hamilton	Commander-in-Chief of Southern Command 1909–1912	Horace Smith-Dorrien
John French	Inspector-General of the Home Forces 1912-1914	John French
John French	Chief of the Imperial General Staff 1914	James Murray