David Campbell (officer)

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Sir David Graham Muschet "Soarer" Campbell GCB (born January 28, 1869 , † March 12, 1936 in London ) was a British officer and amateur athlete. Campbell participated in the Boer War and the First World War in part. As a general, he campaigned for the reorganization and increased mechanization of the British armed forces. He took over the post of governor of Malta at a time of political turmoil on the island. He became known to the general public as a successful obstacle rider, winning the Grand National in 1896 .

Beginning of the military career and sporting success

Graham Muschet Campbell was born January 28, 1869 to Major H. Wooton Campbell, Cameron Highlanders . He received his education at Clifton College in Clifton near Bristol . Already during his school days he was noticed as a good athlete. At that time he was particularly dedicated to cricket . He also emerged as an athlete during his further training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst . On March 15, 1889, he joined the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers , a cavalry regiment of the British Army , as a second lieutenant . At the time, service as an officer in the cavalry was reserved for wealthy men. The annual income of a junior officer was about £ 95 , while the expenses of the befitting and expected lifestyle were about £ 500 a year. In addition, there was an amount in the same order of magnitude for the procurement and maintenance of the horses, uniform and personal equipment. In 1890 the British cavalry was reorganized. The regiments were enlarged and new equipment introduced. Campbell moved to Ireland with his regiment in 1890 . On December 9, 1890, Campbell was made a lieutenant . In August 1894 the regiment moved back to Aldershot . The following years the regiment was not involved in military conflicts, so that Campbell could devote himself to his sporting activities. He started a career as an amateur jockey . On March 9, 1894, he won the Grand Military Meeting at Sandown Park, winning his horse The Soarer on a coin toss. In the same year Campbell won the Middlesex Steeplechase, the Uxbridge Handicap Steeplechase Plate and "the Hampton Steeplechase Handicap", in other races he was able to occupy top places.

The following year began with little success for him at first, after he only finished fourth at the Grand Military Gold Cup, he could not qualify for the Grand Military Handicap Steeplechase. On March 30th, however, he was able to win the Champion Steeplechase at the Liverpool Spring Meeting in Aintree. Also in 1895 he won both the Irish National Hunt Cup and the Irish Grand Military in one day.

In 1896 the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers were relocated to South Africa , and two years later, in 1898, to India . Campbell was released from duty for extended periods of time to devote himself to his sporting activities. In addition to equestrian sports, he still played cricket and polo . 1896 was the most successful year in Campbell's sporting career, in addition to a few smaller races in which he participated at the beginning of the year, he was able to win the Grand National on March 27, 1896 . This race is the premier horse obstacle race in the UK. Campbell won the Grand National on The Soarer , despite having sold the horse to William Walker , a British businessman and horse breeder, a few weeks earlier . Having achieved much of his success on The Soarer , the horse's name became his personal nickname during this period. In the same year he was able to repeat his success at the Irish National Hunt. In polo, his team won both the Subalterns and the Inter-Regimental tournaments , a success that could not be repeated by any other athlete until his death. Campbell moved with his regiment in August 1896 via Durban to Pietermaritzburg and Ladysmith . Campbell was on leave.

In 1897 he tried to repeat his success at the Grand National, but fell in the second round at Becher's Brook, with his horse breaking his collarbone . Not least because of the numerous falls and the resulting severe injuries to the horses, the Grand National was and is in the massive criticism of animal rights activists. In the same year he was able to win the Grand Military. Although Campbell remained active in sports and equestrian sport until the end of his life, he could not repeat his great successes later.

Second Boer War

On May 3, 1899, he was promoted to captain . In June of that year he married Janet Mary Aikman in Kensington . The marriage resulted in the son Victor David Graham Campbell, who also embarked on a military career and ended his service as major-general . In 1899 the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers were relocated back to South Africa due to the outbreak of the Second Boer War . Campbell, who was still on leave, was called back to his regiment.

During the war Campbell did not excel through extraordinary actions, but became regimental adjutant on September 6, 1902 after the end of the war and was promoted to brevet major. A certification grade was only held temporarily, and the owner usually did not receive the full salary. On March 16, 1904, Campbell was finally promoted to a regular major . On March 15, 1912, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . With the promotion, he took command of the regiment. His military career had been rather mediocre up to then; by the time he was promoted to lieutenant colonel, he had already reached the age of forty-third.

First World War

At the beginning of World War I , Campbell led the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. Under his leadership was the regiment, reinforced by two squadrons of the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards , at the battle of Mons on August 24, 1914. The regiment, reinforced by parts of the 1st Guard Dragoons, on September 6, 1914, was also under his leadership at Moncel involved in the last major battle in which cavalry units met. Campbell was wounded several times in this battle, including a lance on the shoulder. He was one of the last British soldiers to be wounded by this ancient weapon. After his recovery, Campbell was given command of the 6th Cavalry Brigade in November 1914 . In May 1916 he was given command of the 21st Division , having been promoted to Colonel in March of that year . He led this division until the end of the war. He was one of the few officers in the British Army who exercised such command over such a long period. Campbell's leadership style, especially his personnel decisions, were not without controversy, so shortly after taking over his command he replaced two of his brigade commanders. This decision was criticized as insensitive, but at the same time Campbell promoted younger, talented officers. Campbell was now promoted rapidly and reached the rank of major-general by the end of the war . After the end of the war he took over the 33rd Division and demobilized it.

post war period

In 1920 Campbell was appointed General Officer Commanding for the Baluchistan District in India, after he had been knighted of the Order of the Bath the previous year, 1919 . In 1924 he was promoted to lieutenant-general , two years later, in 1926, he was made military secretary . The Military Secretary has political responsibility for the management of the British Army. In this position Campbell tried to push through changes in the promotion system. Achievement and ability should weigh more heavily than seniority. However, these efforts met with strong resistance within the army, so that Campbell was recalled from this post a year later. In 1927 he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for the Aldershot Command . These home commands formed the basis for the establishment of the British Expeditionary Force . During this command Campbell campaigned for increased mechanization of the British Army. However, his efforts were hampered by financial restrictions and resistance from conservative circles within the British Army. In 1930 he was promoted to general . In the same year he also became aide-de-camp general to the British King. Introduced in 1910, this aide-de-camp was a military honorary title for senior British generals. His duties were of a ceremonial nature, a military or advisory function was not associated with this office.

1931 Campbell took over the post of governor and commander in chief (Governor and Commander-in-Chief) of Malta . During his tenure there were clashes between pro-Italian and pro-British groups of the Maltese population. Due to the political unrest, Campbell was forced to dissolve Parliament and the Senate and put the island under his direct leadership. Even so, he was considered a popular governor who was popular with the local population. In 1935 he became Knight Grand Cross of the Bath Order . Badly damaged in health, he had to undergo an urgent operation in England that same year. He returned to Malta, but left the post again in 1936 for health reasons and died shortly after his return at the Queen Alexandria Military Hospital in Millbank .

literature

  • (Major) Eric William OBE MC Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936 . Gale & Pollen, Aldershot 1939, OCLC 29773279 (English).
  • Richard Holmes: Tommy. The British soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918 . Harper Perennial, London 2005, ISBN 0-00-713752-4 (English).
  • Stephen Badsey: Doctrine and Reform in the British Cavalry 1880-1918 (=  Birmingham Studies in First World War History ). Ashgate Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7546-6467-3 , pp. 245 Note 29 (English, preview in Google Book Search).
  • Nikolas Gardner: Command and Control in the “Great Retreat” of 1914. The Disintegration of the British Cavalry Division . In: The Journal of Military History . tape 63 , no. 1 . Society for Military History, January 1999, p. 29–54 , doi : 10.2307 / 120332 , JSTOR : 120332 (English, limited preview).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k General Sir David Campbell - Soldier, Sportsman, And Administrator. In: The Times . March 13, 1936, p. 16.
  2. ^ From the London Gazette. In: The Times. March 16, 1889, p. 3.
  3. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, p. 184.
  4. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, p. 180 f.
  5. ^ The London Gazette. January 6, 1891. In: thegazette.co.uk, accessed June 10, 2017.
  6. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, p. 181.
  7. ^ Sandown Park Grand Military Meeting. In: The Times. March 10, 1894, p. 7.
  8. ↑ a b c ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: Sir David Graham Muschet ('Soarer') Campbell (1869–1936). ) Center for First World War Studies, University of Birmingham.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.warstudies.bham.ac.uk
  9. ^ Kempton Park November Meeting. In: The Times. November 28, 1894, p. 7.
  10. ^ Kempton Park November Meeting. In: The Times. November 29, 1894, p. 7.
  11. ^ Sandown Park December Meeting. In: The Times. December 8, 1894, p. 7.
  12. ^ Kempton Park Christmas Meeting. In: The Times. December 27, 1894, p. 5.
  13. ^ Grand Military Meeting (Sandown Park), Friday. In: The Times. March 9, 1895, p. 13.
  14. ^ Grand Military Meeting (Sandown Park), Saturday. In: The Times. March 11, 1895, p. 7.
  15. ↑ Liverpool Spring Meeting, Saturday. In: The Times. April 1, 1895, p. 7.
  16. ↑ a b c d e Campbell, General Sir David (Graham Muschet) . In: Who Was Who . A&C Black, 1920-2008; online edition, Oxford University Press. December 2007. Retrieved on December 19, 2010.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.ukwhoswho.com
  17. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, p. 181 f.
  18. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, p. 182.
  19. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, pp. 181, 184.
  20. ^ The Grand Military Championship Challenge Cup. In: The Times. March 3, 1896, p. 11.
  21. ^ Grand Military (Sandown Park) Meeting, Saturday. In: The Times. March 9, 1896, p. 11.
  22. ^ Liverpool Spring Meeting, Friday. The Grand National Steeplechase. In: The Times. March 28, 1896, p. 11.
  23. ^ Liverpool Spring Meeting, Friday. In: The Times. March 27, 1897, p. 13.
  24. ^ The London Gazette. May 16, 1899. In: thegazette.co.uk, accessed June 10, 2017.
  25. ^ Marriages Jun 1899. Office of National Statistics. In: freebmd.org.uk, accessed June 11, 2017.
  26. ↑ a b c d e CAMPBELL, Sir David Graham Muschet (1869–1936), General ( Memento of December 24, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ). In: Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defense Personnel, 1900-1975. Liddell Hart Center for Military Archives; online in: kcl.ac.uk. King's College London. Liddell Hart Center for Military Archives, accessed June 10, 2017.
  27. ^ Sheppard: The Ninth Queen's Own Royal Lancers 1715-1936. 1939, p. 190.
  28. ^ The London Gazette. September 23, 1902. In: thegazette.co.uk, accessed June 10, 2017.
  29. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Major-General Sir David Campbell. In: 21stdivision1914-18.org, accessed June 10, 2017.
  30. ^ The London Gazette. March 15, 1904. In: thegazette.co.uk, accessed June 10, 2017.
  31. ^ The London Gazette. March 15, 1912. In: thegazette.co.uk, accessed June 10, 2017.
  32. ↑ Holmes: Tommy. The British soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918. Pp. 197, 437.
  33. ↑ Holmes: Tommy. The British soldier on the Western Front 1914-1918. P. 197.
  34. ↑ Malta - Crisis reached - Governor dismisses ministry - Antagonism to British policy ( Memento of 7 August 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: The Canberra Times . November 4, 1933, p. 1; online at: trove.nla.gov.au. National Library of Australia , accessed March 24, 2017.
predecessor Office successor

General Sir John Philip Du Cane 		Governor of Malta
1931–1936
General Sir Charles Bonham Carter
personal data
SURNAME Campbell, David
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Soarer; Campbell, David Graham Muschet (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British officer, governor of Malta
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1869
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1936
Place of death London