Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen

Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen

Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen , GCB , GCMG , GCVO (born September 1, 1845 , Corsham Court , Wiltshire , † October 30, 1932 ibid) was a British nobleman and officer who rose to the rank of field marshal .

Life

Paul Sanford Methuen was born on Corsham Court, Wiltshire, the eldest of three sons of Frederick Henry Paul Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen , and his wife Anna Horatia Caroline Sanford. He attended Eton College .

Methuen then served two years with the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry , a unit of the British Territorial Army, before joining the Scots Guards as an Ensign . None of his ancestors, traditionally Whig politicians , had had any serious military career. From 1864 to 1871 he was an adjutant in the 1st Battalion. As early as 1867, at the age of 22, he achieved the rank of captain . As an observer in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71, he had the opportunity to study the military innovations of the leading military power at the time, and later advocated reforming the British Army in a similar way.

During the Ashanti War from 1873 to 1874 he served on the staff of Sir Garnet Wolseley and made his first own war experience here. In 1876 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel . He went through various troop and staff assignments. From 1878 to 1881 he was military attaché in Berlin , from 1881 to 1884 Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General in the Home District in London. In 1882, again under Wolseley, he was staff commander of the headquarters and press censor in the campaign in Egypt and took part in the battle of Tel -el-Kebir part. He was promoted to brevet - Colonel promoted and took 1,884 to 1,885 in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland , where he the Methuen's Horse led a corps of mounted shooters.

From 1888 to 1890 he was Deputy Adjutant General in South Africa and was promoted to Colonel in 1888, and to Major General in May of the same year . From 1892 to 1897 he was Commander of the Guards Brigade and Commander of the Home District . From 1897 he served as press censor on the staff of the Tirah Expedition (in what is now the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan ) and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1898.

South Africa

Leslie Ward : Paul Methuen

When the Second Boer War broke out , Methuen was given command of the 1st Division in Sir Redvers Buller's Army Corps. He reached South Africa in late 1899 and drove the Boers out of Belmont and Graspan. He was slightly injured on the Modder River . During the war he suffered defeats and achieved success. His greatest defeat was the Battle of Magersfontein during “Black Week” in December 1899, with which his name is usually associated. On March 7, 1902, he was captured by Boers under Koos de la Rey during the Battle of Tweebosch . He was the only British general captured during the war. Methuen was wounded during the battle and still broke his legs when his horse fell on him. De la Rey released him from captivity because of his serious injuries and had him taken to a hospital in Klerksdorp . This incident allegedly established a lifelong friendship between Methuen and de la Rey.

Despite these setbacks, Methuen continued to be valued as a capable officer, given more responsibility. He was appointed honorary colonel of the Scots Guards in 1904 and was given command of the IV Army Corps in June 1904, and Eastern Command from 1905 . In 1908 he was appointed commanding general in South Africa. He remained in this post until 1912. He was popular with his own troops as well as the Boers and contributed to improving relations between the British and the Boers after the war. Before founding the South African Union in 1910, he was briefly governor and commander-in-chief in Natal , and in 1911 he was promoted to field marshal.

In general, Methuen's contribution to improving British-Boer relations is viewed positively. But both Methuen and the British Army as a whole were unprepared for modern warfare during the Boer Wars. His real achievement is to overcome these shortcomings, defeat the Boers, and lead the British Army into the 20th century.

First World War

Until 1914 he made a significant contribution to increasing the level of training of the British Expeditionary Force , but was no longer given his own command. At the age of 70, Methuen was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in 1915 . He remained in this post until his retirement in 1919 and then returned to Great Britain. Towards the end of 1919 he was appointed constable of the Tower . He held this office until 1932.

family

Methuen was married twice, first to Evelyn, the eldest daughter of Sir Frederick Hutchingson Hervey-Bathurst, 3rd Baronet, of Clarendon Park, Wiltshire. The marriage was concluded in 1878, but his wife died a year later. Methuen remarried in 1884, this time to his cousin Mary Ethel, the second daughter of William Ayshford Sanford. The marriage resulted in two sons and three daughters. In 1891 he inherited the title of Baron Methuen from his father .

Methuen died on October 30, 1932 on Corsham Court. His son Paul Ayshford Methuen succeeded him as baron.

literature

• Stephen M. Miller: Lord Methuen and the British Army. Failure and redemption in South Africa . Routledge, London 1999, ISBN 0-7146-4904-x .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Miller: Lord Methuen and the British Army. 1999.

Web links

• Biography (s)
• Cartoons from the Boer War (s)

predecessor	Office	successor
Sir Henry Hildyard	Commander in Chief in South Africa 1908–1912	Sir Reginald Hart
Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle	Governor of Malta 1915-1919	Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer
Frederick Henry Paul Methuen	Baron Methuen 1891-1932	Paul Ayshford Methuen