Beauvoir De Lisle
| Sir Beauvoir De Lisle | |
|---|---|
 Gen. Sir Beauvoir De Lisle | |
| Born | 27 July 1864 |
| Died | 16 July 1955 (aged 90) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 British Army |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held |
1st (Royal) Dragoons 2nd Cavalry Brigade 1st Cavalry Division 29th Division XIII Corps XV Corps Western Command |
| Battles/wars |
Second Boer War World War I |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order. |
General Sir Henry de Beauvoir De Lisle, KCB, KCMG, DSO (27 July 1864 – 16 July 1955) was a British Army General who served in the Second Boer War and World War I.
Military career
Born in Guernsey and educated in Jersey,[1] De Lisle was commissioned into the 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry in 1883.[2] He saw service with the Mounted Infantry in Egypt between 1885 and 1886,[2] being awarded his DSO there, and was promoted to the rank of captain on 1 October 1891.[1]
He studied at the Staff College in 1899 before returning to the Mounted Infantry when he was commissioned in the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards. During the Second Boer War he commanded the Australian Brigade, a mobile column comprising the 6th Battalion Mounted Infantry, the West Australian Mounted Infantry, the South Australian Imperial Bushmen and the New South Wales Mounted Rifles. He was severely wounded and three times mentioned in despatches.[3][4] Promotion to major followed on 1 January 1902, and to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on the following day. He left Cape Town in late May 1902.[5][6]
He was appointed Second in Command of the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in 1903 and then became Commanding Officer of the regiment in 1906.[2] He became a General Staff Officer at Aldershot in 1910 and in 1911 was appointed Commander of 2nd Cavalry Brigade.[2] He served in World War I initially as commander of 2nd Cavalry Brigade on the Western Front and then as GOC 1st Cavalry Division also on the Western Front in 1914.[2]
He then became GOC 29th Division leading the Division at the Third Battle of Krithia during the Gallipoli Campaign of April 1915 to January 1916.[2] He returned to the Western Front in 1916 and fought at the Battle of the Somme before moving on to become GOC XIII Corps in March 1918 and GOC XV Corps in April 1918.[2] After the War he was appointed GOC-in-Chief of Western Command: he held this post until 1923 and then retired in 1926.[2]
Allenby and the conquest of Jerusalem
Along with the First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord Fisher, General de Lisle convinced General Edmund Allenby that Jerusalem would be delivered from the Turks in 1917 by the British. In June 1917, General Allenby was ordered to leave his Third Army and take command of the British war effort in the Middle East. However General Allenby was not excited about his new assignment. General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle met Allenby at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London before the latter left for Cairo. Allenby lamented that the last man failed, and he does not see why he should succeed. He was referring to the Turkish repulsions in Suez Canal zone. Sir Beauvoir de Lisle, who was later to preach a sermon at St. Martin-in-the-Fields about the capture of Jerusalem, consoled him with Bible prophecies of the deliverance of Jerusalem. He told General Allenby that the Bible said that Jerusalem would be delivered in that very year, 1917, and by Britain.[7]
Retirement
He was known for his polo skills and spent much of the years 1929 to 1930 training polo teams for the Maharaja of Kashmir in India.[1]
Bibliography
- Reminiscences of sport and war by Beauvoir De Lisle, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1939
- Tournament Polo by Beauvoir De Lisle, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938
- Polo in India by Beauvoir De Lisle, Thacker, 1907
References
- 1 2 3 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ↑ Vane, W.L. (2012). Durham Light Infantry: The United Red and White Rose. Andrews UK. p. 149. ISBN 9781781515419. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ↑ Travers, Tim (2009). The Killing Ground. Barnsley, South Yorks.: Pen and Sword. p. 284. ISBN 9781844158898. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
- ↑ "The War - officers returning home" The Times (London). Tuesday, 27 May 1902. (36778), p. 10.
- ↑ Bufton, John (1905). Tasmanians in the Transvaal War. Newtown, Hobart: S.. Loone. p. 400.
- ↑ "As birds flying, The Miracle of December 8th". Fr Novak. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Philip Du Cane |
General Officer Commanding XV Corps April 1918–November 1918 |
Succeeded by Post disbanded |
| Preceded by Sir Thomas Snow |
GOC-in-C Western Command 1919–1923 |
Succeeded by Sir John Du Cane |