William Lambton (British Army officer)

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The Honourable

Sir William Lambton
In The Sketch, 27 December 1899
Born(1863-12-04)4 December 1863
Durham, County Durham, England[1]
Died11 October 1936(1936-10-11) (aged 72)
Cap-d'Ail, France
Buried
St. Barnabas' Church, Bournmoor, Durham, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1884–1920
RankMajor General
UnitColdstream Guards
Commands held1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards
4th Division
Battles/warsMahdist War
Second Boer War
First World War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath

Major General Sir William Lambton, KCB, CMG, CVO, DSO (4 December 1863 – 11 October 1936) was a British Army officer who commanded the 4th Division during the First World War.

Military career[edit]

Born the son of George Lambton, 2nd Earl of Durham, he was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.[2]

Lambton was commissioned a lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards on 6 February 1884,[3][4] promoted to captain on 18 May 1892, and became aide-de-camp to the Governor General of Ireland in 1895, before he served with the Egyptian Army.[3] He took part in the Nile expedition of 1898 and fought at the Battle of Atbara and the Battle of Omdurman, and was promoted to major on 29 September 1898.[3]

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, his battalion was sent to South Africa. As part of the Kimberley Relief Force, he was present at the Battle of Magersfontein on 10–11 December 1899, in which the defending Boer force defeated the advancing British forces amongst heavy casualties for the latter. Lambton was mentioned in the despatch from Paul Methuen, who described the battle and how Lambton had refused to be carried off the battlefield despite being wounded.[5]

After his recovery, he served as Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief of the Transvaal, and was Military Secretary to Alfred Milner, High-Commissioner for Southern Africa, from December 1900, with the local rank of lieutenant colonel.[6] He was appointed commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards in 1912, Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General for London District in 1913 and Military Secretary to the C-in-C of the British Expeditionary Force at the beginning of the First World War in August 1914 before becoming General Officer Commanding (GOC) 4th Division in 1915.[3] He retired from the army in 1920.[3]

Family[edit]

In 1921, he married Lady Katherine de Vere Somerset, née Beauclerk, daughter of William Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans; they had no children.[7]

William Lambton died in Cap-d'Ail on 11 October 1936.[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KHJV-ZY5/major-general-sir-william-lambton-kcb-cmg-cvo-dso-1863-1936
  2. ^ The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland by Edward Walford, (Volume ed.59, yr.1919)
  3. ^ a b c d e Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  4. ^ "No. 25315". The London Gazette. 5 February 1884. p. 532.
  5. ^ "No. 27174". The London Gazette. 16 March 1900. pp. 1785–1787.
  6. ^ "No. 27441". The London Gazette. 10 June 1902. p. 3754.
  7. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003
  8. ^ "Death of Hon. Sir W. Lambton". The Daily Telegraph. Nice (published 12 October 1936). 11 October 1936. p. 15. Retrieved 19 October 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
Military offices
Preceded by GOC 4th Division
1915–1917 		Succeeded by
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