Geoffrey Feilding

Major-General

Sir Geoffrey Feilding

KCB KCVO CMG DSO
Feilding in 1914
Born(1866-09-21)21 September 1866
London, England[1]
Died21 October 1932(1932-10-21) (aged 66)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
BranchBritish Army
Service years1888–1927
RankMajor-General
UnitColdstream Guards
Commands56th (1st London) Division
London District
Guards Division
1st Guards Brigade
149th (Northumberland) Brigade
3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards
ConflictsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (9)

Major-General Sir Geoffrey Percy Thynne Feilding, KCB, KCVO, CMG, DSO (21 September 1866 – 21 October 1932) was a senior British Army officer who served as Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District from 1918 to 1920.

Early life

Born on 21 September 1866 in South Kensington, London, Feilding was the son of Hon. Sir Percy Feilding (son of the 7th Earl of Denbigh), who fought with the Coldstream Guards during the Crimean War, and his wife Lady Louisa Isabella Harriet Thynne, eldest daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Bath.[2]

Early military career

Feilding was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in April 1888,[3][4] promoted to lieutenant on 27 November 1890, and again to lieutenant from supernumerary lieutenant in August 1895,[5] and lastly to captain, on augmentation, on 6 April 1898.[6] He had been seconded for service on the staff in July 1893.[7]

He served in the early part of the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1900 and was present in the engagements at Belmont in November 1899, being mentioned in dispatches twice, and received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).[4][8] In February 1901 he was made an aide-de-camp to Major General M. W. Willson.[9] He returned to South Africa in 1902, commanding a battalion of mounted infantry, and was granted the local rank of major on 20 April 1902.[10]

Following the end of the war in June 1902, he returned to the United Kingdom on board the SS Ortona, which arrived in Southampton in September that year.[11]

He was promoted from supernumary captain to captain in March 1903[12] and again to major in November 1903[13] and in June 1908 became commandant of the Guards Depot at Caterham, Surrey.[14]

In September 1912 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and became commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards.[15]

First World War

King George V with General Sir Douglas Haig, C-in-C British Expeditionary Force, and Major General Feilding, GOC Guards Division, at Beauquesne, France, 12 August 1916.

Fielding later served in the First World War, being mentioned in despatches seven times.[2]

He was still the battalion's CO almost two years later, after the British entry into World War I, and led it in the opening stages of the war.[3] After being promoted to brevet colonel in February 1915,[16] and the temporary rank of brigadier general in late April,[17] he went on to succeed Brigadier General James Foster Riddell as commander of the 149th (Northumberland) Brigade, part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, after Riddell was killed in action. He was only there for a few weeks before being moved to command of the 1st Guards Brigade in June.[3][4]

Commanding officers of the Guards Division presented to Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, at divisional headquarters at Bavincourt, France, 30 June 1918.

After a promotion to temporary major general in early January 1916,[18] he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Guards Division from 1916, commanding it until September 1918.[3] Under his command, the division fought at the Battle of the Somme, including the Battle of Flers-Courcelette, the Battle of Cambrai in late 1917 and in the German spring offensives which began in March 1918.[19] His major general's rank became substantive in January 1918.[20] Towards the end of the war Feilding became Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and GOC of the London District, taking over from Lieutenant General Sir Francis Lloyd, on 1 October.[21][22]

A war memorial, unveiled by Feilding, honours the battlefield at Ginchy where many British soldiers from the Guards Division fell during the Somme battle in 1916.[23]

Later life

In June 1923 he was made GOC 56th (1st London) Division, taking over from Major General Sir Cecil Pereira.[3][24] Feilding retired from the army in June 1927.[3][25]

He died in 1932, at the age of 66, and is buried at St. Editha's Church in Monks Kirby.[26]

Bibliography

  • Davies, Frank; Maddocks, Graham (2014) [1995]. Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Leo Cooper. ISBN 978-1-78346-237-7.

References

  1. ^ "Life story: Geoffrey Percy Thynne Feilding | Lives of the First World War". livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk.
  2. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Feilding, Sir Geoffrey Percy Thynne". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Davies & Maddocks 2014, p. 137.
  5. ^ "No. 26681". The London Gazette. 19 November 1895. p. 6252.
  6. ^ "No. 26954". The London Gazette. 5 April 1898. p. 2211.
  7. ^ "No. 26428". The London Gazette. 1 August 1893. p. 4356.
  8. ^ "No. 11343". The Edinburgh Gazette. 1 October 1901. p. 1078.
  9. ^ "No. 27293". The London Gazette. 17 March 1901. p. 1769.
  10. ^ "No. 27442". The London Gazette. 13 June 1902. p. 3900.
  11. ^ "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning Home". The Times. No. 36861. London. 1 September 1902. p. 6.
  12. ^ "No. 27537". The London Gazette. 24 March 1903. p. 1984.
  13. ^ "No. 27633". The London Gazette. 5 January 1904. p. 109.
  14. ^ "No. 28146". The London Gazette. 12 June 1908. p. 4324.
  15. ^ "No. 28641". The London Gazette. 3 September 1912. p. 6535.
  16. ^ "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1691.
  17. ^ "No. 29162". The London Gazette. 14 May 1915. p. 4652.
  18. ^ "No. 29475". The London Gazette. 15 February 1916. p. 1695.
  19. ^ "The Guards Division". The Long, Long Trail. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
  20. ^ "No. 30450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1917. p. 9.
  21. ^ "No. 30957". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 October 1918. p. 12233.
  22. ^ Davies & Maddocks 2014, p. 138.
  23. ^ "Guillemont". World War I Battlefields. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  24. ^ "No. 32838". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 June 1923. p. 4518.
  25. ^ "No. 32286". The London Gazette. 21 June 1927. p. 3977.
  26. ^ Roots.web
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Feilding