Lieutenant General Sir Charles James Briggs, KCB, KCMG (22 October 1865 – 27 November 1941)[1] was a British Army officer who held high command in World War I.
Lieutenant General Sir Charles Briggs | |
|---|---|
_Briggs_(1865-1941)_(cropped).jpg) Charles James Briggs c. 1922 | |
| Born | 22 October 1865 Hylton Castle, Sunderland, England |
| Died | 27 November 1941 (aged 76) Wickhambrook, Suffolk, England[1] |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  British Army |
| Years of service | 1886–1923 |
| Rank | Lieutenant-general |
| Commands | 1st Imperial Light Horse Mobile Column Transvaal Volunteers South Eastern Mounted Brigade 1st Cavalry Brigade 3rd Cavalry Division 28th Division in Salonika XVI Corps British Salonika Army |
| Battles / wars | Second Boer War First World War |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George |
Military career
editBorn the son of Colonel Charles James Briggs, JP, DL, Brigg's education took place largely abroad, including periods in France and Germany.[2] He was commissioned into the 1st King's Dragoon Guards on 30 January 1886[3] and served as aide-de-camp to the general officer commanding (GOC) Egypt from 1892 to 1893.[4] Promoted to captain on 1 March 1893, he became adjutant of the 1st Dragoon Guards in November 1894 and brigade adjutant of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in April 1897.[4] He served in the Second Boer War as brigade major of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade and was wounded at the Battle of Magersfontein in December 1899. He received a brevet rank as major on 29 November 1900, and was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 14 June 1902.[5] Following the end of the war in June 1902, he left Cape Town on the SS Sicilia and returned to Southampton in late July.[6] For his services during the war, he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902.[7] Reported to be medically unfit for foreign service after his return from the war, he was on 1 November 1902 appointed in command of a provisional regiment of Lancers, stationed at Ballincollig.[8][9] He went on to command the 1st Imperial Light Horse and then a Mobile Column,[4] before transferring to the 6th Dragoons in July 1904.[2]
He was appointed commander of the Transvaal Volunteers in 1905 and took part in suppressing the Bambatha Rebellion in 1906.[4] He was appointed commander of the South Eastern Mounted Brigade in 1910[4] and commanded the Blue cavalry in the Army Manoeuvres of 1912.
He served in World War I initially as commander of 1st Cavalry Brigade in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), where he took part in the action at Nery.[4] He was GOC 3rd Cavalry Division from May 1915, three months after being promoted to major general,[10] the 28th Division in Salonika from October 1915 and XVI Corps (later redesignated as the British Salonika Army) from May 1916.[4]
He was chief of the British Military Mission to South Russia from February to June 1919 before retiring in February 1923.[4] In retirement he was colonel of the 1st King's Dragoon Guards from 16 March 1926 to 31 December 1939.[11]
Decorations
editThese include:
- Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (military division) [K.C.B. cr. 1917][12]
- Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George [K.C.M.G. cr. 1918][13]
- Order of the White Eagle (Russia)
- Commander of the Legion of Honour (France)
- Grand Officer of the Order of the White Eagle with Swords (Serbia)[14]
- Grand Commander of the Order of the Redeemer (Greece)[15]
- Queen's South Africa Medal 1899–1902 with 5 clasps
- King's South Africa Medal 1901–1902 with 2 clasps
- Natal Rebellion Medal 1906 with clasp '1906'
- 1914–1915 Star
- British War Medal 1914–1920
- Allied Victory Medal 1914–1919 with oak leaf
- Queen Victoria Golden Jubilee Medal 1897
- War Cross with palm (Greece)[16]
- Medal of Military Merit, 1st class Greece[17]
References
edit- ^ a b ghgraham.orgSir Charles James Briggs 1865–1941
- ^ a b Centre for First World War Studies University of Birmingham Archived 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "No. 25554". The London Gazette. 29 January 1886. p. 441.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- ^ "No. 27460". The London Gazette. 1 August 1902. p. 4963.
- ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36821. London. 16 July 1902. p. 11.
- ^ "No. 27448". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 June 1902. pp. 4191–4194.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36926. London. 15 November 1902. p. 12.
- ^ "No. 27497". The London Gazette. 21 November 1902. p. 7534.
- ^ "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1685.
- ^ "1st King's Dragoon Guards". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 10 January 2006. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "No. 29886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1916. p. 2.
- ^ "No. 13186". The Edinburgh Gazette. 1 January 1918. p. 9.
- ^ "No. 31393". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 June 1919. p. 7401.
- ^ "No. 30945". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 October 1918. p. 11951.
- ^ "No. 31465". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 July 1919. p. 9232.
- ^ "No. 31514". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 August 1919. p. 10611.