General The Right Honourable Sir Neville Lyttelton | |
---|---|
Born | Hagley, Worcestershire | 28 October 1845
Died | 6 July 1931 Royal Hospital Chelsea, London | (aged 85)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1865–1912 |
Rank | General |
Commands held |
Commander-in-Chief, Ireland Chief of the General Staff Commander-in-Chief, South Africa 4th Division 2nd Division 4th Brigade 2nd Brigade 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade 1st Battalion Rifle Brigade |
Battles/wars |
Fenian Raids Anglo-Egyptian War Mahdist War Second Boer War |
Awards |
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Mentioned in Despatches Order of Osmanieh (Ottoman Empire) |
Relations | Charles Masterman (son-in-law) |
General Sir Neville Gerald Lyttelton, GCB, GCVO, PC (Ire) (28 October 1845 – 6 July 1931) was a British Army officer from the Lyttelton family who served against the Fenian Raids, and in the Anglo-Egyptian War, the Mahdist War and the Second Boer War. He was Chief of the General Staff at the time of the Haldane Reforms and then became Commander-in-Chief, Ireland.
Born the son of 4th Baron Lyttelton and Mary Lyttelton (née Glynne) and educated at Eton College, Lyttelton was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade in January 1865. [1] As a junior officer he was sent to Canada, where he helped defeat the Fenian raids in 1866 and served as secretary to the Oregon Boundary Commission in 1867. [1] He was promoted to lieutenant on 14 July 1869, [2] to captain on 13 October 1877 [3] and to major on 22 February 1882. [4] In 1880 he was made private secretary to Hugh Childers, Secretary of State for War. [1]
He took part in the Anglo-Egyptian War in 1882 as an Aide-de-Camp to Sir John Adye, from 1 August 1882. [5] He saw action at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir and was mentioned in despatches. [6] He was promoted to brevet lieutenant colonel [7] and awarded the Order of Osmanieh (4th Class) on 17 November 1882. [8]
He became assistant military secretary to Lieutenant General Sir John Adye in his role as Governor of Gibraltar on 1 January 1883 [9] and military secretary to Lord Reay, Governor of Bombay in 1885. [1] In his young life he made friends, mixing in whiggish aristocratic circles with Edward Grey and Arthur Balfour, later the shapers of imperial foreign policy. [10] He was promoted to brevet colonel on 18 November 1886 [11] and became second-in-command of the 3rd Battalion of his regiment in 1890. [1] Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 9 November 1892, [12] he became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of his regiment in 1893 and went on to be commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment in Ireland. [1]
He went on to be assistant adjutant-general at Headquarters in December 1894 and assistant military secretary there in October 1897 [1] and took part in the state funeral of Former prime minister William Gladstone in May 1898. [13]
He was given command of 2nd Brigade with the temporary rank of brigadier general on 13 July 1898 [14] and led his brigade at the battle of Omdurman in September 1898 during the Mahdist War. [1]
He returned to his role as assistant military secretary at headquarters on 21 October 1898 [15] and then, having become a supernumerary major general for distinguished service in the field on 15 November 1898 [16] and promoted to the substantive rank of major general on 10 February 1899, [17] he briefly took back his old command at 2nd Brigade, now based at Aldershot Command, on 1 September 1899. [18]
Lyttelton served in the Second Boer War as commander of the 4th Brigade in South Africa from 9 October 1899. [19] He temporarily became general officer commanding the 2nd Division in February 1900, [20] [21] then commanded the 4th Division, [22] and was involved in the Battle of Spion Kop in January 1900 and the Battle of Vaal Krantz in February 1900, leading to the Relief of Ladysmith later that month. [1] Promoted to lieutenant general for distinguished service in the field on 22 March 1900, [23] Lord Roberts in his despatch referred to Lyttelton as an officer "with great coolness under fire, and considerable tactical knowledge and resource...an excellent commander in the field." [24] He was in command of the troops in Natal until June 1902, when he became Commander-in-Chief of the whole of South Africa following the end of the Second Boer War the previous month. [25] [26] In this role Lyttelton and his wife sought to repair relations with the Boer community. [1] In the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902, Lyttelton was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB). [27]
On 12 February 1904 he was appointed Chief of the General Staff and a member of the newly formed Army Council. [28] This new post was created following the abolition of the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Forces as recommended by Lord Esher in the Esher Report. [1] Lyttelton was promoted to general on 9 April 1906. [29] This was the time of the Haldane Reforms which sought to implement both a new expeditionary force and a new territorial force, but according to Edward M Spiers, Lyttelton was not up to the task – he was "feckless, malleable, and failed to lead the Army Council". [1]
Lyttelton moved on to become Commander-in-Chief, Ireland on 10 May 1908. [30] He took part both in the funeral procession following the death of King Edward VII in May 1910 [31] and the coronation procession for King George V in June 1911. [32] He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order on 12 July 1911 [33] and retired on 10 August 1912. [34]
In retirement he was a member of the Mesopotamia Commission which sat in 1916/17. [35]
The King insisted on his appointment as Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 10 August 1912 [36] until his death there on 6 July 1931. [1]
In 1883 Lyttelton married Katharine Sarah Stuart-Wortley, the youngest of the nine children of the politician James Stuart-Wortley and Jane Lawley. They had three daughters: [37]