Edward Fanshawe (British Army officer)
Encyclopedia
Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Arthur Fanshawe KCB
(4 April 1859 – 13 November 1952) was a British Army
general of the First World War, who commanded the 11th (Northern) Division at Gallipoli and the V Corps
on the Western Front
during the Battle of the Somme, the Third Battle of Ypres, and the 1918 Spring Offensive
. He was the eldest of three brothers (Edward, Hew
, and Robert
) who all rose to command divisions or corps during the war.
and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, then joined the Royal Artillery
in 1878. He was the eldest of three brothers with significant military careers; Hew
(b. 1860) joined the cavalry and Robert
(b. 1863) joined the infantry, all three rising to command corps or divisions during the First World War.
He married Rose Higginson, daughter of Sir James Higginson
, in 1893; they had three sons.
He served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War
in 1878-80 and the Sudan expedition
of 1885, rising steadily through the ranks thereafter; captain in 1886, major in 1896, lieutenant-colonel in 1903, and colonel in 1908. In 1909 he was appointed to command the artillery in one of the regular divisions garrisoned in Ireland; whilst serving there, he was personally commended by the King for saving an artilleryman from being crushed by a cavalry parade in Dublin. In 1913, he was transferred to command the divisional artillery in the Wessex Division of the Territorial Force
.
for 1st Division. He succeeded N. D. Findlay, who had been killed by shellfire on 10 September at the Battle of the Marne
. He remained with the division through the winter of 1914-1915.
He was promoted to major-general and recalled home in mid-1915 to command the newly formed 31st Division of the New Army
, but was transferred in August to take over the 11th (Northern) Division, which had been sent to Gallipoli in the Mediterranean. He remained with the division through the evacuation of the Dardanelles until, shortly after it arrived in France in July 1916, he was promoted to command V Corps
. The corps had previously been commanded by his younger brother Hew
, until he had been removed from command as a result of political manouvering following the failure of the attack on St. Eloi in late March 1916.
V Corps was holding a position in the Ypres salient at the time Fanshawe took command, but in August it was transferred south, to support the Somme Offensive. In the final phase of the Somme fighting, at the Battle of the Ancre
in November, he commanded an attack which captured Beaumont Hamel, one of the initial objectives of the offensive more than three months earlier. He was knighted the following year.
He remained with the corps through 1917, where it fought at the Third Battle of Ypres, and into 1918, where it began the year holding an exposed salient on the boundary between Third and Fifth Armies. It was heavily attacked in Operation Michael
, the first phase of the German Spring Offensive
of March 1918, and both it and the neighbouring VII Corps were forced to retreat, leaving a gap in the British lines. The responsibility for this was a matter of historical dispute for some decades, but the response at the time was unambiguous; both Fanshawe and the commander of VII Corps, Walter Congreve, were removed from command.
In August 1918 he was appointed to command XXIII Corps
, and shortly thereafter transferred to command the garrison on the Firth of Forth
, a posting which he held until after the end of the war.
of the Royal Artillery
from 1923 to 1929, and of the Royal Horse Artillery
from 1930 to 1934.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(4 April 1859 – 13 November 1952) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
general of the First World War, who commanded the 11th (Northern) Division at Gallipoli and the V Corps
V Corps (United Kingdom)
V Corps was an army corps of the British Army in both the First and Second World War. It was first organised in February 1915 and fought through World War I on the Western front...
on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
during the Battle of the Somme, the Third Battle of Ypres, and the 1918 Spring Offensive
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
. He was the eldest of three brothers (Edward, Hew
Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe
Lieutenant-General Sir Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe, KCB, KCMG, was a British Army general of the First World War, who commanded V Corps on the Western Front and the 18th Indian Division in the Mesopotamian Campaign...
, and Robert
Robert Fanshawe (British Army officer)
Major-General Sir Robert Fanshawe KCB, DSO was a British Army general during the First World War, who commanded the 48th Division from 1915 to 1918...
) who all rose to command divisions or corps during the war.
Early career
Fanshawe was born in 1859, the son of the Reverend Henry Leighton Fanshawe, of Chilworth, Oxfordshire. He attended Winchester CollegeWinchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, then joined the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
in 1878. He was the eldest of three brothers with significant military careers; Hew
Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe
Lieutenant-General Sir Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe, KCB, KCMG, was a British Army general of the First World War, who commanded V Corps on the Western Front and the 18th Indian Division in the Mesopotamian Campaign...
(b. 1860) joined the cavalry and Robert
Robert Fanshawe (British Army officer)
Major-General Sir Robert Fanshawe KCB, DSO was a British Army general during the First World War, who commanded the 48th Division from 1915 to 1918...
(b. 1863) joined the infantry, all three rising to command corps or divisions during the First World War.
He married Rose Higginson, daughter of Sir James Higginson
James Macaulay Higginson
James Macaulay Higginson was Governor of Antigua from 1847 to 1850.Sir James Macaulay Higginson was 8th Governor of Mauritius from 8 Jan 1851 to 20 Sep 1857.He was made a Companion of the Order of Bath in 1851 and a Knight Commander in 1857....
, in 1893; they had three sons.
He served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War
Second Anglo-Afghan War
The Second Anglo-Afghan War was fought between the United Kingdom and Afghanistan from 1878 to 1880, when the nation was ruled by Sher Ali Khan of the Barakzai dynasty, the son of former Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. This was the second time British India invaded Afghanistan. The war ended in a manner...
in 1878-80 and the Sudan expedition
Nile Expedition
The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition , was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan after Britain decided to abandon the country in the face of a...
of 1885, rising steadily through the ranks thereafter; captain in 1886, major in 1896, lieutenant-colonel in 1903, and colonel in 1908. In 1909 he was appointed to command the artillery in one of the regular divisions garrisoned in Ireland; whilst serving there, he was personally commended by the King for saving an artilleryman from being crushed by a cavalry parade in Dublin. In 1913, he was transferred to command the divisional artillery in the Wessex Division of the Territorial Force
Territorial Force
The Territorial Force was the volunteer reserve component of the British Army from 1908 to 1920, when it became the Territorial Army.-Origins:...
.
First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Fanshawe remained with the Wessex Division when it mobilised.The division was earmarked for service in India; however, before it sailed, Fanshawe was ordered to the Continent to join the British Expeditionary Force, where he became the Commander, Royal ArtilleryCommander, Royal Artillery
Commander, Royal Artillery was a military appointment in Commonwealth infantry and armoured divisions in the 20th Century. The CRA was the senior artillery officer in the division and commanded the regiments of field, anti-aircraft and anti-tank artillery, and provided specialist artillery and...
for 1st Division. He succeeded N. D. Findlay, who had been killed by shellfire on 10 September at the Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had...
. He remained with the division through the winter of 1914-1915.
He was promoted to major-general and recalled home in mid-1915 to command the newly formed 31st Division of the New Army
Kitchener's Army
The New Army, often referred to as Kitchener's Army or, disparagingly, Kitchener's Mob, was an all-volunteer army formed in the United Kingdom following the outbreak of hostilities in the First World War...
, but was transferred in August to take over the 11th (Northern) Division, which had been sent to Gallipoli in the Mediterranean. He remained with the division through the evacuation of the Dardanelles until, shortly after it arrived in France in July 1916, he was promoted to command V Corps
V Corps (United Kingdom)
V Corps was an army corps of the British Army in both the First and Second World War. It was first organised in February 1915 and fought through World War I on the Western front...
. The corps had previously been commanded by his younger brother Hew
Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe
Lieutenant-General Sir Hew Dalrymple Fanshawe, KCB, KCMG, was a British Army general of the First World War, who commanded V Corps on the Western Front and the 18th Indian Division in the Mesopotamian Campaign...
, until he had been removed from command as a result of political manouvering following the failure of the attack on St. Eloi in late March 1916.
V Corps was holding a position in the Ypres salient at the time Fanshawe took command, but in August it was transferred south, to support the Somme Offensive. In the final phase of the Somme fighting, at the Battle of the Ancre
Battle of the Ancre
The Battle of the Ancre was the final act of the 1916 Battle of the Somme. Launched on 13 November 1916 by the British Fifth Army of Lieutenant General Hubert Gough, the objective of the battle was as much political as military.-Prelude:The Allied commanders were due to meet at Chantilly on 15...
in November, he commanded an attack which captured Beaumont Hamel, one of the initial objectives of the offensive more than three months earlier. He was knighted the following year.
He remained with the corps through 1917, where it fought at the Third Battle of Ypres, and into 1918, where it began the year holding an exposed salient on the boundary between Third and Fifth Armies. It was heavily attacked in Operation Michael
Operation Michael
Operation Michael was a First World War German military operation that began the Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France...
, the first phase of the German Spring Offensive
Spring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
of March 1918, and both it and the neighbouring VII Corps were forced to retreat, leaving a gap in the British lines. The responsibility for this was a matter of historical dispute for some decades, but the response at the time was unambiguous; both Fanshawe and the commander of VII Corps, Walter Congreve, were removed from command.
In August 1918 he was appointed to command XXIII Corps
XXIII Corps (United Kingdom)
The British XXIII Corps was a British infantry corps during World War I.- History :British XXII Corps was formed in the UK in February 1918 as a Home Forces formation to reinforce units in France.-General Officers Commanding:Commanders included:...
, and shortly thereafter transferred to command the garrison on the Firth of Forth
Firth of Forth
The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...
, a posting which he held until after the end of the war.
Retirement
He was formally confirmed in the permanent rank of lieutenant-general in 1919, and retired from the Army in 1923. He then served in the ceremonial position of colonel commandantColonel Commandant
Colonel Commandant is a military title used in the armed forces of some English-speaking countries. The title, not a substantive rank, could denote a senior colonel with authority over fellow colonels...
of the Royal Artillery
Royal Artillery
The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery , is the artillery arm of the British Army. Despite its name, it comprises a number of regiments.-History:...
from 1923 to 1929, and of the Royal Horse Artillery
Royal Horse Artillery
The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...
from 1930 to 1934.