Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley
Encyclopedia
Major General
Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley CB
, CMG
, DSO
, MVO
(31 July 1857 – 19 March 1934) was a British
general during the First World War
who is best remembered as the first British general to be dismissed during the Battle of the Somme
. He was a younger son of Francis Dudley Montagu-Stuart-Wortley and nephew of Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Wharncliffe
.
during the Mahdist War
, Wortley led a band of Arab irregulars who secured the east bank of the Nile
.
On 1 June 1914, during World War I
, Major General
Montagu-Stuart-Wortley became GOC of the British 46th (North Midland) Division
, a Territorial Force
division
. In October 1915, the Division saw action in France
during the Battle of Loos
when it made a costly attack against the Hohenzollern Redoubt
. Wortley proposed a bombing attack, but was overruled and ordered to go ahead with a frontal attack by General Richard Haking
(his Corps commander). In the event, the attack was a disastrous failure and the Division lost 180 officers and 3,583 men killed wounded or missing. The action was described in the Official History as a ‘tragic waste of infantry’.
Wortley incurred Haig's displeasure by writing regularly to King George V about the activities of the 46th Division (despite having the permission of Sir John French
to do so). This and the disagreement with Haking about the Hohenzollern Redoubt attack left Wortley as a "marked man" against whom Haig conspired". At the time opening of the Somme, he was a few weeks short of his 59th birthday, but in ill-health, suffering from sciatica
. Despite his experience, he was "past his fighting best" and his fitness for operational command was questionable. One officer later described him in 1916 as:
As part of General Sir Edmund Allenby
's Third Army
, the 46th Division was involved in the diversion at Gommecourt
on the first day on the Somme
, 1 July 1916. The initial assault at 7.30am had failed completely and Montagu-Stuart-Wortley was called upon to renew the attack at midday, the neighbouring 56th Division having made some progress and needing support. With no artillery
preparation or smoke screen, it was clear to Montagu-Stuart-Wortley that there was no prospect of success so at 3.30pm he ordered a token effort to be made by two companies. In the end only one platoon
went over with only one man surviving unscathed.
The division's attack failed completely and it had the distinction of suffering the lowest casualties, 2 455 killed, wounded and missing, of all 13 British divisions involved on the day. In the opinion of the VII Corps commander, Lieutenant General
Thomas D'Oyly Snow
:
General Allenby ordered a Court of Inquiry but on 5 July, before it had even delivered its findings, he sacked Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. Given that Montagu-Stuart-Wortley's orders prior to the attack had been "to occupy the ground that is won by the artillery" his dismissal remains a subject of controversy. According to Alan MacDonald, "the Division and its General were made scapegoats for the failure of a fatally flawed concept dreamt up by higher authority - the diversionary attack at Gommecourt".
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley CB
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...
, CMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, MVO
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
(31 July 1857 – 19 March 1934) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
general during the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
who is best remembered as the first British general to be dismissed during the Battle of the Somme
Battle of the Somme (1916)
The Battle of the Somme , also known as the Somme Offensive, took place during the First World War between 1 July and 14 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name...
. He was a younger son of Francis Dudley Montagu-Stuart-Wortley and nephew of Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Wharncliffe
Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Wharncliffe
Edward Montagu Stuart Granville Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Wharncliffe , was a British peer and railway executive....
.
Biography
In the battle of OmdurmanBattle of Omdurman
At the Battle of Omdurman , an army commanded by the British Gen. Sir Herbert Kitchener defeated the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad...
during the Mahdist War
Mahdist War
The Mahdist War was a colonial war of the late 19th century. It was fought between the Mahdist Sudanese and the Egyptian and later British forces. It has also been called the Anglo-Sudan War or the Sudanese Mahdist Revolt. The British have called their part in the conflict the Sudan Campaign...
, Wortley led a band of Arab irregulars who secured the east bank of the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
.
On 1 June 1914, during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Montagu-Stuart-Wortley became GOC of the British 46th (North Midland) Division
British 46th (North Midland) Division
- World War I :The British 46th Division was a 1st Line Territorial Force division. At the outbreak of the war, the 46th Division was commanded by Major General Hon. E.J. Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. Originally called the 'North Midland Division', it was redesignated as the 46th Division in 1915...
, a 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:...
division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
. In October 1915, the Division saw action in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
during the Battle of Loos
Battle of Loos
The Battle of Loos was one of the major British offensives mounted on the Western Front in 1915 during World War I. It marked the first time the British used poison gas during the war, and is also famous for the fact that it witnessed the first large-scale use of 'new' or Kitchener's Army...
when it made a costly attack against the Hohenzollern Redoubt
Hohenzollern Redoubt
The Hohenzollern Redoubt, near to Auchy-les-Mines in France, was a German fortification on the Western Front in World War I.-Introduction:The British first attacked the Redoubt on September 25, 1915, the first day of the Battle of Loos...
. Wortley proposed a bombing attack, but was overruled and ordered to go ahead with a frontal attack by General Richard Haking
Richard Haking
General Sir Richard Cyril Byrne Haking, GBE, KCB, KCMG was a British general in the First World War. He is remembered chiefly for the high casualties suffered by his forces at the second Battle of Fromelles, although at least one British historian has sought to defend his reputation, regarding...
(his Corps commander). In the event, the attack was a disastrous failure and the Division lost 180 officers and 3,583 men killed wounded or missing. The action was described in the Official History as a ‘tragic waste of infantry’.
Wortley incurred Haig's displeasure by writing regularly to King George V about the activities of the 46th Division (despite having the permission of Sir John French
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer...
to do so). This and the disagreement with Haking about the Hohenzollern Redoubt attack left Wortley as a "marked man" against whom Haig conspired". At the time opening of the Somme, he was a few weeks short of his 59th birthday, but in ill-health, suffering from sciatica
Sciatica
Sciatica is a set of symptoms including pain that may be caused by general compression or irritation of one of five spinal nerve roots that give rise to each sciatic nerve, or by compression or irritation of the left or right or both sciatic nerves. The pain is felt in the lower back, buttock, or...
. Despite his experience, he was "past his fighting best" and his fitness for operational command was questionable. One officer later described him in 1916 as:
- "a worn-out man, who never visited his front line and was incapable of inspiring any enthusiasm."
As part of General Sir Edmund Allenby
Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby
Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby GCB, GCMG, GCVO was a British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during the First World War, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917 and 1918.Allenby, nicknamed...
's Third Army
British Third Army
-First World War :The Third Army was part of the British Army during World War I and was formed in France on 13 July 1915. The battles it took part in on the Western Front included:*Battle of the Somme*Battle of Cambrai*Second Battle of Arras...
, the 46th Division was involved in the diversion at Gommecourt
Gommecourt, Pas-de-Calais
Gommecourt is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A small farming village situated south of Arras, on the D6 road.-Population:-World War I:...
on the first day on the Somme
First day on the Somme
The first day on the Somme, 1 July 1916, was the opening day of the Battle of Albert, which was the first phase of the British and French offensive that became known as the Battle of the Somme...
, 1 July 1916. The initial assault at 7.30am had failed completely and Montagu-Stuart-Wortley was called upon to renew the attack at midday, the neighbouring 56th Division having made some progress and needing support. With no artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
preparation or smoke screen, it was clear to Montagu-Stuart-Wortley that there was no prospect of success so at 3.30pm he ordered a token effort to be made by two companies. In the end only one platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
went over with only one man surviving unscathed.
The division's attack failed completely and it had the distinction of suffering the lowest casualties, 2 455 killed, wounded and missing, of all 13 British divisions involved on the day. In the opinion of the VII Corps commander, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Thomas D'Oyly Snow
Thomas D'Oyly Snow
Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas D’Oyly Snow KCB, KCMG was a British General in the First World War who commanded during some of the major battles of the Western Front. He had two nicknames, ‘Slush’ and ‘Snowball’, both plays on 'Snow'.-Education and early military career:Snow was born on 5 May 1858...
:
- "the 46th Division ... showed a lack of offensive spirit. I can only attribute this to the fact that its commander, Major-General the Hon. E.J. Montagu-Stuart-Wortley, is not of an age, neither has he the constitution, to allow him to be as much among his men in the front lines as is necessary to imbue all ranks with confidence and spirit."
General Allenby ordered a Court of Inquiry but on 5 July, before it had even delivered its findings, he sacked Montagu-Stuart-Wortley. Given that Montagu-Stuart-Wortley's orders prior to the attack had been "to occupy the ground that is won by the artillery" his dismissal remains a subject of controversy. According to Alan MacDonald, "the Division and its General were made scapegoats for the failure of a fatally flawed concept dreamt up by higher authority - the diversionary attack at Gommecourt".