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....

 Sir George Montague Harper KCB

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...

, 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...

 (11 January 1865 – 15 December 1922) 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.

Military career

George Harper was commissioned into the Royal Engineers

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

 in 1894. In 1899 he was deployed to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 were he joined 37th Field Company RE

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

 and saw action at Spion Kop

Spion Kop

Spion Kop may refer to:* Battle of Spion Kop, a battle fought during the Second Boer War in 1900 on Spioenkop , a hill in South Africa.* Spion Kop is a name for a number of sports terraces and stands....

, Val Kranz, Tugela Heights and Pieter's Hill. He was awarded the 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...

 in 1901 for his service in South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

.

He served in 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...

 and in February 1915 was given command of 17th Infantry Brigade. In September 1915 he took command of the 51st (Highland) Division

British 51st (Highland) Division (World War I)

The 51st Division was a British Territorial Force division that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War. The division's insignia was a stylised 'HD' inside a red circle. Early doubts about the division's performance earned it the nickname of "Harper's Duds" after the...

 which saw action 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...

, the Battle of Arras

Battle of Arras (1917)

The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....

 and the Battle of Cambrai. The 51st Division was described as "one of the two or three best divisions in France" under Harper's leadership. From March 1918 until the end of the war he commanded IV Corps in the British 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...

.

After the War, in 1919, he became General Officer Commanding

General Officer Commanding

General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...

-in-Chief of Southern Command

Southern Command (United Kingdom)

-History:The Command was established in 1905 from the Second Army Corps and was initially based at Tidworth but in 1949 moved to Fugglestone Farm near Wilton in Wiltshire....

. He was killed in a car accident in December 1922.

He was awarded the CB in 1915 and the KCB in 1918.

External links

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