Henry Lukin
Encyclopedia
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...

 Sir Henry Timson Lukin 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...

, 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...

 (24 May 1860 – 15 December 1925) was a South African military commander. He fought in the Anglo-Zulu War
Anglo-Zulu War
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.Following the imperialist scheme by which Lord Carnarvon had successfully brought about federation in Canada, it was thought that a similar plan might succeed with the various African kingdoms, tribal areas and...

 (1879) and the Basutoland Gun War (1880–1881), the Bechuanaland Campaign (1897), and the Anglo-Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

 when he was in command of the artillery during the defence of Wepener
Wepener
Wepener is a village in the Free State, South Africa, located on the border with Lesotho. The town is named after Louw Wepener, the leader of the Boers in their war with the Basotho chief Moshoeshoe I in 1865. It was founded in 1867 on the banks of Jammersbergspruit, a tributary of the Caledon...

 for which action he was awarded a Distinguished Service Order
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...

. From 1900 to 1901 he commanded the Cape Mounted Riflemen
Cape Mounted Riflemen
The Cape Mounted Riflemen were South African military units. There were two separate successive regiments of that name. Some military historians distinguish between them by labelling the first as "imperial" and the second as "colonial"....

, from 1904 to 1912 he was Commandant-General of the Cape Colonial Forces
Cape Colonial Forces
The Cape Colonial Forces were the official defence organisation of the Cape Colony in South Africa. Established in 1855, they were taken over by the Union of South Africa in 1910, and disbanded when the Union Defence Forces were formed in 1912....

 and in 1912 Inspector-General of the Permanent Force
Permanent Force
The Permanent Force was an integral part of both the South African Defence Force and the South West Africa Territorial Force and other British Commonwealth militaries. It consisted of all the full time volunteers, volunteers of auxiliaries and national servicemen....

 of the Union of South Africa
Union of South Africa
The Union of South Africa is the historic predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into being on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the previously separate colonies of the Cape, Natal, Transvaal and the Orange Free State...

.

Brig Gen Lukin transferred to the new Union Defence Forces
South African National Defence Force
The South African National Defence Force is the armed forces of South Africa. The military as it exists today was created in 1994, following South Africa's first post-apartheid national elections and the adoption of a new constitution...

 in 1912 as Inspector-General of the Permanent Force. He commanded a formation in the German South West Africa Campaign (1914–1915), and commanded the 1st South African Infantry Brigade of the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force
South African Overseas Expeditionary Force
The South African Overseas Expeditionary Force was a volunteer military organisation in World War I.-Organisation:The South African government formed the South African Overseas Expeditionary Force in July 1915, as its contribution to the British war effort against the Central Powers...

 in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 (1916) and 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...

 (1916), at Delville Wood
Delville Wood
The Battle of Delville Wood was one of the early engagements in the 1916 Battle of the Somme in the First World War. It took place between 14 July and 3 September, between the armies of the German Empire and allied British and South African forces...

 before being promoted to a divisional command in the 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...

. He was knighted for his war service, and retired in 1919.

Military career

Lukin was the only son of barrister-at-law Robert Henry Lukin of the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

; Henry or Harry Lukin, as he was usually known, had a sister two years younger and lost his mother when sixteen years old. Henry Lukin did not enter Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...

 despite a family military tradition. Following the death of his mother in 1867, Lukin instead sailed for Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...

 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...

 in January 1879 and was commissioned as lieutenant into the 77th Regiment of Bengough's Horse at the start of the Anglo-Zulu War
Anglo-Zulu War
The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom.Following the imperialist scheme by which Lord Carnarvon had successfully brought about federation in Canada, it was thought that a similar plan might succeed with the various African kingdoms, tribal areas and...

 during which he was seriously wounded at Ulundi in 1879. He transferred to the Cape Mounted Riflemen
Cape Mounted Riflemen
The Cape Mounted Riflemen were South African military units. There were two separate successive regiments of that name. Some military historians distinguish between them by labelling the first as "imperial" and the second as "colonial"....

 (CMR) on 23 March 1881 and participating in Basutoland Gun War that year. In 1893 he attended the gunnery and signal course at Woolwich
Woolwich
Woolwich is a district in south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...

 and Shoeburyness
Shoeburyness
Shoeburyness is a town in southeast Essex, England, situated at the mouth of the river Thames Estuary. It is within the borough of Southend-on-Sea, and is situated at the far east of the borough, around east of Southend town centre...

 in Britain and in 1894 he was promoted to Captain
Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)
Captain is a junior officer rank of the British Army and Royal Marines. It ranks above Lieutenant and below Major and has a NATO ranking code of OF-2. The rank is equivalent to a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and to a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force...

.

He participated in the Bechuanaland campaign in 1897 and was deployed with the Colonial Division in the Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...

 and Orange Free State
Orange Free State
The Orange Free State was an independent Boer republic in southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, and later a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa. It is the historical precursor to the present-day Free State province...

 in 1899 at the start of the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...

. On 13 October 1900 he was appointed as Commanding Officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of the CMR with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and on 1 June 1901 he was made Second-in-Command
Second-in-command
The Second-in-Command is the deputy commander of any British Army or Royal Marines unit, from battalion or regiment downwards. He or she is thus the equivalent of an Executive Officer in the United States Army...

 of Colonel H. Scobell
Henry Jenner Scobell
Major-General Sir Henry Jenner "Harry" Scobell KCVO CB was a British military leader who served as the last officer in command of Cape Colony before the formation of the Union of South Africa....

's column. Then on 10 October 1901 he was appointed as Commander of the column of Brevet Lt-Col George Frederick Gorringe
GF Gorringe
Lieutenant General Sir George Frederick Gorringe KCB, KCMG, DSO served as an active field commander in the British Army during the Anglo-Boer War, World War I, on the Palestine and Western Fronts.-Early life:...

 CMG DSO.

He remained in South Africa and went on to be Commander of No 1 Area, Queenstown
Queenstown, Eastern Cape
Queenstown, named after Queen Victoria, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly half way in between the towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom. It is currently the commercial, administrative, and educational centre of the prosperous surrounding farming district...

, Cape Colony in December 1901 and served as Commandant General of the Cape Colonial Forces
Cape Colonial Forces
The Cape Colonial Forces were the official defence organisation of the Cape Colony in South Africa. Established in 1855, they were taken over by the Union of South Africa in 1910, and disbanded when the Union Defence Forces were formed in 1912....

, CCF with the rank of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 from 1904. In 1910 he was the escort commander for first opening of the Parliament of the Union of South Africa
Parliament of South Africa
The Parliament of South Africa is South Africa's legislature and under the country's current Constitution is composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces....

 and the following year he became Commander of South African detachment to attend the coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...

 of King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....

.

On 1 July 1912 he was appointed as Inspector-General of the Permanent Force
Permanent Force
The Permanent Force was an integral part of both the South African Defence Force and the South West Africa Territorial Force and other British Commonwealth militaries. It consisted of all the full time volunteers, volunteers of auxiliaries and national servicemen....

s of the Union Defence Force
South African Defence Force
The South African Defence Force was the South African armed forces from 1957 until 1994. The former Union Defence Force was renamed to the South African Defence Force in the Defence Act of 1957...

 with the rank of Brigadier-General and in 1914 at the start of 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...

 he became commander of A-force for the occupation of German South-West Africa
German South-West Africa
German South West Africa was a colony of Germany from 1884 until 1915, when it was taken over by South Africa and administered as South West Africa, finally becoming Namibia in 1990...

. In November and December 1914 he took part in operations against the rebels and on 24 December 1914 he fought at the Battle of Sanfontein in German South-West Africa. In July 1915 he was appointed as Commander of the demobilising force in German South-West Africa and on 11 August 1915 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...

, the 1st South African Infantry Brigade.

In September 1915 he sailed for Britain and then in December 1915 he sailed for Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 to take part in the campaign against The Senussi Uprising. On 6 to 9 February 1916 he was acting commander of the Western Frontier Force
Western Frontier Force
The Western Frontier Force was a force of British Empire troops formed in response to the Senussi Uprising and coming under the command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force....

 in Egypt and on 26 February 1916 he commenced operations against the Senussi Uprising. In April 1916 he sailed for Marseilles and on 14 July 1916 the Battle of Delville Wood commenced. On 30 November 1916 he was appointed as General Officer Commanding, the 9th Scottish Division with the rank of Major-General. In 1917 he was appointed as a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and awarded the Order of the Nile, 3rd Class by the Sultan of Egypt. In March 1918 he was ppointed as General Officer Commanding of the 64th Division, Eastern Command
Eastern Command (United Kingdom)
-History:The Command was established in 1905 from the Fourth Army Corps and was based in London. Among the formations raised under its supervision in World War I was the 12th Division. Its headquarters was initially located at Horseguards in London. During World War II the Command relocated to...

in Britain before his retirement later that year.

On 26 March 1920 he sailed for Cape Town and in July 1921 he was appointed as Deputy Chair of the Delville Wood Memorial Committee. In 1924 he became a member of the Defence Council of South Africa and on 28 October 1924 he was appointed as president of a Defence Commission of Enquiry.
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