Richard Hutton Davies
Encyclopedia
Major General
Richard Hutton Davies CB
(14 August 1861 – 9 May 1918) was an officer of the New Zealand Army
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the first New Zealander to command an independent force overseas and one of the most senior New Zealand officers during the First World War.
Born in London, he emigrated to New Zealand after leaving school, where he worked as a surveyor
. He joined a volunteer militia unit in 1893, and went to South Africa as an officer with the first New Zealand contingent sent to the Boer War
in 1899. He later commanded the third, fourth and eighth contingents, becoming the first New Zealand officer to command an independent unit on active service overseas. Following his return to New Zealand, he became inspector-general of the Defence Forces
, and in 1909 was attached to a British Army brigade to gain staff experience.
This led to him being offered command of 6th Brigade, a regular infantry brigade of British troops, in 1910; he was the first colonial officer to hold such a position. In the summer of 1914 the brigade was mobilised with the British Expeditionary Force, and he commanded it at the Battle of Mons
and the First Battle of the Aisne
before being invalided back to England due to exhaustion. He was given command of the newly formed 20th (Light) Division, which he took to France in 1915, but was relieved of command early in 1916. After a period in command of a reserve centre in Staffordshire, he was sent to hospital suffering from both mental and physical ill health, and committed suicide in May 1918.
. After leaving school, he emigrated to New Zealand
, where he spent two years working for a relative before settling at Taranaki, setting up a farm and practising as a surveyor. He married Ida Mary Cornwall in February 1886; they had two sons and a daughter. One son, Henry Cornwall Davies, served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force
during the First World War, and, like his father, transferred to the British Army in 1915, becoming a captain in the Royal Engineers
. Ida died in pregnancy with their fourth child in December 1906; he remarried, to Ida's sister Eileen Kathleen Cornwall, in May 1908.
In October 1887 Davies became the surveyor to the Manganui
Road Board. On 10 April 1893, he joined the Hawera Mounted Rifle Volunteers, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in May 1895; he was quickly promoted to captain six weeks later, becoming the commander of the unit. He was also active in local government, and in February 1897 was elected a member of the New Plymouth
Harbour Board, representing Taranaki North.
, however, was declared a week later; Davies was quickly seconded to command a company of the volunteer First New Zealand Contingent being sent to the Cape. The contingent sailed on 21 October, arrived in late November, and was on active service within a week. Davies was promoted to Major in May 1900, and in the same month was given temporary command of the Third New Zealand Contingent. He was transferred to the Rhodesian Field Force, where he commanded the Fourth New Zealand Contingent in August 1900.
He established a high professional reputation commanding the unit, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), as well as winning the respect of his men - one described him as "not only liked but loved". A soldier wrote home calling Davies, who stood five feet six inches tall, "a grand little chap", whilst another noted with pleasure that Davies objected to "Imperial ideas of discipline" being forced upon his men.
After being mentioned in despatches in May 1901 he returned home to command the Auckland Military District, but was ordered back to South Africa in command of the eighth New Zealand Contingent, in February 1902, with the brevet rank of colonel. The contingent operated as a single unit, unlike its predecessors, and Davies became the first officer from New Zealand to command an independent force on active service overseas.
s and became a member of the Council of Defence, the body responsible for controlling the dominion's military forces. The position of inspector-general, newly created that year, was originally expected to go to an "Imperial" - that is, British - officer, but the government had announced it planned to rotate New Zealand officers in the role, on up to five-year terms, so as to allow them to gain experience.
Davies threw himself into the role, travelling around the country and inspecting local units to gain an overall idea of their efficiency. Even under favourable circumstances, however, he found that only 54% of the volunteers attended parades in 1906; at the annual camps, the proportion was as low as 45%. He pressed for greater use of active day-time tactical training rather than evening indoors drill, which he felt was key for a part-time volunteer force, and for a greater emphasis on the training and standards of officers. By the end of his second year in office, he had organised local selection boards for appointing officers, and a central promotion board for senior field officers, as well as mandatory regular fitness and efficiency tests.
As a member of the Council of Defence, he strongly supported the movement for universal military training - not conventional conscription
, but rather a form of basic military training on a part-time basis for all adult men - arguing that it would mean "the flower of the nation would be the soldiers, not the weeds".
Davies' tenure in command of 6th Brigade was due to expire in October 1914, when he was to hand over command to John Keir
, and it was rumoured in New Zealand that he might be appointed as general officer commanding
the home forces in 1915, succeeding Alexander Godley
. However, with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, his command was mobilised as part of 2nd Division in the British Expeditionary Force and sent to France. The brigade saw heavy combat at the Battle of Mons
, where Davies was mentioned in despatches, but he was quickly worn down by his habit of always marching at the head of his brigade, which put him under heavy physical and mental strain, and from the lasting effects of an attack of pneumonia
earlier in the year. One report described him as "much changed, full of nerves ... very jumpy". He was relieved of command after the First Battle of the Aisne
in September and ordered home, replaced by Colonel Robert Fanshawe
, formerly GSO 1 of 1st Division, on 20 September.
He was appointed a divisional commander, with the rank of temporary major-general, on 19 October 1914, and took command of the newly-raised 20th (Light) Division at some point in September–October. This made him the first New Zealand officer to command a division in the War. On 18 February 1915, he was formally transferred to the British Army, and promoted to major-general. The 20th Division moved to France in July 1915, and he commanded it during a minor operation in September, but handed over command on 8 March 1916 due to ill-health. He was appointed to command a reserve centre at Cannock Chase
, Staffordshire, where the arrival of elements of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade
in September 1917 meant that he once again had the opportunity to command his own countrymen. He was relieved of command by General Robert Wanless O'Gowan in March 1918, and on 9 May 1918, after a prolonged period of physical and mental ill health, he committed suicide at the Special Neurological Hospital for Officers, Kensington.
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...
Richard Hutton Davies 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...
(14 August 1861 – 9 May 1918) was an officer of the New Zealand Army
New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...
during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the first New Zealander to command an independent force overseas and one of the most senior New Zealand officers during the First World War.
Born in London, he emigrated to New Zealand after leaving school, where he worked as a surveyor
Surveying
See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...
. He joined a volunteer militia unit in 1893, and went to South Africa as an officer with the first New Zealand contingent sent to the Boer War
Boer War
The Boer Wars were two wars fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics, the Oranje Vrijstaat and the Republiek van Transvaal ....
in 1899. He later commanded the third, fourth and eighth contingents, becoming the first New Zealand officer to command an independent unit on active service overseas. Following his return to New Zealand, he became inspector-general of the Defence Forces
New Zealand Defence Force
The New Zealand Defence Force consists of three services: the Royal New Zealand Navy; the New Zealand Army; and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of the NZDF is His Excellency Rt. Hon...
, and in 1909 was attached to a British Army brigade to gain staff experience.
This led to him being offered command of 6th Brigade, a regular infantry brigade of British troops, in 1910; he was the first colonial officer to hold such a position. In the summer of 1914 the brigade was mobilised with the British Expeditionary Force, and he commanded it at the Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
and the First Battle of the Aisne
First Battle of the Aisne
The First Battle of the Aisne was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army & Second Army as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne earlier in September 1914...
before being invalided back to England due to exhaustion. He was given command of the newly formed 20th (Light) Division, which he took to France in 1915, but was relieved of command early in 1916. After a period in command of a reserve centre in Staffordshire, he was sent to hospital suffering from both mental and physical ill health, and committed suicide in May 1918.
Early life and family
Davies was born in London, the son of a journalist, and was educated at Hurstpierpoint CollegeHurstpierpoint College
Hurstpierpoint College is an independent, co-educational, day and boarding school for pupils aged 4–18, located just to the north of the village of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex in the lee of the South Downs...
. After leaving school, he emigrated to New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, where he spent two years working for a relative before settling at Taranaki, setting up a farm and practising as a surveyor. He married Ida Mary Cornwall in February 1886; they had two sons and a daughter. One son, Henry Cornwall Davies, served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force
New Zealand Expeditionary Force
The New Zealand Expeditionary Force was the title of the military forces sent from New Zealand to fight for Britain during World War I and World War II. Ultimately, the NZEF of World War I was known as the First New Zealand Expeditionary Force...
during the First World War, and, like his father, transferred to the British Army in 1915, becoming a captain in 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....
. Ida died in pregnancy with their fourth child in December 1906; he remarried, to Ida's sister Eileen Kathleen Cornwall, in May 1908.
In October 1887 Davies became the surveyor to the Manganui
Manganui
Manganui Ski Area, located in Taranaki, in New Zealand's North Island is a club skifield. Like all club fields, it has accommodation onsite, in the form of the 33-bed Manganui Lodge. It has 3 rope ski tows and a T-bar covering a beginner-intermediate terrain of 59 hectares. The elevation ranges...
Road Board. On 10 April 1893, he joined the Hawera Mounted Rifle Volunteers, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in May 1895; he was quickly promoted to captain six weeks later, becoming the commander of the unit. He was also active in local government, and in February 1897 was elected a member of the New Plymouth
New Plymouth
New Plymouth is the major city of the Taranaki Region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, England, from where the first English settlers migrated....
Harbour Board, representing Taranaki North.
South Africa
On 3 October 1899 Davies transferred into the Permanent Force of the New Zealand Militia, where he was made responsible for the training of volunteer mounted units. The Boer WarSecond 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...
, however, was declared a week later; Davies was quickly seconded to command a company of the volunteer First New Zealand Contingent being sent to the Cape. The contingent sailed on 21 October, arrived in late November, and was on active service within a week. Davies was promoted to Major in May 1900, and in the same month was given temporary command of the Third New Zealand Contingent. He was transferred to the Rhodesian Field Force, where he commanded the Fourth New Zealand Contingent in August 1900.
He established a high professional reputation commanding the unit, and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), as well as winning the respect of his men - one described him as "not only liked but loved". A soldier wrote home calling Davies, who stood five feet six inches tall, "a grand little chap", whilst another noted with pleasure that Davies objected to "Imperial ideas of discipline" being forced upon his men.
After being mentioned in despatches in May 1901 he returned home to command the Auckland Military District, but was ordered back to South Africa in command of the eighth New Zealand Contingent, in February 1902, with the brevet rank of colonel. The contingent operated as a single unit, unlike its predecessors, and Davies became the first officer from New Zealand to command an independent force on active service overseas.
Military reform
Returning to New Zealand in late 1902, Davies resumed command of the Auckland military district. He held command until 1906, when he was appointed inspector-general of the New Zealand Defence ForceNew Zealand Defence Force
The New Zealand Defence Force consists of three services: the Royal New Zealand Navy; the New Zealand Army; and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of the NZDF is His Excellency Rt. Hon...
s and became a member of the Council of Defence, the body responsible for controlling the dominion's military forces. The position of inspector-general, newly created that year, was originally expected to go to an "Imperial" - that is, British - officer, but the government had announced it planned to rotate New Zealand officers in the role, on up to five-year terms, so as to allow them to gain experience.
Davies threw himself into the role, travelling around the country and inspecting local units to gain an overall idea of their efficiency. Even under favourable circumstances, however, he found that only 54% of the volunteers attended parades in 1906; at the annual camps, the proportion was as low as 45%. He pressed for greater use of active day-time tactical training rather than evening indoors drill, which he felt was key for a part-time volunteer force, and for a greater emphasis on the training and standards of officers. By the end of his second year in office, he had organised local selection boards for appointing officers, and a central promotion board for senior field officers, as well as mandatory regular fitness and efficiency tests.
As a member of the Council of Defence, he strongly supported the movement for universal military training - not conventional conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, but rather a form of basic military training on a part-time basis for all adult men - arguing that it would mean "the flower of the nation would be the soldiers, not the weeds".
British service
After three years as Inspector-General, and in order to gain staff experience, Davies was attached as an observer to a number of units in the United Kingdom in 1909-10. During this time, he also attended the Imperial Defence Conference and represented the New Zealand forces at the funeral of King Edward VII. At the end of the one-year attachment, he had so impressed the British Army that they offered him an appointment as commander of 6th Brigade in October 1910, with the temporary rank of brigadier-general. As such, he became the first overseas officer to command an regular brigade, only eleven years after taking up a permanent military commission.Davies' tenure in command of 6th Brigade was due to expire in October 1914, when he was to hand over command to John Keir
John Keir
Lieutenant General Sir John Lindesay Keir KCB was a British Army officer during the Boer War and the First World War. After early service in the Royal Artillery, he commanded the 6th Division in the British Expeditionary Force when it was mobilised in 1914, and was later promoted to lead VI Corps...
, and it was rumoured in New Zealand that he might be appointed as 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 home forces in 1915, succeeding Alexander Godley
Alexander Godley
General Sir Alexander John Godley GCB, KCMG was a First World War general, best known for his role as commander of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force...
. However, with the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, his command was mobilised as part of 2nd Division in the British Expeditionary Force and sent to France. The brigade saw heavy combat at the Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
, where Davies was mentioned in despatches, but he was quickly worn down by his habit of always marching at the head of his brigade, which put him under heavy physical and mental strain, and from the lasting effects of an attack of pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
earlier in the year. One report described him as "much changed, full of nerves ... very jumpy". He was relieved of command after the First Battle of the Aisne
First Battle of the Aisne
The First Battle of the Aisne was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army & Second Army as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne earlier in September 1914...
in September and ordered home, replaced by Colonel Robert Fanshawe
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...
, formerly GSO 1 of 1st Division, on 20 September.
He was appointed a divisional commander, with the rank of temporary major-general, on 19 October 1914, and took command of the newly-raised 20th (Light) Division at some point in September–October. This made him the first New Zealand officer to command a division in the War. On 18 February 1915, he was formally transferred to the British Army, and promoted to major-general. The 20th Division moved to France in July 1915, and he commanded it during a minor operation in September, but handed over command on 8 March 1916 due to ill-health. He was appointed to command a reserve centre at Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase
Cannock Chase is a mixed area of countryside in the county of Staffordshire, England. The area has been designated as the Cannock Chase Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Chase gives its name to the Cannock Chase local government district....
, Staffordshire, where the arrival of elements of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade
New Zealand Rifle Brigade
The New Zealand Rifle Brigade , affectionately known as The Dinks, was formed on 1 May 1915 as the 3rd Brigade of the New Zealand Division, part of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. During the first World War it fought in Egypt, against the Senussi, and then on the Western Front...
in September 1917 meant that he once again had the opportunity to command his own countrymen. He was relieved of command by General Robert Wanless O'Gowan in March 1918, and on 9 May 1918, after a prolonged period of physical and mental ill health, he committed suicide at the Special Neurological Hospital for Officers, Kensington.