HENRY HUGHES WILSON

Field Marshal 'Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet', GCB, DSO, (5 May 1864 – 22 June 1922) was a British Field Marshal and Conservative Party politician. Wilson was killed by the Irish Republican Army in 1922.

Contents

Early Career

War Office

First World War

Death

References

Bibliography

External links

Early Career

Wilson was born in Currygrane, Ballinalee, County Longford, Ireland and was the second son of James and Constance Wilson, of Currygrane. He was educated at Marlborough College, and made unsuccessful attempts to get into the British Army colleges Royal Military Academy and Sandhurst between 1880 and 1882.
In 1882, he succeeded in being commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Longford Militia (which was a militia battalion of The Rifle Brigade) and then transferred to a regular battalion.^[1]
He served in the Third Burmese War where he received several serious wounds, including an eye wound and one which forced him to use a walking-stick for the rest of his life. He later worked in Intelligence Department of the War Office where his fluent French and German was useful.
In 1897, he became Brigade Major of the 3rd Brigade at Aldershot, and from 1899 to 1901 he saw active service during the Second Boer War with the 4th (Light) Brigade before becoming assistant military secretary to Lord Roberts and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

War Office

He returned to England in 1901 and spent some time as commander of the 9th Provisional Battalion, and the rest as a staff officer. Promotion followed in 1907 when he became a Brigadier-General and commanded the Staff College at Camberley, Surrey until 1910, when he became Director of Military Operations at the British War Office.
While there he advocated the landing of a British Expeditionary Force in France in case of German attack. The Naval Staff was against this idea, arguing that it would take too long to organise; the Germans would be halfway to Paris by the time it was done. Further, the four to six divisions Britain was expected to be able to muster would have little effect in a war with 70-80+ divisions on each side. They favoured keeping the Army at home, to be landed by the Navy at Antwerp or on the German coast, as the opportunity arose. Wilson, however, successfuly argued against the sailors, saying that the high quality of the British soliders and their use to strengthen the French left against the strong right wing of the German Schlieffen Plan would have an effect out of proportion to the numbers involved. Further, the British landing to fight alongside their allies would have an incalculable effect on French morale. He realized the organisational difficulties involved, though, and spent much time planning the deployment of the proposed British Expeditionary Force to France in the event of war. He even spent many of his leaves from duty cycling around Belgium and Northern France so as to know every detail of the lands that would be defended in case of war.

First World War

In 1914, he surreptitiously supported British Army officers who refused to lead troops against Ulster Unionists opponents of Third Irish Home Rule Bill in the Curragh Mutiny. This damaged his career and he was not appointed Chief of Staff to Sir John French. At the start of the First World War, he was liaison officer to the French Army but, due to his poor relations with Philippe Pétain, was replaced. From December 1915 until December 1916, he commanded IV Corps in France.
In September 1917, he took over the Eastern Command, which allowed him to live in London and worked closely with Prime Minister David Lloyd George. In February 1918, he was promoted to Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), effectively the head of the British army, appointed to the Supreme War Council and was the principal military adviser to Lloyd George in the last year of the First World War.

After the war, on July 3 1919, he was promoted to British Field Marshal, awarded £10,000 by the British Parliament and made a baronet. At the Paris Peace Conference, he acted as Britain's chief military adviser but found himself in increasing disagreement with Lloyd George. He resigned from the army and became a Member of Parliament for North Down. After 1921 he was Sir James Craig's parliament's military adviser.

Death

On June 22 1922, two English-born members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Reginald Dunne and Joseph O'Sullivan, shot and killed Sir Henry Wilson as he returned to his house at 36 Eaton Place in London after unveiling a war memorial in Liverpool Street Station. Two policemen were also shot as the pair tried to make good their escape. They were then surrounded by a crowd and arrested by other policemen. They were convicted of murder and hanged on August 10 1922.
Dwyer, T. Ryle suggests that the shooting of Wilson was ordered by Irish Free State General and Commander-in-Chief Michael Collins^[2] in retaliation for the continuing troubles in Northern Ireland.
The Field Marshal is buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, between Lord Roberts and Lord Wolseley.

References

1. Hughes Wilson&selMedalType=&selHonourType= The London Gazette 19 Dec 1882
2. Dwyer, T. Ryle (2005) ''The Squad'', Dublin, pp.256-258

Bibliography

★ ''Field-Marshal Sir Henry Wilson: His Life and Diaries'', Major-General Sir C E Callwell, Cassell, 1927.

★ ''The British Field Marshals 1736-1997'', Tony Heathcote, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 1999, ISBN 0-85052-696-5

External links

★ 1914-1918.net

★ firstworldwar.com

★ Stephen's Study Room

★ Freedom Party

★ Belfast Telegraph 1922