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British Army officer (1866–1939) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Major-General Sir George Townshend Forestier-Walker KCB (2 August 1866 – 23 January 1939) was a senior British Army officer during World War I.[2]
Sir George Forestier-Walker | |
---|---|
Birth name | George Townshend Forestier Walker |
Born | Camberley, Surrey, England[1] | 2 August 1866
Died | 23 January 1939 72) Child Okeford, Dorsetshire, England | (aged
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1884–1920 |
Rank | Major-General |
Unit | Royal Artillery |
Commands | 21st Division 27th Division |
Battles/wars | Second Boer War World War I |
Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath |
Forestier-Walker was born in Camberley, the third son of Major-General George Edmund Lushington Walker and Camilla Georgina Calder, only daughter of Major-General J. Patrick Calder. The grandson of Sir George Townshend Walker, 1st Baronet, he was from an illustrious military family. He was educated at Rugby School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[3]
Forestier-Walker was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1884[4] and served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General during the Second Boer War.[5] He became Chief Staff Officer of the Somaliland Field Force in 1902, Assistant Quartermaster General for Intelligence for the Somaliland Field Force in 1903 and saw action again during the East Africa Campaign before becoming Assistant Quartermaster General at Southern Command in 1910.[5] He went on to be brigadier-general on the General Staff of Irish Command in 1912.[5]
Forestier-Walker served in World War I initially as Chief of Staff of II Corps, which went to France with the British Expeditionary Force.[5] He was promoted to the temporary rank of major general[6] and became general officer commanding (GOC) of the 21st Division, a Kitchener's Army formation, in April 1915 and, after leaving with his division first the Western Front, fought at the battle of Loos in September.[5] He went on to command the 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division in the Home Forces from February 1916 and to command the 65th (2nd Lowland) Division from September 1916, also in the Home Forces.[7] In December 1916 he became GOC 27th Division serving as part of the British Salonika Army and eventually, after the Armistice of Mudros, at Tiflis in Georgia.[8]
He retired from the army in 1920 and became Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery in 1931.[5][2]
In 1892, he married Lady Mary Maud Diana Liddell, daughter of Henry Liddell, 2nd Earl of Ravensworth. They had two sons, both of whom died young, and two daughters:[3]
He died at Child Okeford, Blandford, aged 72.
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