John Ponsonby (British Army officer)
Sir John Ponsonby | |
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Born | Windsor, Berkshire, England[1] | 25 March 1866
Died | 26 March 1952 Haile, Cumbria, England | (aged 86)
Buried | Haile Parish Church, Haile, Cumbria, England[1] |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1888–1928 |
Rank | Major General |
Unit | Coldstream Guards |
Commands | Madras District 5th Division 40th Division 2nd Guards Brigade |
Battles/wars | Second Boer War First World War |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order Mentioned in Despatches |
Major General Sir John Ponsonby, KCB, CMG, DSO (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952) was a British Army officer who commanded the 5th Division during the last year of the First World War.
Military career
[edit]Born the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby and educated at Eton College, Ponsonby was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters in March 1886.[2] After transferring to the Royal Irish Rifles (later the Royal Ulster Rifles) in November 1887,[3] he was transferred into the Coldstream Guards, and the Regular Army, in August 1888.[4][5]
He served in Uganda from 1898 and was seconded for service in the Second Boer War in South Africa in March 1900, and attached to the Rhodesian Field Force.[6] He was again sent to South Africa in February 1902.[7][5]
Ponsonby fought in the First World War, initially, after receiving a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general in August 1915,[8] as commander of the 2nd Guards Brigade, part of the Guards Division, and then as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 40th Division from 1917, leading his division at the Battle of Cambrai.[9] In July 1918 he went on to become GOC 5th Division, remaining in that role until the end of the war.[9]
After the war Ponsonby became GOC Madras District of India.[9] He retired from the army in 1926.[10]
Family
[edit]In 1935 Ponsonby married Mary (Mollie) Robley; they had no children.[9] He lived at Haile Hall near Beckermet in Cumbria.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Major General Sir John Ponsonby (1866-1952) -..." www.findagrave.com.
- ^ "No. 25571". The London Gazette. 23 March 1886. p. 1414.
- ^ "No. 25758". The London Gazette. 15 November 1887. p. 6066.
- ^ "No. 25846". The London Gazette. 14 August 1888. p. 4367.
- ^ a b Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour (Volume 2) by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, p. 132.
- ^ "The War – The Rhodesian Field Force". The Times. No. 36091. London. 16 March 1900. p. 6.
- ^ "No. 27413". The London Gazette. 4 March 1902. p. 1538.
- ^ "No. 29307". The London Gazette. 24 September 1915. p. 9436.
- ^ a b c d e The Times, 20 May 2004.
- ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- 1866 births
- 1952 deaths
- Italian front (World War I)
- British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
- People educated at Eton College
- British Army generals of World War I
- Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
- Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Coldstream Guards officers
- Ponsonby family
- Royal Ulster Rifles officers
- Sherwood Foresters officers
- British Militia officers
- Burials in Cumbria
- Military personnel from Windsor, Berkshire