Eric Thesiger

Thesiger in 1926

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Eric Richard Thesiger DSO, TD (17 February 1874 – 2 October 1961),[1] styled The Honourable from 1878, was a British soldier and page to Queen Victoria.

Background

Born in London on 17 February 1874,[1][2] Thesiger was the fourth son of General Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford and his wife Adria Fanny Heath, daughter of Major-General John Coussamker Heath.[1][3] His older brothers were Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, later Viceroy of India, and the diplomat Wilfred Gilbert Thesiger.[1][3] Thesiger was educated at Winchester College and in 1884 he was nominated Page of Honour to the Queen, a post he fulfilled for the following six years.[4] In 1893, he became a Staff Commissioner of Police.[4]

Career

Thesiger joined the Imperial Yeomanry as a private during the Second Boer War,[5] and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 15th Battalion on 29 November 1900.[6] On 1 November 1901 he was promoted to captain in the battalion, with the temporary rank of captain in the Army.[7] He stayed in South Africa until the war ended in June 1902, left Port Elizabeth for Southampton on the SS Colombian the following month,[8] and relinquished his commission in the Imperial Yeomanry on 3 September 1902, when he was granted the honorary rank of captain in the Army.[9] In late 1902 he became a second lieutenant in the Surrey Yeomanry.[10] He was a major when the Yeomanry were transferred into the Territorial Force in 1908.[11]

He served during World War I, in various roles,[a] returning in July 1917 to command C Squadron, Surrey Yeomanry,[12] which at the time was serving as part of III Corps Cavalry Regiment. The regiment was then broken up and the yeomen retrained as infantry. In September Thesiger and C Sqn joined 10th (Service) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (Battersea), where he became second-in-command.[13][14][15] Shortly afterwards he was transferred to a battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps,[14] but rejoined 10th Queen's as its temporary commander after the German spring offensive.[16] He was then appointed to command 10th (Service) Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment (Kent County) for the rest of the war. He relinquished his command and temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 13 May 1919.[17]

During the war he had been wounded twice and mentioned in despatches twice.[1][4][18] In June 1919 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)[1][19] and in August, he received the Territorial Decoration (TD).[1][20] He was made an Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium and also awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre in October.[1][21] On 2 November 1919 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the Territorial Force Reserve.[22]

He retired from the Territorial Army Reserve in 1929, having reached the age limit.[23]

Family

On 29 October 1904, he married firstly Pearl Marie Coupland, only daughter of John Coupland, and had by her a daughter, Desiree, and two sons, Osric Wilfred, who served in the Indian Army, and Cedric Paul, an architect.[1] His wife died in 1922, and on 3 October 1929 Thesiger remarried Sydney Hilda Hutton-Croft, daughter of George Arthur Hutton-Croft and widow of Maj George Du Plat Taylor, but she died on 16 July 1930.[1] He married thirdly Mary Pudsey, daughter of Reverend F. W. Pudsey, on 27 March 1953. His third wife also died the next year, and Thesiger survived her until 1961.

Footnote

  1. ^ The C Squadron war diary cryptically refers to the 'unexpected return of Major Thesiger who rejoined his unit after 21⁄2 year's absence spent in acquiring military knowledge in other branches of the service'.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 100th Edn, London, 1953: 'Chelmsford'.
  2. ^ "Life story: Hon. Eric Richard Thesiger | Lives of the First World War".
  3. ^ a b Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. Vol. II. London: Hurst & Blackett. p. 1917.
  4. ^ a b c Who Is Who 1935. London: A. & C. Black Ltd. 1935. p. 3340.
  5. ^ Whitaker's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage. J. Whitaker & Sons. 1923. p. 193.
  6. ^ "No. 27251". The London Gazette. 27 November 1900. p. 7823.
  7. ^ "No. 27385". The London Gazette. 10 December 1901. p. 8717.
  8. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36821. London. 16 July 1902. p. 11.
  9. ^ "No. 27474". The London Gazette. 16 September 1902. p. 5960.
  10. ^ "No. 27513". The London Gazette. 6 September 1903. p. 112.
  11. ^ "No. 28159". The London Gazette. 17 July 1908. p. 5222.
  12. ^ a b C Sqn Surrey Yeomanry War Diary March 1916–July 1917, The National Archives (TNA), Kew, file WO 95/700/3.
  13. ^ Brig E.A. James, British Regiments 1914–18, London: Samson Books, 1978, ISBN 0-906304-03-2/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2001, ISBN 978-1-84342-197-9, p. 29.
  14. ^ a b Paul McCue, Wandsworth and Battersea Battalions in the Great War, 1915–1918, Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 202, ISBN 978-1-84884194-9, p. 217.
  15. ^ "No. 30584". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 March 1918. p. 3449.
  16. ^ 10th Queen's War Diary, May 1916–December 1918 at Queen's Royal Surrey site.
  17. ^ "No. 31428". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 July 1919. p. 8314.
  18. ^ "No. 31435". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 July 1919. p. 8505.
  19. ^ "No. 31370". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1919. p. 6820.
  20. ^ "No. 31511". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 August 1919. p. 10551.
  21. ^ "No. 31615". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 October 1919. p. 12996.
  22. ^ "No. 31626". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 November 1919. p. 13406.
  23. ^ "No. 33470". The London Gazette. 26 February 1929. p. 1348.
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