Maynard undertook officer training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and then joined the Devonshire Regiment in 1890.[2] The following year, he was promoted to lieutenant and posted to Burma where he was given command of a mounted infantry unit.[1] He saw active service during the Burmese resistance for which he was awarded the India General Service Medal with "Burma 1889–92" clasp.[2] He returned to England and undertook the gymnastic course at Aldershot in 1894, and was then posted to Malta as Superintendent of Gymnasia.[1][2] He was then posted to India where he was involved in the Tirah campaign, for which he received the India Medal with "Tirah 1897–98" clasp.[2] He remained in India, and served as a railway transport officer and then as a station staff officer in the Punjab between 1898 and 1899.[1]
In February 1899, Maynard was promoted to captain and returned to England where he was posted to the Second Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.[1] In October 1899, he departed with his battalion to fight in the Second Boer War in South Africa.[1] He remained in the country for the next three years, first serving on the front line and then as a staff officer specialising in press censorship from September 1901 until the end of the war in May 1902.[1][3] He was mentioned in despatches three times and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1900.[2][4] One of his mentions, in November 1900, was for his service as second-in-command of the Imperial Light Infantry.[5][6] By the end of the war, he had qualified for the Queen's South Africa Medal with 6 clasps and the King's South Africa Medal with 2 clasps.[2]
After returning to England from South Africa, Maynard attended Staff College from 1903 to 1904.[2] His first post after graduating was as brigade major of the 7th Infantry Brigade, Southern Command between March 1905 and July 1907.[2][7][8] He then served in the General Staff at Army Headquarters from 1907 to 1914.[2] He was promoted to major on 2 November 1910.[9] One of his duties while attached to the War Office's Directorate of Military Operations was "concerned with providing liaison with the Dominion forces in the event of a European war".[1]
First World War
During the First World War, he served in various staff and command appointments.[10] Having re-joined his regiment, he was posted to France in August 1914 with the British Expeditionary Force as a company commander in the 1st Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.[1] In September 1914, he returned to being a staff officer attached to the General Staff, with the appointment of "deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general" for the 3rd Division.[1][11] However, only one month later he took command of the 1st Battalion and led them during the Battle of La Bassée in October 1914.[2] On 18 February 1915, he was promoted to brevetlieutenant colonel as a reward for "services rendered in connection with Operations in the Field".[12] He then served as assistant quartermaster-general, first for the II Corps and then for the Third Army.[1] In August 1915, he was once more given a command, this time of the 13th Infantry Brigade, 5th Infantry Division,[1][2] and made a temporarybrigadier-general.[13] However, he was soon taken ill, and although he returned to command his brigade briefly, he then took months away from the front-line to recover: without this illness, he was likely to have gone on to command a division.[1]
Having recovered from his illness, Maynard was appointed to the staff of the British Salonika Army in August 1916, "for special liaison duties with the French".[1] Having reverted back to the rank of lieutenant colonel, he was made a general staff officer 1st grade on 5 August 1916.[14][15] In January 1917, he was once more given a command as brigade commander of the 82nd Brigade in the 27th Division and promoted to temporary brigadier-general.[1][16] After almost one year in command on the Macedonian Front, he was once more taken ill and was invalided to England.[1]
Russia
Maynard (left) with a White Russian general in 1919
After convalescing in England, Maynard was selected in May 1918 to command the Allied Land Forces at Murmansk as part of the North Russia intervention.[1][17] He was promoted to temporary major-general on 24 May 1918.[18] He served in North Russia from 23 June 1918 to 20 September 1919.[10] His assignment was to protect the Russian coast from the advancing Germans and to act as a rallying point for the White Russians who were fighting in the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks.[1] He arrived in Russia in June 1918 with approximately 600 men, and took command of a force consisting of 2,500 troops: the force was multi-national and included British, French, Finns, Russians, Poles, Serbs, and American personnel.[1][10] Their main opposition was the 100,000 strong force under the command of Rüdiger von der Goltz, until the armistice of 11 November 1918.[1]
Under his command, the troops secured Murmansk and extended inland to secure 10,000 square miles of Russian territory, setting up a system of defences and strong lines of communications.[1] By July 1918, his troops controlled the Murmansk Railroad for 250 miles, reaching as far south as Belomorsk.[10] They continued advancing during the 1918/1919 winter, reaching the town of Segezha.[10] During the spring, they had advanced to 550 miles from Murmansk.[10] He was promoted to substantivecolonel on 2 June 1919, while maintaining the temporary rank of major-general.[19] In September 1919, Maynard was once more taken ill, and returned home to England.[10] The following month, the multi-national force, now under the command of Brigadier-General H. C. Jackson, evacuated from Murmansk ending their involvement in the region.[10]
Maynard would go on to publish a book about his time in Russia, and summarised its unique scenario: "it was carried out by one of the most motley forces ever created for the purpose of military operations, and under climatic conditions never experienced previously by British troops".[20]: vii
Later career
On 1 December 1919, Maynard relinquished the rank of major-general, having ceased to command the Allied Forces, Murmansk, thereby reverting to the rank of colonel.[21] He was also placed on the half-pay list on the same date.[22] Having recovered from his illness, he was appointed brigadier-in-charge (administration) at Western Command in 1920.[2] He was promoted to substantive major general on 3 January 1923.[23] He retired from the British Army on 25 July 1925 "on account of ill-health contracted on active service".[24]
In 1909, Maynard married Dorothy Agnes Davidson. Together they had one son and one daughter.[2]
In retirement, Maynard wrote his memoires of the North Russia intervention and this was published as The Murmansk Venture in 1928.[1] He held the honorary appointment of colonel of The Devonshire Regiment between 1930 and 1943.[2]
Maynard died on 28 June 1945 in Bexhill, Sussex, England; he was aged 74.[2][1]
Selected works
Major-General C. Maynard (1928). The Murmansk Venture. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
References
^ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvw"Obituary: Major General Sir Charles Maynard". The Times. No. 50182. 30 June 1945. p. 6.
^"No. 31388". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 June 1919. p. 7268. Major-General C. C. M. Maynard, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., Commanding-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces, Murmansk District
