Raymond Reade

Raymond Reade
Reade in 1917
Bornc. 1861
Chelsea, London, England
Died (aged 83)
Samford, Suffolk,[1] England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1880–1920
RankMajor General
Commands68th (2nd Welsh) Division
59th (2nd North Midland) Division
Straits Settlements
Royal Military College of Canada
Battles / warsFirst World War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath[2]
Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George
Commander of the Royal Order of George I (Greece)
Medal of Military Merit, 1st Class (Greece)

Major General Raymond Northland Revell Reade, CB, CMG (c. 1861 – 18 October 1943) was a British Army general and Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada.

Background

Born in Chelsea, London,[3] he was the son of John Page Reade and his wife Lady Mary Stuart Knox, daughter of Thomas Knox, 2nd Earl of Ranfurly. He was educated at Eton College and went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[4]

Military career

Reade as a young officer.

Reade was commissioned into the 85th Regiment of Foot on 14 January 1880.[5]

After serving as a temporary major[6] in West Africa, he served as commandant of Royal Military College of Canada from 1901 to 1905. His criticism of poor RMC examination marks in French, physics and chemistry in 1901 and surveying and physics 1904 led to reforms at the college: smaller classes for French, entrance tests in physics and chemistry, and separate instructors for physics and surveying. He also built up the RMC library and extended library privileges to Permanent Force Officers in the Kingston, Ontario, area. A 25-bed hospital was also constructed adjacent to the education block, and a large gymnasium was constructed south of the Stone Frigate. He secured quarters for the staff-adjutant and his family in what was later called Panet House, after the first resident. He built an extension to the rear of the Stone Frigate for bathroom facilities.[7]

Reade, promoted to colonel in February 1907,[8] served in Malta and Scotland and became General Officer Commanding the Troops in the Straits Settlements in 1914. Poor health prevented his active service in the First World War, but he commanded the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division from November 1915 to February 1916, and the 68th (2nd Welsh) Division for most of 1916 while the formation was under training in the UK.[9] He was the British representative on the Inter-Allied Military Mission to Greece in 1918, for which he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Order of George I and awarded the Medal of Military Merit, 1st Class from Greece.[10][11]

He retired from the army in March 1920.[12]

Family

Reade married Rose Frances Spencer, daughter of Colonel Almeric George Spencer and Alice Isabel Fraser, on 9 June 1894.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  2. ^ "No. 28151". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 June 1908. p. 4642.
  3. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  4. ^ Tulchinsky, Gerald J. J. (1976). To Preserve & Defend. McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-7735-0214-7.
  5. ^ "No. 24800". The London Gazette. 13 January 1880. p. 146.
  6. ^ "No. 26915". The London Gazette. 30 November 1897. p. 7177.
  7. ^ Preston, Richard Arthur Preston (1982) "Canada's RMC – A History of Royal Military College" Second Edition
  8. ^ "No. 27998". The London Gazette. 22 February 1907. p. 1283.
  9. ^ Becke 1937, pp. 17 and 83
  10. ^ "No. 31659". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 November 1919. p. 14639.
  11. ^ "No. 13530". The Edinburgh Gazette. 28 November 1919. p. 3706.
  12. ^ "No. 31882". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 April 1920. p. 4974.
  13. ^ Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles. "Armourial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour (Volume 2)". Retrieved 14 June 2020.

Sources

  • Becke, Major A.F. (1937). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2B. The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th–69th) with The Home-Service Divisions (71st–73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. ISBN 1-871167-00-0.
Academic offices
Preceded by Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada
1905–1909 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by GOC Troops in the Straits Settlements
1914–1915 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 59th (2nd North Midland) Division
1915–1916 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 68th (2nd Welsh) Division
1916–1917 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Colonel of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry
1921–1931 		Succeeded by