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George Forestier-Walker

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Sir George Forestier-Walker
Birth nameGeorge Townshend Forestier Walker
Born(1866-08-02)2 August 1866
Camberley, Surrey, England[1]
Died23 January 1939(1939-01-23) (aged 72)
Child Okeford, Dorsetshire, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1884–1920
RankMajor-General
UnitRoyal Artillery
Commands21st Division
27th Division
Battles / warsSecond Boer War
World War I
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath

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]

Early life and education

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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]

Military career

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Forestier-Walker, pictured here when he was a colonel, together with Lieutenant-General Horace Smith-Dorrien and Colonel Paul Aloysius Kenna, sometime before the First World War.

Forestier-Walker was commissioned as a subaltern, with the rank of lieutenant, into the Royal Artillery in December 1884[4] and served as a deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) during the Second Boer War,[5] during which he was promoted to major in June 1900.[6] 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 African campaign before becoming assistant quartermaster general at Southern Command in 1910.[5] A brevet lieutenant colonel in September 1904,[7] he was promoted to brevet colonel in February 1907,[8] (made a full colonel in October 1910)[9] and was promoted to temporary brigadier-general and succeeded Frederick McCracken as brigadier general, general staff (BGGS) of Irish Command in November 1912.[5][10]

Forestier-Walker served in World War I, initially as chief of staff of II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which, commanded by General Horace Smith-Dorrien, went to France in August 1914.[5] After being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in February 1915,[11] he was promoted to the temporary rank of major general[12] and became general officer commanding (GOC) of the 21st Division, a Kitchener's Army formation, in April that year. In June his major general's rank became permanent.[13] He left with his division for the Western Front and fought at the battle of Loos in September.[5]

After relinquishing command of the division to Claud Jacob, he went on to command the 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division, Territorial Force (TF), in the Home Forces from February 1916 and to command the 65th (2nd Lowland) Division from September 1916, which was also serving in the Home Forces.[14] In December 1916 he became GOC 27th Division, serving as part of the British Salonika Army on the Macedonian front and eventually, after the armistice of Mudros, at Tiflis in Georgia.[15]

He retired from the army in 1920 and became colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery in 1931.[5][2]

Personal life

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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]

  • Lilian Diana Forestier Walker (12 January 1894 – 5 August 1922)
  • George Forestier Walker (born and died 31 May 1898)
  • Helen Mary Cecilia Forestier-Walker (17 April 1895 – 28 July 1987)[16]
  • Cortlandt Simon Michael Forestier Walker (20 November 1902 – 29 August 1903)

He died at Child Okeford, Blandford, aged 72.

References

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  1. ^ 1891 England Census
  2. ^ a b "Obituary: Maj.-General George Forestier Walker – Many Mentions in Despatches". The Times. 24 January 1939.
  3. ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 1467. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  4. ^ "No. 25424". The London Gazette. 19 December 1884. p. 5872.
  5. ^ a b c d e f George Forestier-Walker
  6. ^ "No. 27217". The London Gazette. 3 August 1900. p. 4784.
  7. ^ "No. 27711". The London Gazette. 6 September 1904. p. 5776.
  8. ^ "No. 28002". The London Gazette. 8 March 1907. p. 1740.
  9. ^ "No. 28429". The London Gazette. 28 October 1910. p. 7614.
  10. ^ "No. 28665". The London Gazette. 22 November 1912. p. 8579.
  11. ^ "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1686.
  12. ^ "No. 29125". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 April 1915. p. 3568.
  13. ^ "No. 29202". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 June 1915. p. 6116.
  14. ^ Quarterly Army List for the quarter ending 30th June 1919. London: HMSO. 1919. pp. 382.
  15. ^ Halpern, Paul (2013). The Mediterranean Fleet, 1919–1929. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 21. ISBN 978-1409482802.
  16. ^ "Deaths". The Times. 29 July 1987. p. 1.
Military offices
Preceded by GOC 63rd (2nd Northumbrian) Division
February–September 1916 		Succeeded by
Post disbanded
Preceded by GOC 65th (2nd Lowland) Division
1916−1917 		Succeeded by
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