Richard Pope-Hennessy
Richard Pope-Hennessy | |
|---|---|
 Richard Pope-Hennessy in 1927 | |
| Born | 18 August 1875 London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 1 March 1942 (aged 66) London, England United Kingdom |
| Service | British Army |
| Rank | Major-General |
| Commands | 4th Battalion, King's African Rifles 1st Bn, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry 50th (Northumbrian) Division |
| Known for | Sotik Massacre |
| Battles / wars | Second Boer War First World War |
| Awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order |
Major-General Ladislaus Herbert Richard Pope-Hennessy CB DSO (18 August 1875 – 1 March 1942) was a British Army officer of Irish Catholic descent who served in both the Second Boer War and First World War.[1] In 1905, he led a punitive expedition which resulted in the killings of 1,850 men, women and children of the Kipsigis tribe.
Background
[edit]
Pope-Hennessy was the eldest son of Sir John Pope-Hennessy MP, of Rostellan Castle, County Cork and Catherine Elizabeth Low. He was educated at Beaumont College.[2]
Military career
[edit]Pope-Hennessy was commissioned into the Oxfordshire Light Infantry in 1895.[2] He was deployed to South Africa and served with the West African Frontier Force during the Second Boer War.[2]
In June 1905, in response to attacks on native Maasai people by the Kipsigis people in the East Africa Protectorate, Pope-Hennessy led an expedition to subdue the latter. During the expedition, Pope-Hennessy's men raided the town of Sotik, resulting in a massacre which involved the deaths of 1,850 men, women and children.[3][4]
Following the success of the expedition, Pope-Hennessy, promoted to major in March 1906,[5] was made commandant of the 4th Battalion, King's African Rifles in 1906 for which service was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in 1908.[2]
During the First World War he became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in Mesopotamia in 1916 and then became a staff officer with the British Indian Army in 1917.[2][6]
After the war he was promoted to brevet colonel in January 1919[7] and, promoted again, now to colonel (with seniority backdated to January 1919[8]), he served as a staff officer at the War Office and then was Military Inter-Allied Commissioner of Control in Berlin. Subsequently, he spent three years as military attaché in Washington D.C.[9] He was promoted to substantive major general in August 1930[10] and became general Officer Commanding 50th (Northumbrian) Division in 1931 before retiring in 1935.[11]
Pope-Hennessy published a number of books an articles on military matters and in one of them he predicted the technique of the German Blitzkrieg.[6]
Political career
[edit]He took particular interest in military matters and in issues affecting his native Ireland. In 1919 he had published 'The Irish Dominion: a Method of Approach to a Settlement'.[2] He was Liberal candidate for the Tonbridge Division of Kent at the 1935 General Election. Tonbridge was a safe Conservative seat that they had won at every election since it was created in 1918. The Liberal Party had not fielded a candidate at the previous general election and he was not expected to win and finished a poor third.[12]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Rt Hon. Herbert Henry Spender-Clay | 23,460 | 61.3 | ||
| Labour | F M Landau | 9,405 | 24.6 | ||
| Liberal | Ladislaus Herbert Richard Pope-Hennessy | 5,403 | 14.1 | ||
| Majority | 14,055 | 36.7 | |||
| Turnout | 68.2 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
Personal life
[edit]He married, in 1910, Una Birch a writer, historian and biographer. They had two sons,[2] both of whom were gay: James, who became a writer, and Sir John, an art historian.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ "FamilySearch.org". ancestors.familysearch.org. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g Thom's Irish who's who. Alexander Thom. 1923. p. 208.
- ^ "London Gazette" (PDF).
- ^ "How Sotik massacre, Koitalel killing opened area to white settlers". Buinness Daily. 28 February 2022. Retrieved 10 August 2023.
- ^ "No. 11866". The Edinburgh Gazette. 21 September 1906. p. 986.
- ^ a b James Wassermann (ed.): Secret Societies: Illuminati, Freemasons and the French Revolution. Nicolas Hayes, 2007, ISBN 978-0892541324, pp. 49-50
- ^ "No. 31210". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 February 1919. p. 2996.
- ^ "No. 32044". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 September 1920. p. 9120.
- ^ The Times House of Commons, 1935
- ^ "No. 33639". The London Gazette. 29 August 1930. p. 5358.
- ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ a b British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F. W. S.
- ^ Quennell, P., Introduction to A Lonely Business – A Self-Portrait of James Pope-Hennessy, 1981, p. xv.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
- 1875 births
- 1942 deaths
- Burials in West Sussex
- British Army personnel of the Second Boer War
- British Army personnel of World War I
- British Army major generals
- British mass murderers
- British murderers of children
- British military attachés
- British war criminals
- British white supremacists
- Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry officers
- King's African Rifles officers
- Military personnel from County Cork
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates