Cecil Edward Bingham

Major-General Sir Cecil Edward Bingham GCVO KCMG CB
Born	(1861-12-07)7 December 1861 London, England [1]
Died	31 May 1934(1934-05-31) (aged 72)
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Companion of the Order of the Bath

Major-General Sir Cecil Edward Bingham GCVO KCMG CB (7 December 1861 – 31 May 1934) was a British Army officer who held high command during World War I.

Military career

Born the son of Charles Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan,[2][3] Bingham was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 3rd The King's Own Hussars in September 1882[4] and transferred to the 2nd Regiment of Life Guards in 1886 and the 1st Regiment of Life Guards in 1892.[5] He served in the Second Boer War in 1900 as aide-de-camp to Major-General John French, commanding the Cavalry division.[6]

After returning home, he became senior aide-de-Camp to the Duke of Connaught during his Indian Tour in 1903.[2] Promoted to brevet colonel in November 1906,[7] he was appointed Commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in November 1910 and Commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in November 1911.[8]

He served in World War I as Commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade with the British Expeditionary Force and then as General Officer Commanding 1st Cavalry Division from May 1915, three months after being promoted to major general.[9][2][10] In October 1915 he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general[11] and became general officer commanding (GOC) of the Cavalry Corps in France, relinquishing command in March 1916 in order to take over command of the reserve centre at Ripon.[12] In November 1916 he was appointed to command 73rd Division, a formation composed of Home Service men of the Territorial Force, which was stationed in Essex and Hertfordshire for coastal defence. He relinquished this command in April 1917,[13] and was transferred to take command of the 67th (2nd Home Counties) Division. He held this command until the division was disbanded in 1919.[12]

Family

In 1884 he married Rose Ellinor Guthrie, daughter of James Alexander Guthrie, 4th Baron of Craigie; she died 18 September 1908. They had three children:[2][3]

• Lieutenant-Colonel Ralph Charles Bingham, DSO, Coldstream Guards, born 15 April 1885.
• Lieutenant David Cecil Bingham, Coldstream Guards, born 18 March 1887, killed in action in France 14 September 1914.
• Cecilia Mary Lavinia Bingham, born 19 April 1893, married Colonel Frederick George Beaumont-Nesbitt, Grenadier Guards and died 26 August 1920.

In 1911 he married Alys Elizabeth Carr, formerly Mrs Samuel Sloane Chauncey, of New York City, daughter of Col. Henry Montgomery Carr, of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.[2][3]

References

1. "Life story: Cecil Edward Bingham | Lives of the First World War".
2. The Peerage.com
3. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage.
4. "No. 25145". The London Gazette. 8 September 1882. p. 4176.
5. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
6. "No. 27282". The London Gazette. 8 February 1901. p. 846.
7. "No. 27973". The London Gazette. 4 December 1906. p. 8539.
8. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
9. "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1685.
10. Maj A.F. Becke, History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 1: The Regular British Divisions, London: HM Stationery Office, 1934/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-38-X.
11. "No. 29372". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 November 1915. p. 11458.
12. Quarterly Army List for the quarter ending 30th June 1919. London: HMSO. 1919. pp. 35.
13. Maj A.F. Becke, History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2b: The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th–69th), with the Home-Service Divisions (73rd–74th) and 74th and 75th Divisions, London: HM Stationery Office, 1937/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, ISBN 1-847347-39-8.

Military offices
Preceded by James Young	GOC 67th (2nd Home Counties) Division 1917−1919	Succeeded by Post disbanded