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Edward Perceval
Major General Sir Edward Maxwell Perceval KCB, DSO (13 August 1861 – 26 November 1955) was a British Army officer. Military career Educated at Royal Academy, Gosport and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Perceval was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a subaltern, with the rank of lieutenant, on 19 May 1880.[1] He was promoted to captain on 15 August 1888[2] (later amended to 4 August)[3] and major on 23 February 1898.[4][5] He attended the Staff College, Camberley as a student from January 1895.[6] From January 1897 onwards he served at the Royal Military Academy as an instructor.[7] He saw action in the Second Boer War, which began in October 1899, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).[8] After the end of the war, he returned once more to the Royal Military Academy, this time in the role of a professor.[9] Following this, he served as a deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) at army headquarters.[10] In November 1905 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel[11] and, in May 1908, after being seconded for service on the staff,[12] he took over the post of DAAG at the Staff College, Camberley from Lionel Stopford,[13] and received a promotion to brevet colonel in November that year.[14] In March 1909 he succeeded Walter Braithwaite as a general staff officer, grade 1 (GSO1) at the Staff College.[15] In December of that year he was promoted to colonel.[16] After serving on the half-pay list, from May 1912,[17] Perceval was then appointed to be assistant director of movements at the War Office in London in October.[18] In April 1914 he relinquished this position in order to become commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of the 2nd Division. With the new position came a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general.[19] He deployed to France with the division, which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), in August 1914, shortly after the start of the First World War.[20] He remained in this role until January 1915 when he took over the post of sub-chief of the general staff from Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wilson at the BEF's general headquarters (GHQ).[21] In February he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), "in recognition of the meritorious services".[22][23] In June he was promoted to the rank of major general[24] and, in July, he became general officer commanding (GOC) of the 49th (West Riding) Division, a Territorial Force (TF) formation which had recently arrived on the Western Front, which he would command for over two years, including during the Battle of the Somme in mid-1916. He was awarded the Order of Leopold, "for distinguished services during the Campaign", by the Belgian government.[25] After falling ill, he returned to Britain to become GOC of the 68th Division in December 1917.[26] He was appointed to the Military Order of Aviz, 1st Class in October 1918.[27] After that he became commander of the troops at Shorncliffe Army Camp in 1919.[28] He retired from the army in April 1920.[29] He was made a KCB in January 1922.[30] FamilyIn 1894 he married Marian Bowles; they had one son.[28] After his first wife died in 1896, he married Norah Mayne in 1906; they had one son and one daughter.[28] References
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