Peter Strickland (British Army officer)

Sir Peter Strickland
Lieutenant General Sir Peter Strickland
Born(1869-08-03)3 August 1869
Snitterfield, Warwickshire
Died24 June 1951(1951-06-24) (aged 81)
Snettisham, Norfolk
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1888–1931
RankLieutenant General
CommandsBritish Troops in Egypt
2nd Division
6th Division
Western Division of the British Army of the Rhine
1st Division
98th Brigade
Jullundur Brigade
1st Battalion Manchester Regiment
North Nigeria Regiment
Battles / warsMahdist War
First World War
Irish War of Independence
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George[1]
Distinguished Service Order

Lieutenant General Sir Edward Peter Strickland, KCB, KBE, CMG, DSO (3 August 1869 – 24 June 1951) was a British Army officer who commanded the 1st Division during the First World War.

Military career

Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, inspecting troops of the 2nd Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 2nd Infantry Brigade, 1st Division at Le Buissiere, near Bruay, France, 1 July 1918. Stood on the left of the screen is Major General Strickland, GOC 1st Division.

Educated at Warwick School,[2] Strickland was commissioned into the Norfolk Regiment in 1888 and served in Upper Burma in 1888/1889, on the Dongola expedition in 1896,[3] and fought at the Battle of Atbara and the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.[2] He served in North Nigeria from 1906 and commanded the North Nigeria Regiment in 1909.[3]

He served in the First World War as commanding officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment from 1914 and, promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general,[4] as commander of the Jullundur Brigade from early 1915, leading it at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and at the Second Battle of Ypres.[2] He continued his war service as commander of the 98th Brigade from late 1915 and then, after being promoted to temporary major general in June 1916,[5] was general officer commanding (GOC) of the 1st Division on the Western Front from 1916 until the end of the war, leading it at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the Battle of Lys two years later.[3] In January 1918 his rank of major general became permanent.[6]

After the war Strickland became commander of the Western Division of the British Army of the Rhine,[2] and then GOC 6th Division in Ireland,[3] in which role he survived an assassination attempt by the Irish Republican Army in Cork in September 1920 before assuming the additional responsibilities of military governor (under Martial law) for the counties of Munster, Kilkenny and Wexford in January 1921.[2] He was appointed GOC 2nd Division in 1923 and GOC British Troops in Egypt in 1927 before retiring from the army in 1931.[3]

From 1917 to 1946 Strickland was the colonel of the Norfolk Regiment, which became the Royal Norfolk Regiment in 1935.[7]

Family

In 1918, Strickland married Barbara Cresswell (née Ffolkes); they had a daughter, and there were two daughters from his wife's previous marriage, including Billa Harrod. Barbara, Lady Strickland, was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1923.[2]

Honours

References

  1. ^ "No. 28724". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 May 1913. p. 3906.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Peter Strickland at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  3. ^ a b c d e Sir Edward Peter Strickland Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  4. ^ "No. 29051". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 January 1915. p. 878.
  5. ^ "No. 29667". The London Gazette. 14 July 1916. p. 6986.
  6. ^ "No. 30450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1917. p. 9.
  7. ^ "9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 2 January 2007. Retrieved 8 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ "No. 29886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1916. p. 2.
  9. ^ "No. 27415". The London Gazette. 11 March 1902. p. 1727.
Military offices
Preceded by GOC 1st Division
1916–1919
Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 6th Division
1919–1922
Post disbanded
Preceded by GOC 2nd Division
1923–1926
Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC British Troops in Egypt
1927–1931
Succeeded by