George Macaulay Kirkpatrick

George Macaulay Kirkpatrick
Born 23 Aug 1866
Kingston, Ontario
Died 1950 (aged 83 or 84)
Allegiance United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1885 - 1930
Rank General
Commands held British Forces in China
Western Command, India
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India

General Sir George Macaulay Kirkpatrick, KCMG, KCSI was a Canadian born and educated soldier who served with the British Army in South Africa, Canada, India, Australia, and China. He became one of only a handful of Canadians to reach the rank of full General.

Education

Kirkpatrick was born on 23 August 1866 to the politician Sir George Airey Kirkpatrick (1841-1899) and Frances June Macaulay of Kingston, Ontario. He enrolled at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario from 1882–85, student # 138. As a surveyor in 1892, he authored topographic maps of the 'Town and environs of the Fez Region of Morocco.[1]

Military service

Kirkpatrick was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Engineers as a lieutenant on 30 June 1885.[2] He was appointed Aide-de-camp to the General Officer Commanding, Thames District in 1892, and promoted to captain on 12 December 1894.[3] He was deployed as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General (Intelligence) during the Second Boer War,[2] and received the brevet rank of major on 29 November 1900. Following the end of the war in June 1902, he left Cape Town on the SS Canada and returned to Southampton in late July.[4] He served in Halifax, Nova Scotia as Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General for Intelligence from 1902, and received the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel on 22 August 1902. Two years later he became Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General at Headquarters of the Army in 1904.[2] He went on to be Assistant Quartermaster General at Headquarters, India in 1906 and Inspector General of the Military Forces of Australia in 1910.[2] He served in World War I as Director of Military Operations in India from 1914 to 1916 when he became Chief of the General Staff in India.[2]

He subsequently served as Commander of British Forces in China from 1921 to 1922 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, India from 1923 to 1927.[2] He retired in retired 1930.[2]

Awards and recognition

He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI).

Family

George Airey Kirkpatrick
Source: Library and Archives Canada

Kirkpatrick and his wife Mary Lydia (d. 1945) had two daughters, Georgine Helen (born 1898) and Kathleen Mary (born 1899) in Malta.

References

  1. George Macaulay Kirkpatrick, Sir; Town and environs of Fez Region of Morocco Ordnance Survey. Southampton, [England] : photozincographed at Ordnance Survey Office, 1892.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  3. Hart´s Army list, 1903
  4. "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home". The Times (36821). London. 16 July 1902. p. 11.

Sources

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Percy Lake
Chief of the General Staff (India)
19161920
Succeeded by
Sir Claud Jacob
Preceded by
Francis Ventris
Commander of British Forces in China
1921–1922
Succeeded by
Sir John Fowler
Preceded by
Sir Walter Braithwaite
GOC-in-C, Western Command, India
1923 1927
Succeeded by
Sir Charles Harington
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