Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person Field Marshal Frederick Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (16 October 1865 – 28 August 1946), known as Viscount Kilcoursie from 1887 until 1900, was a British Army officer who served as chief of the imperial general staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, in the 1920s. After being commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in 1885, he served in the Second Boer War as a company commander, then served with distinction during the First World War as a brigade, divisional, corps, and army commander, and later advised the British government on the implementation of the Geddes report, which advocated a large reduction in defence expenditure; he presided over a major reduction in the size of the British Army.

Early life and military career

Born into an aristocratic family of Anglo-Irish descent, he was the son of the 9th Earl of Cavan and Mary Sneade Lambart (née Olive). He was educated at Eton College, Christ Church, Oxford, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst;<ref>Peter W. Hammond, editor, The Complete Peerage or a History of the House of Lords and All its Members From the Earliest Times, Volume XIV: Addenda & Corrigenda (Stroud, Gloucestershire, U.K.: Sutton Publishing, 1998), page 161.</ref> As there were no vacancies at that time for his preferred regiment, the Coldstream Guards,Template:Sfn so he was instead commissioned as a lieutenant into the Grenadier Guards on 29 August 1885.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He gained the courtesy title of Viscount Kilcoursie in 1887 when his father succeeded to the Earldom and was appointed aide-de-camp to Frederick Stanley, the Governor General of Canada, in 1891.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

He was promoted to captain on 16 October 1897,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> after he had been appointed regimental adjutant on 25 August 1897,<ref>Hart′s Army list, 1900</ref> a position he held until 17 March 1900.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> By then, the Grenadier Guards were involved in the Second Boer War in South Africa. He saw action as a company commander in the Battle of Biddulphsberg in May 1900,Template:Sfn and, having succeeded to his father's titles on 14 July 1900,Template:Sfn took part in operations against the Boers in 1901 and for which he was later mentioned in despatches.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Following the end of the war in June 1902, which prompted him to write in his diary that it was "not far removed from the happiest day of my life",Template:Sfn he left Cape Town on the SS Sicilia and returned to Southampton in late July.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref>

After promotion to major on 28 October 1902,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he became second-in-command of the 2nd Battalion, Grenadier Guards in July 1905.Template:Sfn He was promoted again to lieutenant colonel and appointed commanding officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards on 14 February 1908, taking over from Brevet Colonel Robert Scott-Kerr.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

He was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order Fourth Class on 29 June 1910,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> which was awarded personally to him by George V.Template:Sfn He was promoted to colonel on 4 October 1911,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> After four years as CO of his battalion, he was placed on the half-pay list.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> By now having "come to the conclusion that his military career had run its course",Template:Sfn he retired from the army on 8 November 1913<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and became Master of Foxhounds for the Hertfordshire Hunt.Template:Sfn At that time he lived at Wheathampstead House in Wheathampstead in his native Hertfordshire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

First World War

Cavan in 1915 as a brigadier general.

He was recalled at the start of the First World War and, after receiving a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general on 22 August,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> took command of the 2nd London Brigade of the 1st London Division, a Territorial Force (TF) unit then stationed in the East End of London.Template:Sfn

General Haig (second left) in discussion with David Lloyd George in September 1916. Cavan is stood on the extreme right.

His stay with the brigade was destined to be short as he was appointed CO of the 4th (Guards) Brigade on 18 September<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> after its commander, Brigadier General Robert Scott-Kerr, his predecessor as CO of the 1st Grenadiers several years earlier, was badly wounded.Template:Sfn Cavan, by now in France, went on to lead the brigade, which then formed part of the 2nd Division, at the First Battle of Ypres in October.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Included as one of the four battalions under his brigade's command was the 1st Battalion of the Hertfordshire Regiment, in which many of his old neighbours were serving.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 18 February 1915,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he also led the brigade at the Battle of Festubert in May 1915.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Lieutenant-General Rudolph Lambart (10th Earl of Cavan), the C-in-C of the British Army in Italy, and Major General Jean César Graziani, the C-in-C of the French Army in Italy, chatting before the presentation of decorations to soldiers of both armies after the Battle of the Piave River. Granezza, 12 July 1918.

At the still relatively young age of 49, Cavan was promoted to major general<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and given command of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division on 29 June 1915; a mere six weeks later he was appointed the first General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Guards DivisionTemplate:Sfn and, having been appointed Commander of the French Legion of Honour on 10 September 1915,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he led his division at the Battle of Loos later that month.Template:Sfn He was elected an Irish representative peer on 24 September 1915 and as such was one of the last to be so elected before the creation of the Irish Free State.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> In his role as GOC of the Guards Division he informed Major Winston Churchill of the latter's attachment to the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadiers, which formed part of his division, in November 1915.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn

The following January 1916, Cavan, "his star in the ascendant",Template:Sfn was promoted to temporary lieutenant-general<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Sfn and was placed at the head of XIV Corps and took part in the Battle of the Somme that summer.Template:Sfn He was made a Grand Officer of the Belgian Order of the Crown on 2 November 1916<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and appointed a Knight of the Order of St Patrick on 18 November 1916.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The Battle of Passchendaele, at which Lambart commanded XIV Corps, during the First World War

Promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant generalTemplate:Sfn on 1 January 1917,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he led his corps at the Battle of Passchendaele in the summer and autumn of 1917,Template:Sfn during which "XIV Corps achieved every objective it was given." Template:Sfn He was awarded the rank of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour on 25 September 1917<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and was redeployed with his corps to the Italian front in October 1917, after the Italians had suffered disastrously at the Battle of Caporetto.Template:Sfn Advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1918,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Cavan was appointed Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Forces in Italy on 10 March 1918, after his predecessor, General Herbert Plumer, had been recalled to the Western Front after the Germans had launched their Spring offensive.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>Template:Sfn

After reverses on the Western Front in March and April 1918, Prime Minister Lloyd George and the War Cabinet had been keen to remove Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig as C-in-C of the BEF, but had been unable to think of a suitable successor. In July Cavan was summoned to London, supposedly to discuss the Italian Front but in reality, as Cabinet Secretary Maurice Hankey put it, "to 'vet' him with a view to his replacing Haig" Hankey claimed to have dissuaded the Prime Minister by pointing to Cavan's lack of ideas as to how to defeat the Austro-Hungarians.Template:Sfn Haig's victory at Amiens in August secured his position.Template:Sfn

On the Italian Front Cavan, who in late June was promoted to the temporary rank of general,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> led the Tenth Army which struck a decisive blow at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, the action that sounded the final death knell of the Austro-Hungarian Army towards the close of the war.Template:Sfn

Following the end of the war the King of Italy awarded him the War Cross for Military Valor<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and made him a Commander,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and subsequently a Grand Officer, of the Military Order of Savoy<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> as well as appointing him a Grand Officer of the Order of St Maurice and St Lazarus.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Cavan was also appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George for his contribution to operations in Italy,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> awarded the American Distinguished Service Medal<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and appointed to the Chinese Order of Wen-Hu (1st Class).<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Postwar

Lambart Template:Circa

His first appointment after the war was when he became lieutenant of the Tower of London on 22 March 1920.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Appointed aide-de-camp general to the King on 1 October 1920,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he succeeded General Lord Rawlinson as general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of Aldershot Command on 2 November 1920Template:Sfn<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> before being promoted to the substantive rank of general on 2 November 1921.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

He was appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff on 19 February 1922.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He may have been chosen as a steady man, the antithesis of his predecessor, General Sir Henry Wilson, whose relations with the government had deteriorated, and who was in Wilson's view more likely to agree to withdraw troops from Egypt and India.<ref>Jeffery 2006, p278</ref> CIGS Cavan advised the Government on the implementation of the Geddes report, which advocated a large reduction in defence expenditure, and he officiated over a major reduction in the size of the British Army.<ref name=odnb>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> Earl Cavan made a famous speech at the 'Royal Academy Banquet' to his equals in government and fellow peers and royalty.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the New Year Honours 1926,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he retired on 19 February 1926.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

He was also colonel of the Irish Guards from 23 May 1925<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and colonel of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment from 10 December 1928.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

In May 1927, he accompanied the Duke and Duchess of York to Australia to open the Provisional Parliament House at Canberra, for which he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Civil Division of the Order of the British Empire on 8 July 1927.<ref name=LG33292>Template:London Gazette</ref> He became Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms on 23 July 1929<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and was promoted to field marshal on 31 October 1932.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> He also took part in the procession for the funeral of King George V in January 1936<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> and commanded the troops at the procession for the coronation of King George VI on 12 May 1937.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

During the Second World War he served as Commanding Officer of the Hertfordshire Local Defence Volunteers.<ref name=odnb/> He died at the London Clinic in Devonshire Place in London on 28 August 1946.<ref name=odnb/>

He was buried in the family plot at the churchyard in Ayot St Lawrence, where a seven-foot-tall red granite cross is his headstone. His is the churchyard's only burial registered as Commonwealth war grave.<ref name=cwgc1>CWGC Cemetery Report</ref><ref name=cwgc2>CWGC Casualty Report</ref>

Marriage and family

He married on 1 August 1893 to Caroline Inez Crawley (1870–1920), daughter of George Baden Crawley and Eliza Inez Hulbert, at Digswell Church in Digswell, Hertfordshire.<ref name="cp">Mosley, p. 723</ref><ref>Cokayne, p. 121</ref> She predeceased her husband; they had no children.

He married, secondly, on 27 November 1922 to Lady Hester Joan Byng,<ref name="Cavan">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> daughter of Reverend Francis Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford and Emily Georgina Kerr, at St. Mark's Church in North Audley Street, Mayfair, London.<ref name="cp"/><ref>Hammond, p. 161</ref> His second wife was the niece of his army colleague Field Marshal Byng, who was a younger half-brother of the 5th Earl of Strafford. Hester, Countess of Cavan, was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1927.<ref name=LG33292/> The couple had two daughters:

• Lady Elizabeth Mary Lambart (16 October 1924 – 8 December 2016), married in 1949 to Mark Frederic Kerr Longman, President of the Longman Group Ltd,<ref>Search the Collection - Mark Frederic Kerr Longman (1916-1972), National Portrait Gallery, by Rex Coleman, 8 August 1962.</ref> had issue. She was in 1947 one of the eight bridesmaids in Princess Elizabeth's marriage to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.<ref name="cp"/> Her granddaughter is Rose Cholmondeley, Marchioness of Cholmondeley.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
• Lady Joanna Lambart<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

As he had no son, the 10th Earl was succeeded by his brother, Horace.<ref name="Cavan"/>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
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Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

• The Papers of Field Marshal Lord Cavan held at Churchill Archives Centre
• Frederick Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (1865–1946), Field Marshal (National Portrait Gallery, 16 portraits)
• Generals of World War II

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