Select Page

George Henry Fowke

Lieutenant General Sir George Henry Fowke KCB, KCMG (10 September 1864 – 8 February 1936) was a British Army officer who served on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force during World War I.

Biography

From left to right: General Sir Douglas Haig, C-in-C of the BEF, Lieutenant General Sir George Fowke, adjutant general of the BEF, Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Maxwell, Quartermaster-General of the BEF, and Ben Tillett, trade union leader and founding member of the Labour Party, at Beauquesne, France, November 1916.

Fowke joined the Royal Engineers as a lieutenant on 15 February 1884,[3] and was promoted to captain on 19 July 1892.[4] He saw active service in South Africa during the Second Boer War, where he was present at the Defence of Ladysmith, for which he was mentioned in despatches.[5] During the war he received a brevet promotion to major on 29 November 1900, and was confirmed with the substantive rank of major on 22 February 1901.[6] The war ended in June 1902 with the Peace of Vereeniging, and for his service he received a brevet promotion as lieutenant-colonel on 22 August 1902.[7]

After the war, he stayed in South Africa and was appointed as Director of Public Works in the Transvaal and was a member of the Transvaal Legislative Council from 1902 to 1904.[8] During the Russo-Japanese War, he was an observer attached to the Imperial Japanese Army in Manchuria, and then lectured on fortifications at the School of Military Engineering.[8] After being made a brevet colonel in August 1908,[9] and then to lieutenant colonel in October,[10] he was appointed the assistant adjutant general at the War Office in June 1910.[11] He was made a colonel with effect from the same date.[12]

He then succeeded Colonel Frederick Heath as inspector of Royal Engineers in April 1913, which saw him advanced to the rank of temporary brigadier general.[13]

On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he was promoted again to the temporary rank of brigadier general[14] and appointed to the post of brigadier general, Royal Engineers in the British Expeditionary Force, the senior engineering advisor.[8] As the war settled into a stalemate it became apparent that the Royal Engineers would play a significant role in trench warfare, and the position was changed to chief engineer in January 1915[15] and then to engineer-in-chief, for which he was raised to the temporary rank of major general in April 1915.[16] He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in February 1915[17] and his major general's rank became substantive in June.[18] It was in this position, that he agreed the formation of the Royal Engineer tunnelling companies, after a proposal from John Norton-Griffiths.

In February 1916, he succeeded Lieutenant General Sir Nevil Macready in the important post of adjutant general of the BEF and was raised to temporary lieutenant general while so employed.[8][19] He held this post until the end of the war, and, having been made a substantive lieutenant general in January 1919,[20] retired from the army in April 1922.[8][21]

In addition to his British decorations and awards, he was also awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal by the United States, with the citation for the medal reading:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant General George H. Fowke, Royal British Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished service in a position of great responsibility to the Government of the United States, during World War I. While serving as Adjutant General, British Expeditionary Services, General Fowke rendered invaluable service to the American Expeditionary Forces and to the cause in which the United States has been engaged.[22]

References

  1. ^ IWM, Lives of the First World War
  2. ^ "No. 13186". The Edinburgh Gazette. 1 January 1918. p. 9.
  3. ^ "No. 25322". The London Gazette. 26 February 1884. p. 967.
  4. ^ Hart′s Army list, 1903
  5. ^ "Mentions in despatches – Army". Archived from the original on 20 August 2009. Retrieved 21 March 2008.
  6. ^ "No. 27501". The London Gazette. 5 December 1902. p. 8440.
  7. ^ "No. 27490". The London Gazette. 31 October 1902. p. 6900.
  8. ^ a b c d e Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  9. ^ "No. 28170". The London Gazette. 21 August 1908. p. 6148.
  10. ^ "No. 28186". The London Gazette. 16 October 1908. p. 7470.
  11. ^ "No. 28386". The London Gazette. 21 June 1910. p. 4379.
  12. ^ "No. 28386". The London Gazette. 21 June 1910. p. 4380.
  13. ^ "No. 28706". The London Gazette. 1 April 1913. p. 2362.
  14. ^ "No. 28875". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 August 1914. p. 6581.
  15. ^ "No. 29075". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1710.
  16. ^ "No. 29150". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 April 1915. p. 4238.
  17. ^ "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1686.
  18. ^ "No. 29202". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 June 1915. p. 6116.
  19. ^ "No. 29497". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 March 1916. p. 2439.
  20. ^ "No. 31092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 13.
  21. ^ "No. 32667". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 April 1922. p. 2914.
  22. ^ "Valor awards for George H. Fowke". Military Times.