Frederick Maurice (military historian)
Major-General Sir Frederick Barton Maurice, KCMG, CB (19 January 1871 – 19 May 1951) was a British Army officer, military correspondent, writer and academic. During the First World War he was forced to retire from the army in May 1918 after writing a letter to The Times criticizing Prime Minister David Lloyd George for making misleading statements about the strength of British forces on the Western Front. He also later founded the British Legion in 1920, and served as its president from 1932 to 1947.
Sir Frederick Maurice
Frederick Barton Maurice
Putty Nose[1]
19 January 1871
Dublin, Ireland
19 May 1951 (aged 80)
Cambridge, England
1892–1918
55071[2]
one son, four daughters[3] (including Joan Robinson)
- Frederick Denison Maurice (grandfather)
- Sir John Maurice (father)
Correspondent, writer, academic
Early life and military career[edit]
Maurice was born in Dublin, the son of John Frederick Maurice, a British Army officer and military historian, and his wife Anne Frances "Annie" FitzGerald. He attended St. Paul's School and Sandhurst before joining The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment)|Derbyshire Regiment in June 1892.[4]
His first overseas posting was to British India in 1897–98, during the Tirah campaign.[5] During this time, he served as aide-de-camp to his father, who by now was a major general. After a promotion to captain in 1899, Maurice fought with his regiment in the Second Boer War 1899–1901.[1]
Before leaving for South Africa, he married Margaret Helen Marsh (1874-1942), the daughter of Frederick Howard Marsh, and the sister of Edward Marsh, in 1899 at St George's, Hanover Square.[6]
Maurice was promoted brevet major in November 1900.[7]
On returning from South Africa, he entered the Staff College at Camberley, Surrey in 1902.[8] Later that year, he was posted to the War Office, where he worked under Douglas Haig.[9] His daughter Joan was born in 1903.
He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 19 May 1911,[10] and two years later was promoted to lieutenant colonel and transferred to the Staff College as an instructor in military history under Major General William Robertson, then the college's commandant.[1][11]