Charles Melliss

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Charles Melliss
Born(1862-09-12)12 September 1862
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar
Croix de guerre
(France)

First World War, he was captured after the Siege of Kut
.

Early life

Melliss was born in

British India, on 12 September 1862, the son of Lieutenant General George Julius Mellis of the Indian Staff Corps. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, being commissioned into the East Yorkshire Regiment
in September 1882.

Military career

Melliss transferred to the

Third Ashanti Expedition that Mellis was to receive the Victoria Cross. On 30 September 1900 at Obassa, Ashanti, Captain Melliss gathered together a party of men and charged into the bush at the head of them into the thick of the enemy. Although wounded in a hand-to-hand encounter, his bold rush caused panic among the enemy who were at the same time charged by the Sikhs.[1]

Charles John Melliss, Ashanti Campaign

Meliss was promoted

1st Bombay Grenadiers.[5] The regiment served in East Africa 1902–04, where he was badly mauled by a lion in 1903. He commanded the 53rd Sikhs (Frontier Force)
1906–10 and served on the North West Frontier operations (Zakka Khel) of 1908. He was promoted major general on 19 March 1912.

First World War

Major General Melliss was attached to the

Basra in 1914. In April 1915, he was instrumental in the British victory at Shaiba.[7] Melliss also fought in the Battle of Ctesiphon,[8] the furthest up the Tigris
that the 6th Division would advance.

After Ctesiphon,

Kut-al-Amara, where, on 7 December 1915, Townshend ordered it to dig in and await relief. Melliss fell ill during the siege;[9]
he was in hospital when Townsend surrendered on 29 April 1916.

Transported upriver to Baghdad by steamship, Melliss remained in hospital and unable to travel as the survivors of the 6th Division were marched north toward

Anatolia. When Melliss was well enough to travel, he followed the same route north. As he was a general, Melliss was allowed a travelling party and better than average supplies. Along the way, they encountered dead and dying enlisted men who had fallen behind one of the columns of British and Indian prisoners.[10] Melliss took any survivors he found with him; at each stop he insisted that the men he had rescued from the desert be put into hospital.[11]

Melliss spent his captivity at Broussa in northwestern Anatolia. While there, he repeatedly wrote letters to Enver Pasha detailing the sad state of the enlisted prisoners and demanding better treatment. Most of the British other ranks (1,755 out of 2,592)[12] captured at Kut-al-Amara died in captivity.

Later life

He retired from the Indian Army 24 February 1920. He was appointed Colonel of his old regiment, the 53rd Sikhs, Frontier Force on 31 May 1921, a position he held until November 1934.[13][14]

Melliss is buried at St. Peter's Churchyard, Frimley, Surrey, England. His VC is held by Wellington College.

Family

Mellis married in 1901 Kathleen Walker, youngest daughter of General J. M. Walker.[15][16][17]

Further reading

  • Davies, Frank; Maddocks, Graham (2014) [1995]. Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918.
    ISBN 978-1-78346-237-7
    .

References

  1. ^ "No. 27266". The London Gazette. 15 October 1901. p. 307.
  2. ^ "No. 27362". The London Gazette. 4 October 1901. p. 6487.
  3. ^ "No. 27365". The London Gazette. 15 October 1901. p. 6713.
  4. ^ "MELLISS, Lieut.-Col. Charles John". Who's Who. Vol. 59. 1907. p. 1208.
  5. ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36918. London. 6 November 1902. p. 9.
  6. Lives of the First World War
  7. ^ Mousley, Edward Opotiki "The Secrets of a Kuttite" (1921) p. 15
  8. ^ Braddon, Russell "The Siege" (1969) p. 92-94
  9. ^ Mousley, Edward Opotiki "The Secrets of a Kuttite" (1921) p. 156
  10. ^ Mousley, Edward Opotiki "The Secrets of a Kuttite" (1921) p. 180-181
  11. ^ Braddon, Russell "The Siege" (1969) p. 285-286
  12. ^ Braddon, Russell "The Siege" (1969) p. 327
  13. ^ Indian Army List Supplement January 1930
  14. ^ January 1936 Indian Army List
  15. ^ Who's Who 1916
  16. ^ Wellington College Register 1859–1933
  17. ^ January 1919 Indian Army List
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Melliss&oldid=1219387707"