Edwin Alderson
Anglo-Egyptian War
Mahdist War First World War
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Awards | Mentioned in Despatches (France)Legion of Honour |
Early life
Born in 1859 in Capel St Mary, a village in Suffolk, Edwin Alderson was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Mott Alderson and his wife Catherine Harriett Swainson.[1] He was educated at Ipswich School.[2]
Early military career
Aged 17, Alderson received a commission into the
Mounted Infantry
The Mounted Infantry Depot was a post where young officers could be stationed, forming a ready reserve of young, educated officers available as volunteers for staff or command positions in African colonial campaigns. It was whilst attached to this post that Alderson saw service in the
The next ten years of Alderson's career were spent on staff duties and with his old regiment in England and Ireland. He also undertook training at the Staff College, Camberley, and in 1896 was sent to Mashonaland as a commander of a regiment of local troops during the Second Matabele War. Following the campaign's successful conclusion he returned to Aldershot and published his first book, "With the Mounted Infantry and the Mashonaland Field Force, 1896", an account of the war and a thesis on the tactical uses of mounted infantry. A second book on military tactics followed in 1898 called The Counter-attack. His third book, "Pink and scarlet" was published in 1900 and was another tactical treatise concerning the relationship between fox-hunting and the cavalry, and the connection that these gentlemanly and military concerns had in training young officers and developing innovations in cavalry tactics. In 1908, he released a compilation of notes made on campaign entitled Lessons from 100 notes made in peace and war.[1]
Second Boer War
In 1900, shortly after the
He participated in the battles of
He was
1902–1914
On his return, Alderson was attached to the
First World War
At the outbreak of the First World War in the summer of 1914, Alderson was placed in charge of the 1st Mounted Division and all troops in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.[11] However he was given larger duties when he was appointed by Lord Kitchener to lead the Canadian Expeditionary Force because of his experience with the Canadians in South Africa.[12] Soon after his appointment he came into conflict with Sir Sam Hughes, Canadian Minister of Militia. Hughes had preceded his men and insisted that the Canadian contingent was not only fully trained and battle ready but also equipped with the best weaponry available. Alderson however, after reviewing the Canadian formation was concerned about its combat readiness, particularly regarding some of its commissioned officers, who appeared to owe their positions to political connections rather than through professional military qualifications, the degree of training of the troops had received, and the mechanically temperamental Ross rifle, a weapon personally approved by Hughes.[1]
During training on
Second Battle of Ypres
The Canadian Division sailed from England and landed in France in February 1915, and was briefly initiated to trench warfare on the periphery of the
For Alderson the battle had been a failure. Although his troops had held the line, he had found himself out of touch with the action at times during its course, and unable to get accurate information about the situation. At one stage he had been commanding 33 battalions across several miles of front line with no central co-ordination and great confusion between his distant headquarters and the trenches. In addition the Ross rifles had proved almost useless in battle, and some of Canadian officers had performed poorly in their first battle. In particular
Ross rifle controversy
The Canadian situation worsened at the
By early 1916 it had become clear to the troops using it that the mechanism of the Ross rifle was useless, and in some circumstances dangerous to soldiers using it in the conditions of the trenches, and its incompatibility with the British
Battle of St. Eloi craters
Turner had his own reasons for wanting Alderson removed from the post of commanding the Canadian Expeditionary Force following the
Haig's solution to this diplomatic crisis was a compromise. Alderson, whom Haig had lost confidence in for the defeat at the St. Eloi craters action, was appointed to a nominal newly created post of "Inspector-General of Canadian Forces", and
Alderson was not initially aware of the purely nominal nature of his new position, and with it the practical end of his field career, and when he requested a staff car for its duties he was informed that the post did not require one to be issued.[1] In September 1916 he was withdrawn from the attachment to the Canadian Expeditionary Force and appointed to the War Office Staff Post of Inspector of Infantry in the British Army,[1] which he retained until 1920 when he retired from active service at the age of 61 years.
Last years
Alderson enjoyed an active retirement, becoming
Death
Alderson died on 14 December 1927 at the Royal Hotel,
Reputation
Alderson retained strong feelings about his treatment at the hands of Hughes and his allies, commenting to a friend that "Canadian politics have been too strong for all of us".[1] Nonetheless, he was well liked by the men he commanded and was remembered in The Times on his death as "An Englishman of a fine type" and that "the affection which he inspired in all who knew him was great".[1] The Dictionary of Canadian Biography recalls him as "A decent, honourable, unimaginative man, [who] had been more faithful to the interests of Canadian soldiers than their own minister".[1]
Another biographer, Tabitha Marshall, wrote (2014) that the conflict between Hughes and Alderson "likely affected not only his career but also his place in Canadian history. While his successors as Canadian Corps Commander, Byng and Currie, are well remembered, Alderson is relatively unknown to Canadians."[19]
English military historian Alan Clark's book "The Donkeys" (1961), a polemical indictment of British General Staff incompetence in 1915 Western Front operations, contains a photograph of Alderson decorating a Canadian soldier with a medal, captioned "Donkey Decorates Lion", stating he was decorating the unnamed soldier for bravery at the Second Battle of Ypres (1915). In fact, the photograph was from the following year, taken on 9 March 1916 "near Locre" (Loker), Belgium.[20]
Namesake
The name Mount Alderson was given in 1915 to one of the peaks in the Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada.[21]
Works
- With the Mounted Infantry and the Mashonaland Field Force, 1896 (1898)
- The Counter-attack (1898)
- Pink and Scarlet or Hunting as a School for Soldiering (1900)
- Lessons from 100 Notes Made in Peace and War (1908)
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Alderson, Sir Edwin Alfred Hervey, Dictionary of Canadian Biography article by Desmond Morton, Retrieved 5 November 2007
- ^ "Obituary". Ipswich School Magazine. April 1928. pp. 26–27.
- ^ "No. 24652". The London Gazette. 3 December 1878. p. 6915.
- ^ "No. 24656". The London Gazette. 13 December 1878. p. 7137.
- ^ a b c Alderson, Brig-Gen Edwin Alfred Hervey, Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketchbook, 1907, Walter H. Willis, Retrieved 12 November 2007
- ^ Marriage certificate 5 May 1886, General Registration Office, district of Brackley, Northamptonshire. His father-in-law, Oswald Pattison Sergeant, became Rector of Chesterton, Oxfordshire, in 1889.
- ^ Hart′s Army list, 1903
- ^ "No. 27282". The London Gazette. 8 February 1901. pp. 844–846.
- ^ "No. 27459". The London Gazette. 29 July 1902. pp. 4835–4837.
- ^ "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning Home". The Times. No. 36923. London. 12 November 1902. p. 8.
- ^ . Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- ^ Allen, Ralph (1961). Ordeal by Fire. New York: Doubleday & Company. p. 69.
- ^ a b 90 Years and Counting Archived 12 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Military Communications and Electronics Museum, Kingston, Ontario, Retrieved 5 November 2007
- ^ a b Who's Who: Sir Edwin Alderson, First World War.com, Retrieved 5 November 2007
- ^ Cassar, George H. (2010). Hell in Flanders Fields. Toronto: Dundurn Press. pp. 180–181.
- ^ Sources are divided over who was responsible for the defeat, some retrospectively blaming Alderson as overall commander. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography however indicates that Turner and Ketchen were primarily responsible, a stance seemingly corroborated by the actions subsequently of Plumer.
- ^ "Death of General Alderson at Lowestoft – Prominent Figure in Yachting Circles". Norfolk News and Weekly Press. 17 December 1927.
- ^ Alderson, Sir Edwin Alfred Hervey, National Register of Archives, Retrieved 5 November 2007
- ^ Marshall, Tabitha (2014)." EAH Alderson". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- ^ Imperial War Museum Photographic Archive, No. Q447, Ministry of Information First World War Official Collection. Photographer; Lieutenant Ernest Brooks.
- ^ "Mount Alderson". SummitPost. 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
References
- "Alderson, Sir Edwin Alfred Hervey". Dictionary of Canadian Biography.
- Wills, Walter H. (2006). "Alderson, Brig-Gen Edwin Alfred Hervey". Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketchbook, 1907. Jeppestown Press. ISBN 9780955393631.
- "Who's Who: Sir Edwin Alderson". First World War.com.
- "90 Years and Counting". Military Communications and Electronics Museum, Kingston, Ontario. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008.
- Tucker, Spencer C .; Roberts, Priscilla Mary (2005). Encyclopedia of World War I. ABC-Clio. OCLC 61247250.