Frederick Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan
Encyclopedia
Field Marshal
Frederick Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan, KP, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE (16 October 1865 – 28 August 1946) was a British Army
officer and Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
, Frederick Lambart was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards
in 1885. He saw action in the Second Boer War
in 1900. He was appointed Commanding Officer
of 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards
in 1908.He retired in 1913, but was recalled in 1914 and was appointed commander of the 4th Guards Brigade.
In June 1915 Cavan was promoted to command of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division; a mere two months on he was appointed the first commander of the Guards Division
. In this role, he informed Major Winston Churchill
of the latter's attachment to the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadiers
in November 1915.
The following January 1916, Cavan was placed at the head of XIV Corps
, a command he held until March 1918. In March 1918 Lambart was formally appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces on the Italian Front. It was in this capacity that Cavan led the Italian 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
.
After the war he briefly became General Officer Commanding
at Aldershot Command
in 1922: he was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1922 to 1926 and was promoted to field marshal
in 1931.
He was among the last representative peer
s to be elected from Ireland
before the creation of the Irish Free State
.
Foreign
, Hertfordshire
. They had no children.
He married, secondly on 27 November 1922 to Lady Hester Joan Byng, daughter of Reverend Francis Edmund Cecil Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford
and Emily Georgina Kerr, at St. Mark's Church in North Audley Street, Mayfair
, London
. They had two daughters.
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Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Frederick Rudolph Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan, KP, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE (16 October 1865 – 28 August 1946) was a British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer and Chief of the Imperial General Staff.
Army career
Educated at Eton CollegeEton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Frederick Lambart was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
in 1885. He saw action in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
in 1900. He was appointed Commanding Officer
Commanding officer
The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...
of 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
in 1908.He retired in 1913, but was recalled in 1914 and was appointed commander of the 4th Guards Brigade.
In June 1915 Cavan was promoted to command of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division; a mere two months on he was appointed the first commander of the Guards Division
Guards Division (United Kingdom)
The British Guards Division was formed in France in 1915 from battalions of the elite Guards regiments from the Regular Army. The division served on the Western Front for the duration of the First World War...
. In this role, he informed Major Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
of the latter's attachment to the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadiers
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...
in November 1915.
The following January 1916, Cavan was placed at the head of XIV Corps
XIV Corps (United Kingdom)
XIV Corps was a British infantry corps during World War I.-World War I:XIV Corps was formed in France on 3 January 1916 under Lieutenant-General the Earl of Cavan...
, a command he held until March 1918. In March 1918 Lambart was formally appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces on the Italian Front. It was in this capacity that Cavan led the Italian Tenth Army
Italian Tenth Army
The Italian Tenth Army was one of two Italian armies in Italian North Africa during World War II. The Tenth Army in Cyrenaica faced the British in the neutral Kingdom of Egypt...
which struck a decisive blow at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto
Battle of Vittorio Veneto
The Battle of Vittorio Veneto was fought between 24 October and 3 November 1918, near Vittorio Veneto, during the Italian Campaign of World War I...
, the action that sounded the final death knell of the Austro-Hungarian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
towards the close of the war
Armistice Day
Armistice Day is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day...
.
After the war he briefly became General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding
General Officer Commanding is the usual title given in the armies of Commonwealth nations to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC II Corps or GOC 7th Armoured Division...
at Aldershot Command
Aldershot Command
-History:After the success of the Chobham Manoeuvres of 1853, a permanent training camp was established at Aldershot in 1854 on the recommendation of the Commander-in-Chief, Viscount Hardinge...
in 1922: he was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1922 to 1926 and was promoted to field marshal
Field Marshal (UK)
Field Marshal is the highest military rank of the British Army. It ranks immediately above the rank of General and is the Army equivalent of an Admiral of the Fleet and a Marshal of the Royal Air Force....
in 1931.
He was among the last representative peer
Representative peer
In the United Kingdom, representative peers were those peers elected by the members of the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords...
s to be elected from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
before the creation of the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
.
Awards
British- Knight of the Order of St. PatrickOrder of St. PatrickThe Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick is a British order of chivalry associated with Ireland. The Order was created in 1783 by George III. The regular creation of knights of Saint Patrick lasted until 1921, when most of Ireland became independent as the Irish Free State...
(KP, 1916) - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the BathOrder of the BathThe Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(GCB, 1926) - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St GeorgeOrder of St Michael and St GeorgeThe Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
(GCMG, 1919) - Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian OrderRoyal Victorian OrderThe Royal Victorian Order is a dynastic order of knighthood and a house order of chivalry recognising distinguished personal service to the order's Sovereign, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms, any members of her family, or any of her viceroys...
(GCVO, 1922) - Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British EmpireThe Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(GBE, 1927)
Foreign
- Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour (France, 1916)
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and LazarusOrder of Saints Maurice and LazarusThe Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus is an order of chivalry awarded by the House of Savoy, the heads of which were formerly Kings of Italy...
(Italy) - Order of the Cross of LibertyOrder of the Cross of LibertyThere are three official orders in Finland: the Order of the Cross of Liberty , the Order of the White Rose of Finland and the Order of the Lion of Finland. The President of Finland is the Grand Master of the two orders, and usually of the Order of the Cross of Liberty as well, Grand Mastership of...
(Estonia, 1922) - Knight of the Order of China Wen-Hu
- Army Distinguished Service Medal (USA, 1919)
- Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France) (1916)
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 DigswellDigswell
Digswell is an ancient village in the English county of Hertfordshire which is recorded in the 1086 Domesday Book.Digswell's name may be derived from Deacon's Well. There were two Manors, with 2 water Mills, much land under plough, and a large area of woodland...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. They had no children.
He married, secondly on 27 November 1922 to Lady Hester Joan Byng, daughter of Reverend Francis Edmund Cecil Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford
Francis Edmund Cecil Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford
Rev. Francis Edmund Cecil Byng, 5th Earl of Strafford was an English Anglican minister and member of the peerage.- Background :Byng was born 15 January 1835, third son of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford...
and Emily Georgina Kerr, at St. Mark's Church in North Audley Street, Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. They had two daughters.
- Lady Elizabeth Mary Lambart (born 16 October 1924), married in 1949 to Mark Frederic Kerr Longman, had issue. She was in 1947 one of the eight bridesmaids in Princess Elizabeth's marriageWedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten, Duke of EdinburghThe wedding of Princess Elizabeth , and Philip, Duke of Edinburgh took place on 20 November 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London.-Engagement:...
to Lieutenant Philip MountbattenPrince Philip, Duke of EdinburghPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....
. - Lady Joanna Lambart (born 8 December 1929), married in 1955 to Major Michael Godwin Plantagenet Stourton, had issue.
Further reading
- Heathcote, T.A. (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Pen & Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 0-85052-696-5
External links
- The Papers of Field Marshal Lord Cavan
- Frederick Lambart, 10th Earl of Cavan (1865–1946), Field Marshal (National Portrait Gallery, 16 portraits)
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