Herbert Cyril Thacker

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Major-General Herbert Cyril Thacker, CB CMG DSO (16 September 1870 – 2 June 1953) was a Canadian soldier and Chief of the General Staff, the head of the Canadian Army from 1927 until 1929.

Born in Poona, India, in 1870, Herbert Cyril Thacker received his early education at Upper Canada College in Toronto before entering the Royal Military College in 1887. Commissioned in the Royal Canadian Artillery in 1891, he conducted survey work in western Canada for the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1898 he was one of three artillery officers assigned to the Yukon Field Force, but returned east a year later to embark for service with the Canadian contingent in South Africa. From 1904-1905 he had the unique assignment as a military attaché with the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War, and was awarded the Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure for his services. In 1907 he Thacker was appointed director of Artillery at Ottawa, later joining the CEF and sailing with the 1st Canadian Division at the outbreak of war. Thacker went on to command the 2nd Canadian Divisional Artillery from 1914-1915, and after General Sir Henry E. Burstall was promoted, the 1st Canadian Divisional Artillery from September 1915 until the end of the war. He was appointed the District Officer Commanding Military District 6 (Halifax) following the war and served briefly as the Chief of the General Staff from 1927-29. He retired from military service in 1929. Thacker died in Victoria, British Columbia, in June 1953.

Military Offices
Preceded by Sir James Howden MacBrien	Chief of the General Staff 1927-1929	Succeeded by Andrew George Latta McNaughton