Frederick Stanley Maude
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| Sir Stanley Maude | |
|---|---|
| 25 June 1864–18 November 1917 | |
| Place of birth | Gibraltar |
| Place of death | Baghdad |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch | UK Army |
| Years of service | 1883 - 1917 |
| Rank | Lieutenant General |
| Battles/wars | Second Boer War World War I |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order |
Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude KCB, CMG, DSO (24 June 1864 - 18 November 1917) was a British commander, most famous for his efforts in Mesopotamia during World War I and for conquering Baghdad in 1917.
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[edit] Early life
[edit] Family
Maude was born in Gibraltar into a military family; his father was Sir Frederick Francis Maude – a general who had been awarded the Victoria Cross in 1855 during the Crimean War, and who is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[edit] Education
Maude attended Eton College and then the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He graduated in 1883 and joined the Coldstream Guards in February 1884.
[edit] Service
Maude first saw active service in Egypt from March to September 1885, where he was awarded the Egyptian Medal and the Khedive's Egyptian Star. He next saw service as a Major during the Second Boer War, where he served from January 1900 to March 1901, he won a DSO and the Queen's South African Medal. From 1902 to 1904, he served on the staff of the Governor-General of Canada. He returned to Britain to become second-in-command at the Coldstream Guards and then he joined the General Staff, was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 1907 and Colonel in 1911.
[edit] World War I
[edit] Western Front
In World War I, Maude first served in France. He was a staff officer with III Corps when, in October 1914, he was promoted to Brigadier-General and given command of the 14th Brigade. He was wounded in April 1915 and returned home to recover. He returned to France in May and, in June, he was promoted to Major-General and transferred to command the 33rd Division, then still in training.
[edit] Dardanelles
In mid-August, however, Maude was instead given charge of the 13th Division in Suvla. The 13th suffered heavy casualties retreating from Suvla and landing and later evacuating from Helles before being shifted to Mesopotamia in March 1916.
[edit] Mesopotamian Campaign
Maude arrived to catch the end of the British failure at the Siege of Kut where Maude was promoted to Lieutenant-General, replacing General Gorringe as commander of the newly dubbed Tigris Corps (III Army Corps) in July 1916. Despite being instructed to do no more than hold the existing line, Maude set about to re-organising and re-supplying his mixed British and Indian forces. He was made commander of all Allied forces in Mesopotamia in late July 1916.
Given reinforcements and more equipment, Maude directed his force in a steady series of victories. Advancing up the Tigris and winning the battles of Mohammed Abdul Hassan, Hai and Dahra in January 1917, recapturing Kut in February 1917 and then taking Baghdad on March 11, 1917. (He issued the oft-quoted Proclamation of Baghdad on 19 March.) From Baghdad, he launched the Samarrah Offensive and extended his operations to the Euphrates and Diyala rivers.
After a lull over the summer, by November his forces were engaged at Ramadi and Tikrit when he became ill from cholera (apparently from drinking unboiled milk) and abruptly died. Curiously, he died in the same house as German General von der Goltz a year earlier. He was succeeded by General Marshall, who took a more passive approach as a commander.
In 2003, the British military headquarters in Baghdad's Green Zone was named "Maude House".
Maude is buried in Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, and there is a memorial to him in Brompton Cemetery, London.
[edit] Quotes
- "Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators." -- Baghdad, March, 1917
[edit] External Links
[1] A photograph of his statue that was once stood in Baghdad, torn down after the 1958 coup.
