Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer

The Viscount Plumer

Gen. Sir Herbert Plumer
Born 13 March 1857
Torquay, England
Died 16 July 1932 (aged 75)
Buried at Westminster Abbey
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1876 - 1919
Rank Field Marshal
Commands held 4th Brigade
10th Division
7th Division
5th Division
Northern Command
Second Army
British Army of the Rhine
Battles/wars Mahdist War
Second Matabele War
Second Boer War
World War I
Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Grand Cordon, Order of the Rising Sun
Other work High Commissioner of Palestine

Field Marshal Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE (13 March 1857 – 16 July 1932) was a British colonial official and soldier born in Torquay who commanded the British Second Army in World War I and later served as High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine.

Contents

Military career

Educated at Eton College, Plumer was commissioned into the York and Lancaster Regiment in 1876.[1]

From 1879 to 1886, an unusually long period, he was Adjutant of his battalion, and in that capacity accompanied it to the Soudan in 1884 in the expedition under Sir Gerald Graham. Captain Plumer was present at the battles of El Teb and Tamai, and was mentioned in Despatches. In 1887 he passed through the Staff College, and from 1890 to 1893 was Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General in Jersey. In 1896 he served in the operations in South Africa under Sir Frederick Carrington, when he organized and commanded a corps of Mounted Rifles, subsequently obtaining another mention in Despatches and a br brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy. Colonel Plumer's experiences in this arduous campaign are described in a very interesting manner in his book "With an Irregular Corps in Matabeleland."

After service in South Africa he was appointed Commander of the 4th Brigade within I Army Corps in 1902[1] before moving on to be General Officer Commanding 10th Division within IV Army Corps in 1903.[1] In 1904 he became Quartermaster-General to the Forces, in 1906 he was made GOC 7th Division[2] and in 1907 he became GOC 5th Division within Irish Command.[1] Then in 1911 he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command.[1]

After commanding V Corps in 1915, he led the Second Army in Flanders during World War I,[1] during which he won an overwhelming victory over the German Army at the Battle of Messines in 1917, started with what was described as the loudest explosion in human history, created by the simultaneous explosion of 19 mines by the Royal Engineer tunnelling companies.

Plumer is generally regarded as one of the finest army commanders serving in France during World War I. Like the majority of generals on the Western Front he was from an infantry, as opposed to a cavalry background and deprecated the insistence on the value of the "breakthrough" and the effectiveness of cavalry to exploit the opening and reach the open country beyond the front line.

As a career Infantry officer it could be argued that he understood somewhat better what could reasonably be expected of his troops bearing in mind the terrain, the weather and morale. Plumer, a meticulous planner, would often express the plans of his superiors as being too ambitious and more often than not, as seen at the Third Battle of Ypres, he would be proved to be right.

Plumer was very popular with the men gaining the affectionate nickname "old Plum" and "Daddy Plumer". He was a cliché of a General to look at; with a receding chin and a white moustache, his appearance suggested on the photographs of the day everything that he was not.

Following the unexpected death of Sir James Grierson on his arrival in France in 1914, Plumer was considered for command of one of two BEF Corps alongside Haig. This position eventually went to Horace Smith-Dorrien. Later in the war, Plumer was sought by Lloyd George for the position of Chief of the Imperial General Staff as a replacement for William Robertson. He declined the position and leaving no private papers and never having expressed a recorded opinion of the conduct of the war, the lengthy debate over the Generalship in World War I largely passed him by.

Post World War I

Plumer became Commander of the British Army of the Rhine in 1918,[1] and Governor of Malta in 1919.[1] In 1925 he became High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine.[1] He resisted Arab pressure to reverse commitments made by the British in the Balfour Declaration. His three-year term as High Commissioner is generally noted as the calmest period during the British Mandate. He was replaced by Sir John Chancellor in 1928.

He died in 1932 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Honours

See also

Further reading

References

External links

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Ian Hamilton
Quartermaster-General to the Forces
1904–1905
Succeeded by
Sir William Nicholson
Preceded by
Gerald Morton
General Officer Commanding the 7th Division
1906–1907
Succeeded by
Post Disbanded
Preceded by
Henry Grant
General Officer Commanding the 5th Division
1907–1909
Succeeded by
William Campbell
Preceded by
Sir Laurence Oliphant
GOC-in-C Northern Command
1911–1914
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Lawson
Preceded by
New Post
GOC V Corps
February 1915–May 1915
Succeeded by
Edmund Allenby
Preceded by
Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien
Commander, British Second Army
1915–1917
Succeeded by
Sir Henry Rawlinson
Preceded by
New command
Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine
1918–1919
Succeeded by
Sir William Robertson
Government offices
Preceded by
The Lord Methuen
Governor of Malta
1919 – 1924
Succeeded by
Sir Walter Congreve
Preceded by
Sir Herbert Samuel
High Commissioner of Palestine
1925 – 1928
Succeeded by
Sir Harry Luke
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Plumer
1929 – 1932
Succeeded by
Thomas Plumer
Baron Plumer
1919 – 1932