Henry Huntly Leith Malcolm

Henry Huntly Leith Malcolm
Born	10 December 1860
Died	1938
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	Commander-in-Chief, Ceylon Seaforth and Cameron Brigade
Battles/wars	Anglo-Egyptian War Nile Expedition Second Boer War World War I
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order

Brigadier General Henry Huntly Leith Malcolm, CB, CMG, DSO (1860-1938) was an officer in the British Army during the Anglo-Egyptian War and World War I.

Military career

He joined the 42nd Regiment of Foot as a Second Lieutenant on 22 January 1879. The same regiment his grandfather, Lieutenant J. Malcolm, had served with during the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign. In 1880 he became a Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and served in the Anglo-Egyptian War, including at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, where he was wounded twice and received the Khedive's Star. He then served on the Nile Expedition, as a Staff Captain with the Whaleboats and was promoted to Captain in August 1885 and then to Major in April 1897.^[1][2]

From 1900 he served in the Second Boer War in command of the 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, in operations against in the Boers in the Orange Free State and Transvaal, taking part in the Battle of Diamond Hill. During the war he was mentioned in dispatches, received the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps, the King's South Africa Medal with two clasps and was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).^[3]

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on 2 April 1902, and appointed in command of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment following his return to the United Kingdom in June 1902.^[4] Brevet promotion to Colonel followed in 1905. From 1906 to 1911 he commanded the Seaforth and Cameron Brigade in Scottish Command, having been made a Colonel in 1910. In 1911 he was a Colonel on half pay when he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1911 Coronation Honours of George V.^[5]

As a Temporary Brigadier General he was appointed to command the Orange River Colony District in South Africa from October 1911 to May 1913. Still a Temporary Brigadier General he left to take up command as the Officer Commanding the Troops in Ceylon. His actions in Ceylon during the 1915 riots were heavy criticised locally following the institution of martial law by Governor Sir Robert Chalmers. With martial law declared Brigadier General Malcolm ordered strict enforcement of curfews with orders to shoot any one who they deemed a rioter without a trial. It was reported that Brigadier Malcolm had ordered his troops to "not to waste ammunition, but to shoot through the heart any Sinhalese that may be found on the streets". He instituted field general courts-martials, that convicted many including Captain Henry Pedris and Edmund Hewavitarne. The later he had executed while the former died in prison. The brutal action of the British marked the beginning of the independence movement.^[6]

In September 1915, Malcolm was transferred to the western front as a Brigade Commander in the British Expeditionary Force unit December 1915. In 1916, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George for his service in the western front and in 1917 he returned to France as a Brigade Major. He retired from the British Army in December 1917, on the ground of ‘age'.^[7]

Family

Born to William Malcolm, of Glenmorag, Argyllshire and Amelia Jane, daughter of Reverend H H Holdsworth, of Fishtoft, Lincolnshire. In 1908, Colonel Malcolm married Edith, only child of Ernest E Sabel, and they had one daughter, E Betty E A Malcolm, born 22 October 1913.

References