William Bartholomew

General Sir William Henry Bartholomew, GCB, CMG, DSO (16 March 1877 – 31 December 1962) was a senior British Army officer during the 1930s and a Colonel Commandant to the Royal Artillery.

Army career

Educated at Newton College, South Devon and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Bartholomew was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1897.^[1] He was promoted to lieutenant on 23 March 1900, and to captain on 22 March 1902.^[2]

He served in the First World War initially as a General Staff Officer in 4th Division, and then as a brigadier general on the General Staff of 20 Corps from 1917 and on the General Staff of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force from 1918.^[1]

After the war he commanded the 6th Infantry Brigade from 1923 moving on to be Director of Recruiting and Organisation at the War Office in 1927.^[1] He was appointed Commandant of the Imperial Defence College in 1929 and Director of Military Operations and Intelligence at the War Office in 1931.^[1] He became Chief of the General Staff in India in 1934 and then General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in 1937; he retired in 1940.^[1]

He was made an Aide de Camp General to the King from 1938 to 1940 and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery from 1934 to 1937.^[1]

After the Army

In retirement, Bartholomew served as North Eastern Regional Commissioner for Civil Defence between 1940 and 1945.^[1] He lived at Claxton Hall near York.^[3] He donated over £20,000 in 1921 to the Public Dispensary and Hospital, Leeds; later becoming world-renowned St James' Teaching Hospital.

References