Charles Kavanagh

Lieutenant General Sir Charles Toler MacMorrough Kavanagh, KCB, KCMG, CVO, DSO (25 March 1864 – 11 October 1950) was a British Army officer who commanded the Cavalry Corps during the First World War, most notably at the Battle of Amiens in 1918.

For the baseball player, see Charlie Kavanagh.

Sir Charles Kavanagh
Pictured as Adjutant to the 6th Yeomanry Brigade in 1899.
Born(1864-03-25)25 March 1864
Borris, County Carlow, Ireland[1]
Died11 October 1950(1950-10-11) (aged 86)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1884−1920
RankLieutenant General
Unit3rd Dragoon Guards
10th Royal Hussars
Commands held10th Royal Hussars
1st Cavalry Brigade
7th Cavalry Brigade
2nd Cavalry Division
5th Infantry Division
Cavalry Corps
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Distinguished Service Order

Military career
Lieutenant-General Charles Kavanagh, GOC of the Cavalry Corps, pictured here with members of his staff in November 1918.

Born the son of Arthur MacMorrough Kavanagh, The MacMorrough and Mary Frances Forde-Leathley and educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,[2] Kavanagh was commissioned into the 3rd Dragoon Guards in February 1884 and transferred to the 10th Royal Hussars two weeks later.[3] He was promoted to captain on 29 April 1891.[4][1]

Sir Douglas Haig with his army commanders and their chiefs of staff, November 1918. Front row, left to right: Sir Herbert Plumer, Sir Douglas Haig, Sir Henry Rawlinson. Middle row, left to right: Sir Julian Byng, Sir William Birdwood, Sir Henry Horne. Back row, left to right: Sir Herbert Lawrence, Sir Charles Kavanagh, Brudenell White, Percy, Louis Vaughan, Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd, Hastings Anderson.

On 12 June 1895 he was appointed adjutant to the 6th Yeomanry Brigade (Prince Albert's Own Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry and Derbyshire Yeomanry Cavalry);[5] this posting ended on 16 February 1903. He served in the Second Boer War as Commanding Officer of the 10th Royal Hussars, and was promoted to major on 6 January 1900,[6] and to brevet lieutenant-colonel on 29 November 1900.[7] Following the end of the war in May 1902, Kavanagh returned to the United Kingdom in the SS Dunottar Castle, which arrived at Southampton in July 1902.[8] He was mentioned in despatches by Lord Kitchener in his final despatch dated 23 June 1902,[9] and received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his service in the war.[10]

After his return, he went on to be commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1909.[2] He fought in the Great War as commander of the 7th Cavalry Brigade (part of the British Expeditionary Force) from 1914, as General Officer Commanding 2nd Cavalry Division from April 1915 and as General Officer Commanding 5th Division from July 1915.[3] After that he served as commander of the Cavalry Corps from 1917 leading the corps to success at the Battle of Amiens and remaining in post until the end of the War.[2] He retired in 1920.[2]

In retirement he became Governor of the Military Knights of Windsor.[2]

Family

In 1895 he married Mary Perry; they had two daughters.[3]

References
  1. Luscombe, Stephen. "10th Hussars". www.britishempire.co.uk.
  2. "Person Page". thepeerage.com.
  3. "Boer War".
  4. "No. 26156". The London Gazette. 28 April 1891. p. 2310.
  5. "No. 26633". The London Gazette. 11 June 1895. p. 3319.
  6. "No. 27154". The London Gazette. 16 January 1900. p. 287.
  7. "No. 27359". The London Gazette. 27 September 1901. p. 6305.
  8. "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36814. London. 8 July 1902. col c, p. 11.
  9. "No. 27459". The London Gazette. 29 July 1902. pp. 4835–4838.
  10. "No. 27490". The London Gazette. 31 October 1902. p. 6898.
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