George Cockerill (British Army officer)

Brigadier-General Sir George Kynaston Cockerill, CB (13 August 1867 – 19 April 1957)[1] was a British Army officer and a Conservative Party politician.

George Cockerill
Sir George Cockerill in 1919, photographed by Walter Stoneman
Member of Parliament
for Reigate
In office
14 December 1918 – 7 October 1931
Preceded byRichard Hamilton Rawson
Succeeded byGordon Touche
Personal details
Born(1867-08-13)13 August 1867
Died19 April 1957(1957-04-19) (aged 89)
Political partyConservative

Career

Cockerill was the son of the Surgeon-General Robert William Cockerill, and his wife Clara Sandys, daughter of Major-General Charles Pooley.[2]

He joined the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) in February 1888, was promoted to a lieutenant on 26 June 1889, and served in the Hazara Expedition in 1891.[2] From 1892 to 1895 he explored the eastern Hindu Kush, for which he won the MacGregor Memorial medal and was a gold medallist of the Royal United Services Institute in India. He served with the Chitral Relief Force in 1895, on the North-West Frontier of India from 1897 to 1898, and was promoted to captain (supernumerary) on 11 February 1899. He was a staff officer in the Second Boer War from 1900 to 1902, serving as deputy assistant adjutant general for communications from February 1900.[2] For his war service, he was mentioned in despatches (dated 8 April 1902[3]) and received the brevet promotion as major in the South African Honours list published on 26 June 1902.[4] Following the end of the war, he received a regular commission as a captain in the 4th battalion Royal Warwickshire Regiment in August 1902,[5] and left Cape Town on the SS Norman two months later to join his battalion at Dublin.[6] In 1907 he became a major in the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment), and retired in 1910.[2] In retirement he served in the Special Reserve and in April 1914 was promoted to lieutenant-colonel to command the 7th (Extra Reserve) Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.[7]

At the December 1910 general election he stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in the Thornbury division of Gloucestershire.[8] He was British technical delegate at the Hague Conference in 1907.[2] At the outbreak of World War I he mobilised the 7th Royal Fusiliers[9] and then served in the War Office, first as Sub-Director of Military Operations, then as Deputy Director of Military Intelligence and Director of Special Intelligence with the rank of brigadier-general.[2] He received many honours for his wartime work, including being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (military division) in 1916.[2]

At the 1918 general election he was elected unopposed[10] as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Reigate division of Surrey, having stood as a Coalition Conservative. He was returned unopposed in 1922 and in 1923, and re-elected with large majorities in 1924 and 1929.[10] He retired from the House of Commons at the 1931 general election,[10] having been knighted in the King's Birthday Honours in 1926.[11]

Publications
  • Sir George Cockerill. "Pioneer Exploration in Hunza and Chitral". The Himalayan Journal. Vol. 11. 1939. 14–41.

References
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 1)
  2. Hesilridge, Arthur G. M. (1922). Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1922. London: Dean & Son. p. 35.
  3. "No. 27443". The London Gazette. 17 June 1902. pp. 3967–3974.
  4. "No. 27448". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 June 1902. pp. 4191–4194.
  5. "No. 27460". The London Gazette. 1 August 1902. p. 4965.
  6. "The Army in South Africa - Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36905. London. 22 October 1902. p. 9.
  7. London Gazette, 3 April 1914.
  8. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 287. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  9. H.C. O’Neill, The Royal Fusiliers in the Great War, London: Heinemann, 1922, p. 9.
  10. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 479. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  11. "No. 33179". The London Gazette. 2 July 1926. p. 4402.
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