Lawrence Parsons (British Army officer)

Lieutenant-General Sir Lawrence Worthington Parsons KCB (23 March 1850 – 20 August 1923) was a British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding 6th Division.[2]

Sir Lawrence Parsons
Birth nameLawrence Worthington Parsons
Born23 March 1850[1]
Parsonstown, King's County, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Died20 August 1923(1923-08-20) (aged 73)
Hatherton, Reigate, Surrey
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1870–1909
1914–1916
RankLieutenant-General
Commands held8th Division
6th Division
16th (Irish) Division
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Military career

Parsons was brought up in Parsonstown in King's County,[3] the only son of Lawrence Parsons.[2] He was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as a lieutenant on 23 July 1870,[4] then promoted to captain on 16 September 1880, to major on 1 July 1886, and to lieutenant-colonel on 1 October 1896.[5] He served in the Second Boer War and took part in the Battle of Colenso, the Battle of Spion Kop and the Relief of Ladysmith,[4] following which he was promoted to substantive colonel on 23 April 1900. After returning to the United Kingdom, he was in January 1901 appointed Colonel on the Staff Commanding Royal Artillery at Salisbury Plains.[5] In early 1903, he was appointed Inspector General of Artillery in India.[6] He was then appointed General Officer Commanding 8th Division in Ireland in 1906[7] and General Officer Commanding 6th Division also in Ireland in 1907 before retiring in 1909.[4] He was recalled as General Officer Commanding 16th (Irish) Division in 1914 at the start of the First World War and retired again in 1916.[4]

Family

In 1880, he married Florence Anna Graves, daughter of Dr. Robert Graves of Cloghan Castle, and had one daughter.[2]

References
  1. Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1914). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (76th ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 2468.
  2. "Obituary: Lieutenant-General Sir Lawrence Parsons". The Times. 22 August 1923. p. 5.
  3. Irishmen or English soldiers?: the times and world of a southern Catholic By Thomas P. Dooley, p.191
  4. "Sir Lawrence Parsons". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived 26 August 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Hart′s list, 1903
  6. "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36973. London. 9 January 1903. p. 5.
  7. Army Commands Archived 2015-07-05 at the Wayback Machine
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