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John Ponsonby (British Army officer)

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Sir John Ponsonby
Born(1866-03-25)25 March 1866
Windsor, Berkshire, England[1]
Died26 March 1952(1952-03-26) (aged 86)
Haile, Cumbria, England
Buried
Haile Parish Church, Haile, Cumbria, England[1]
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1888–1928
RankMajor General
UnitColdstream Guards
CommandsMadras District
5th Division
40th Division
2nd Guards Brigade
Battles / warsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches

Major General Sir John Ponsonby, KCB, CMG, DSO (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952) was a British Army officer who commanded the 5th Division during the last year of the First World War.

Military career

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Born the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby and educated at Eton College, Ponsonby was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters in March 1886.[2] After transferring to the Royal Irish Rifles (later the Royal Ulster Rifles) in November 1887,[3] he was transferred into the Coldstream Guards, and the Regular Army, in August 1888.[4][5]

He served in Uganda from 1898 and was seconded for service in the Second Boer War in South Africa in March 1900, and attached to the Rhodesian Field Force.[6] By now a captain, having been promoted to that rank in July 1901,[7] he was again sent to South Africa in February 1902.[8][5]

Ponsonby fought in the First World War, initially, after receiving a promotion to the temporary rank of brigadier general in August 1915,[9] as commander of the 2nd Guards Brigade, part of the Guards Division, and then, after being promoted to temporary major general in September 1917,[10] as general officer commanding (GOC) 40th Division, leading his division at the Battle of Cambrai later that year.[11] His permanent rank was advanced to colonel in November 1917.[12] In July 1918 he went on to become GOC 5th Division, remaining in that role until the end of the war.[11] He had been appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George earlier in the war, in February 1915.[13]

After the war Ponsonby, whose rank of major general was made permanent in January 1919,[14] became GOC Madras District of India.[11] He retired from the army in 1926.[15]

Family

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In 1935 Ponsonby married Mary (Mollie) Robley; they had no children.[11] He lived at Haile Hall near Beckermet in Cumbria.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Major General Sir John Ponsonby (1866-1952) -..." www.findagrave.com.
  2. ^ "No. 25571". The London Gazette. 23 March 1886. p. 1414.
  3. ^ "No. 25758". The London Gazette. 15 November 1887. p. 6066.
  4. ^ "No. 25846". The London Gazette. 14 August 1888. p. 4367.
  5. ^ a b Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour (Volume 2) by Arthur Charles Fox-Davies, p. 132.
  6. ^ "The War – The Rhodesian Field Force". The Times. No. 36091. London. 16 March 1900. p. 6.
  7. ^ "No. 27335". The London Gazette. 19 July 1901. p. 4781.
  8. ^ "No. 27413". The London Gazette. 4 March 1902. p. 1538.
  9. ^ "No. 29307". The London Gazette. 24 September 1915. p. 9436.
  10. ^ "No. 30325". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 October 1917. p. 10352.
  11. ^ a b c d e The Times, 20 May 2004.
  12. ^ "No. 30382". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 November 1917. p. 11796.
  13. ^ "No. 29074". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 February 1915. p. 1691.
  14. ^ "No. 31092". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 13.
  15. ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
Military offices
Preceded by GOC 40th Division
1917–1918 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 5th Division
1918–1919 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Colonel of the Suffolk Regiment
1925–1939 		Succeeded by
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