Aylmer Haldane

General Sir James Aylmer Lowthorpe Haldane, (17 November 1862 – 19 April 1950 On 18 February 1886, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and, after being made an adjutant in September 1888,

He attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1892 to 1893. While there he was in April 1892 promoted to the rank of captain.

Two tanks passing through Cologne, Germany for inspection by the GOC VI Corps, Lieutenant General Sir Aylmer Haldane, June 1919.

Between 1894 and 1895, Haldane was part of the Waziristan Field Force and participated in the Chitral Expedition. He was dispatched to quell the Afridis rebellion in the Tirah campaign for the next two years (1897–1898) promoted to major on 23 July 1902, and became a military attaché with the Imperial Japanese Army from July 1904 to September 1905 during the Russo-Japanese War, and accompanied Japanese forces into Manchuria.

Following his promotion to brevet colonel in January 1906, Haldane was appointed Companion of the Bath on 16 March 1906 and granted the substantive rank of colonel on 29 October 1906 at the same time as he took over the post of assistant director at headquarters from Brevet Colonel Francis Davies. From 1906 to 1909, he served as assistant director of military intelligence. On 1 October 1909, Haldane was made a brigadier general, general staff (BGGS) at Eastern Command and was promoted to temporary brigadier general while employed in this position, taking over from Brigadier General Thomas Snow.

In May 1912 he become general officer commanding (GOC) of the 4th Division's 10th Infantry Brigade, in succession to Colonel Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley and he was allowed to retain his temporary rank while in command of the brigade.

First World War

In August 1914, after the British entry into World War I, Haldane deployed to France at the head of his brigade, seeing action with most of the rest of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the Retreat from Mons and the Battle of Le Cateau. His leadership during the subsequent battles of the Marne and the Aisne, along with the early stages of the First Battle of Ypres, earned him a promotion to major general that October for "distinguished conduct in the field" but he was not immediately assigned command of a division, instead remaining as GOC of his brigade.

Major General Hubert Hamilton, GOC 3rd Division (and a fellow student of Haldane's at the Staff College over twenty years earlier), became the first British divisional commander to be killed in the war when he lost his life on 14 October. He was succeeded as GOC by Major General Colin Mackenzie although he was soon removed, to be replaced temporarily by Major General Frederick Wing. Haldane was then formally appointed as GOC on 5 November, though this was later rectified to 21 November when he actually took command, making him the division's fourth commander in just over five weeks and "one of the first Brigadiers [of the BEF] to receive a Division." Norman McMahon and later Charles Hull succeeded him as GOC of his brigade.

He led the division through the final weeks of the year and throughout 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres in April-May, including the First Attack on Bellewaerde in June and the actions at Hooge in July and August. In September, the division carried out a secondary attack at Bellewaerde to support the Battle of Loos.

The next major engagement for Haldane and his division occurred in March 1916 during the actions of St Eloi Craters. This was followed by the Battle of the Somme, which began on 1 July, where the division was "brilliantly successful, carrying Bazentin le Grand, and sharing afterwards in the desperate fighting around Longueval and Delville Wood".

Having now commanded the division for nearly twenty one months, Haldane was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general in August and succeeded Lieutenant General John Keir as GOC of VI Corps, while Cyril Deverell later a field marshal, became GOC 3rd Division in Haldane's place. He held this command for the remainder of the war, notably during the Battle of Arras, "when, advancing due east of the city, its three divisions captured all their objectives, including such formidable fortresses as the Harp and Railway Triangle, and made record captures of prisoners and guns". The next major battle for Haldane's corps came during the German spring offensives almost a year later, followed by the Hundred Days Offensive, when his men helped break through the Hindenburg Line, until the Armistice of 11 November 1918 brought an end to hostilities.

Post-war Coronation of Faisal as King of Iraq. Faisal seated, to his right are British High commissioner Percy Cox and Lieutenant Kinahan Cornwallis, to his left commander-in-chief of all British troops in the Mesopotamia Commander General Aylmer Haldane.

After the war, Haldane, his rank of lieutenant general being made substantive in January 1919, was appointed GOC Mesopotamia in 1920 and remained in that post until 1922. After being promoted to full general in March, he retired later in the year.

Death

Haldane died in his 88th year on 19 April 1950 at his home in London, his body was buried at Brookwood Cemetery, in Surrey.