Charles Corkran

Major-General Sir Charles Edward Corkran, (20 August 1872 – 9 January 1939) was a senior British Army officer who served as Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District from 1928 to 1932.

Early life Corkran was born on 20 August 1872. He was the son of Colonel Charles Seymour Corkran. and educated at Eton College, Among his siblings were Sir Victor Corkran and Violet Maud Corkran (wife of Sir Walter Farquhar, 5th Baronet).

Military career Upon graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Corkran was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in March 1893. He was promoted to lieutenant on 12 May 1897, and served on the Nile Expedition in 1898, including at the Battle of Omdurman. He was appointed adjutant of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment on 22 October 1899, was promoted to captain on 30 November 1899, and left with his regiment for South Africa to serve in the Second Boer War in March 1900.

Following the end of hostilities in May 1902, Corkran resigned as adjutant of the 2nd Battalion on 16 September 1902, but stayed in South Africa as he was the following day appointed aide-de-camp to Sir Neville Lyttelton, commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of South Africa.

Corkran, promoted on 22 December 1906 from supernumerary captain to captain, and on 14 September 1907 to major, also served in the First World War and, as commanding officer (CO) of a battalion of the Grenadier Guards, took his men to France in 1914. In July 1915 he was promoted to temporary brigadier general and took command of the 2nd Division's 5th Infantry Brigade. In January 1916 he was promoted to brevet colonel.

After the war he became CO of the Grenadier Guards Regiment and then went on to be commandant of the Senior Officers' School. He was placed on half-pay 1 September 1927 and then became Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District in 1928.

In retirement Corkran became Serjeant at Arms of the British House of Lords.

Personal life In 1904 Corkran married Winifred Maud Ricardo, daughter of Colonel Horace Ricardo, another commanding officer of the Grenadier Guards. They had one daughter and two sons.

Corkran died in a shooting accident on 9 January 1939.