Cyril Blacklock

Major-General Cyril Aubrey Blacklock, (26 September 1880 – 14 October 1936) was a British Army officer who commanded several divisions on the Western Front during the First World War.

Early life Blacklock was the son of Joseph Herbert Blacklock and Julia Corser and grew up in the Banburyshire village of Overthorpe. Educated at Eton College, he was a keen rider who hunted with the Warwickshire Hunt.

Military career Blacklock was an officer in the 5th (1st Warwickshire Militia) Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment and had reached the rank of captain when he was given a Regular Army commission in the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a second lieutenant on 5 January 1901. While in South Africa, he was promoted to lieutenant on 11 December 1901.

Following the end of the war, he returned home on the SS Sicilia in October 1902.

Blacklock resigned his commission on 23 April 1904, while his battalion was stationed in India, and emigrated to Canada, where he settled at Port Rowan, Ontario. He went on to be commander of the 182nd (2nd Warwickshire) Brigade in 1916 and then commander of the 97th Brigade in 1917, when he was promoted to temporary brigadier general in January.

Blacklock retired from the army for a second time in 1920, by this stage a major-general, and returned to Canada. He had been invested as a Companion of the Order of the Bath and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in recognition of his military service.