Lord Edward Gleichen

Early military career The Staff College, Camberley, class in 1890. Stood in the second row, second from the left, is Edward Gleichen.

Gleichen served as a Page of Honour to the Queen from 1874 to 1879.

After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, he was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as a lieutenant in October 1881 and gradually rose through the ranks over the years, eventually becoming a major general. He served in the short-lived Guards Camel Corps in the Sudan campaign in 1884–85 and, after attending the Staff College, Camberley, from 1890–1891, and gaining his psc, with the Egyptian Army in the Dongala campaign in 1896.

After having served at the War Office as a staff captain, Gleichen was, in May 1898, made a deputy assistant adjutant general there. In 1899–1900 he served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, and was mentioned in despatches for his actions during the Battle of Modder River on 28 November 1899. In January 1900 he was appointed deputy assistant-adjutant-general to the forces in South Africa. After serving on half-pay, he became military attaché to Berlin, which he held from October 1903 until 1906. He and Kaiser Wilhelm II fell out, and Gleichen, promoted in October 1906 to brevet colonel, was sent to be military attaché in Washington D.C. from 1906 to 1907. He met the Wright brothers while in Washington and wrote a report on their aircraft, but also failed to form a relationship with U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt. He was assistant director of military operations from 1907 to 1911.

In August 1911 he succeeded Alexander Wilson as general officer commanding (GOC) of the 15th Infantry Brigade and was granted the temporary rank of brigadier general whilst he held this appointment.

In April, Gleichen was appointed GOC of the newly formed 37th Division, a Kitchener's Army formation stationed in England. After supervising the division's training on Salisbury Plain, he led it to the Western Front in July 1915 and commanded it through the Battle of the Somme the following year, eventually relinquishing his post in October 1916.

At court, the Count was appointed an Extra Equerry to King Edward VII in July 1901.

He wrote a number of books, including: With the Camel Corps up the Nile (1888) With the mission to Menelik (1898) The doings of the Fifteenth Infantry Brigade, August 1914 to March 1915 (1917) London's open air statuary (1928) A Guardsman's Memories (1932).

He was the editor of: Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: a compendium prepared by officers of the Sudan Government - Vol. I: Geographical, descriptive and historical. - 1905. Vol.II: Routes.- 1905. Suppl.: 1906

Change of title When King George V commanded his German relatives domiciled in Britain to Anglicize their names and titles in 1917, the Gleichens' 1913 precedence was reduced several grades to that of younger son/daughters of a marquess in the peerage of the United Kingdom. This was because only marquisal rank was conferred upon the King's nearer, heretofore princely relatives, the Tecks and Battenbergs. Although inexplicably allowed to retain their German surname, the Gleichens relinquished use of the comital title and on 12 September 1917 acquired the prefix of Lord or Lady, although this was not made hereditary for Edward's descendants as his countship had been.

Honours and awards British decorations CMG: Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George – 1898 – for his contributions on a Mission to Ethiopia. DSO: Companion of the Distinguished Service Order – 29 November 1900 – for his contributions in the Second Boer War. CVO: Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – 2 February 1901 – on the day of the funeral of Queen Victoria CB: Companion of the Order of the Bath – 1906 KCVO: Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – 1909

Foreign decorations 1897: Order of the Star of Ethiopia (Third Class) – for his contributions on a Mission to Ethiopia. 1905: Order of the Medjidie (Second Class) – for his services in the Egyptian Army Unknown dates: Commander of the Legion of Honour, Order of the Dannebrog (First Class)