Walter Lindsay

Major-General Sir Walter Fullarton Lodovic Lindsay (15 May 1855 – 7 March 1930) was a British Army officer who was a senior figure in the Royal Artillery during the First World War.

Military career

Lindsay was born into a Scottish family in Kensington, London, the son of Captain Alexander Lindsay of the 8th Hussars, and his wife, Jane. He was educated in Scotland before continuing to the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

He followed his father into the Army, joining the Royal Artillery and seeing overseas service in the Egyptian Campaign of 1882 and the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1900. He was mentioned in despatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service in South Africa.

After serving on half-pay Lindsay was, in November 1905, promoted to colonel and became a staff officer for Horse and Field Artillery. He later rose to command the Southern Division of the artillery in 1906. In August 1907 he was promoted to temporary brigadier general and became a brigadier general, Royal Artillery. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1908 Birthday Honours, and in March 1912 was promoted to major general. He was appointed to command the West Lancashire Division of the Territorial Force later in the year.

On the outbreak of the First World War, he was appointed as the chief artillery officer of the British Expeditionary Force, with the rank of major general. He served on the Western Front for the first months of the war; however, there were few centralised artillery forces commanded by corps or GHQ at this stage, and as a result Lindsay was sidelined and rarely involved in field operations. He was replaced by John Du Cane in January 1915, returning home with a knighthood and appointed as the inspector of Royal Horse Artillery and Royal Field Artillery. He was later briefly commander of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division before retiring from the army in 1917.

He died in London after a long illness.