Herbert Belfield

Sir Herbert Belfield
Born 1857
Died 1934
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service 1876–1914
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands held 4th Division
4th Infantry Brigade
Battles/wars Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War
Second Boer War
First World War
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches

Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Eversley Belfield, KCB, KCMG, KBE, DSO (1857–1934) was a British Army officer who commanded the 4th Division from 1907 to 1911.

Military career

Educated at Wellington College,[1] Belfield was commissioned into the Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1876.[2] He was promoted to captain on 20 May 1885, and to major on 1 February 1893. He took part in the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1895, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 25 March 1896 and to colonel on 18 December 1899.[3] With the outbreak of the Second Boer War (1899–1902), he was appointed Inspector General of the Imperial Yeomanry and Assistant Adjutant General to Lieutenant General Lord Methuen.[4] From January 1902 he held the local rank of brigadier general on the Staff in South Africa.[5] He was mentioned in despatches on 23 June 1902 by Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief in South Africa during the latter part of the war,[6] and returned home in the SS Kinfauns Castle leaving Cape Town in early August 1902, after the war had ended.[7]

Belfield was appointed Assistant Adjutant-General for 1st Army Corps on 11 December 1902,[1] Commander of 4th Infantry Brigade in 1903 and General Officer Commanding 4th Division in 1907[8] before retiring in 1914.[4] He was also Colonel of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment from 1909 to 1914.[4]

In retirement Belfield became Director of Prisoner of war work, negotiating prisoner exchanges and improvements in the treatment of prisoners[9] throughout the First World War.[4] There is a chair dedicated to his memory at York Minster Stoneyard.[10]

Family

In 1882 he married Emily Mary Binney; he later married Evelyn Mary Taylor; they had two daughters.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Anglo-Boer War
  2. "No. 24299". The London Gazette. 25 February 1876. p. 886.
  3. Hart′s Army list, 1903
  4. 1 2 3 4 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  5. "No. 27432". The London Gazette. 9 May 1902. p. 3092.
  6. "No. 27459". The London Gazette. 29 July 1902. pp. 4835–4837.
  7. "The Army in South Africa – Return of Troops". The Times (36846). London. 14 August 1902. p. 8.
  8. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
  9. Pursuit of an 'Unparalleled Opportunity'
  10. Belfield chair from York Minster chapel found in attic of stoneyard York Press, 17 February 2011
Military offices
Preceded by
William Franklyn
General Officer Commanding the 4th Division
1907–1911
Succeeded by
Thomas Snow
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