Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointe ...

Archibald Stirling, DL, of Keir and

Cawdor Cawdor ( gd, Caladair) is a village and parish in the Highland council area, Scotland. The village is south-southwest of Nairn and east of Inverness. The village is in the Historic County of Nairnshire. History The village is the location o ...

(1867 – 18 February 1931) was an officer of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

who also served as a Member of Parliament.

Early life and family

Stirling was born at Keir near

Dunblane Dunblane (, gd, Dùn Bhlàthain) is a small town in the council area of Stirling in central Scotland, and inside the historic boundaries of the county of Perthshire. It is a commuter town, with many residents making use of good transport links ...

, the second son of

Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet MP KT, of Pollok FRSE DCL LLD (8 March 181815 January 1878), was a Scottish historical writer, art historian and politician. Until 1865 he was known as William Stirling, and several of his books wer ...

of Keir and Pollok and his wife Lady Anna Maria, second daughter of the 10th Earl of Leven and Melville.Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees eds, ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume II 1886–1918'', Harvester Press, 1978, p. 339–340.

Sir John Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet Sir John Maxwell Stirling-Maxwell, 10th Baronet, KT, DL, FRSE (6 June 1866 – 30 May 1956) was a Scottish landowner, Tory politician and philanthropist. Life The eldest son of Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, 9th Baronet and Lady Anna Maria ...

was his elder brother and Stirling was heir-presumptive to the baronetcy.''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

, 1929–1940'',

Adam and Charles Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing ''Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 180 ...

, 1941, p. 1294–1295. Stirling was married in 1910 to the Hon. Margaret Fraser, fourth daughter of the 13th Lord Lovat; they had four sons and two daughters. He was a member of the Guards' Club, the

Carlton Club The Carlton Club is a private members' club in St James's, London. It was the original home of the Conservative Party before the creation of Conservative Central Office. Membership of the club is by nomination and election only. History T ...

and the Turf Club. One of Stirling's sons is

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Sir Archibald David Stirling of Keir. The current Laird of the Keir estate is the younger Stirling's nephew

Archie Stirling Archibald Hugh Stirling, Laird of Keir (born 18 September 1941) is a Scottish theatrical producer, a former officer in the Scots Guards, and Laird of the Keir estate at Lecropt in the Stirling council area in Scotland. Stirling is the eldes ...

, a millionaire businessman and former Scots Guards officer.

Military career

Educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, Stirling joined the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

in 1889. He was promoted from

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

on 4 May 1892, and to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 24 June 1899. He served with the Egyptian Army from 1899 to 1900, and was awarded the

Queen's Sudan Medal The Queen's Sudan Medal was authorised in March 1899 and awarded to British and Egyptian forces which took part in the Sudan campaign between June 1896 and September 1898. The campaign reflected the British desire to reverse the defeats of the Ma ...

with clasp for Soudan. Following the outbreak of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the So ...

, he joined the 2nd Battalion of his regiment and left

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

for South Africa on the SS ''Britannic'' in March 1900. The battalion was attached to the 16th Infantry Brigade, and Stirling served throughout the war from 1900 to 1902. For his service he was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with three clasps and the

King's South Africa Medal The King's South Africa Medal is a British campaign medal awarded to all British and Colonial military personnel who served in the Second Boer War in South Africa, and who were in the theatre on or after 1 January 1902 and who had completed 18 m ...

with two clasps. He retired from the service on 17 June 1903, receiving a gratuity, and became a captain in the Reserve of Officers. On 23 January 1904 he joined the

Imperial Yeomanry The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but s ...

as a major in Lovat's Scouts, transferring to the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

on 1 April 1908. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 18 August 1909, and was commanding officer of the 2nd Lovat Scouts. On 11 October 1915 Stirling was appointed a brigade commander, with the temporary rank of brigadier general: he commanded the

Highland Mounted Brigade The Highland Mounted Brigade was a formation of the Territorial Force of the British Army, organised in 1908. After service in the Gallipoli Campaign and in the defence of Egypt, it was absorbed into the 2nd Dismounted Brigade in February 1916 ...

at Gallipoli in 1915 and the

2nd Dismounted Brigade D2, D02, D.II, D II or D-2 may refer to: Places * Dublin 2, a Dublin, Ireland postcode * D2 motorway (Czech Republic) * D2 road (Croatia), a state route in Croatia * D2 motorway (Slovakia) * Mount Dulang-dulang, the second highest mountain of t ...

in Egypt in 1916. He was transferred to the Territorial Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel on 19 September 1916. For his service during the war, Stirling was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

twice, and was awarded the

1914–15 Star The 1914–15 Star is a campaign medal of the British Empire which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces who served in any theatre of the First World War against the Central European Powers during 1914 and 1915. The me ...

, the

British War Medal The British War Medal is a campaign medal of the United Kingdom which was awarded to officers and men of British and Imperial forces for service in the First World War. Two versions of the medal were produced. About 6.5 million were struck in ...

and the Victory Medal; he was given the honorary rank of brigadier general in the army, dated from 19 September 1916. Stirling relinquished his commission as lieutenant colonel in the Territorial Army Reserve on 30 September 1921, but was appointed colonel in the Regular Army Reserve of Officers on 1 March 1922. Having reached the age limit, he relinquished his commission in the Army Reserve as well on 9 December 1922, retaining his rank and the right to wear the uniform.

Politics and post-war

On 21 February 1917, Stirling was elected as Unionist Member of Parliament for West Perthshire. He sat until the general election of 1918, when he unsuccessfully contested Kinross and Western Perthshire. In 1920, Stirling became a member of the War Office Committee of Enquiry into "Shell-shock", which published its final report in 1922.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirling, Archibald 1867 births 1931 deaths People from Dunblane People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army cavalry generals of World War I Scots Guards officers Lovat Scouts officers Younger sons of baronets UK MPs 1910–1918 British Army generals Scottish military personnel Unionist Party (Scotland) MPs Territorial Force officers