Brigadier General Julian Hasler (16 October 1868 – 27 April 1915), was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer who fought in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

as a brigade commander before being killed in action.

Early life

Julian Hasler was born in

Aldingbourne Aldingbourne is a village, Anglican parish and civil parish in the Arun District of West Sussex, England. Its centre is north of Bognor Regis and east of Chichester with the A29 and A27 main roads running through it. The civil parish is na ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

on 16 October 1868, the second son of William Wyndham Hasler, a wealthy landowner and Justice of the Peace for

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, and Selina Sarah Hervey, a member of the extended family of the

Marquess of Bristol Marquess of Bristol is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom held by the Hervey family since 1826. The Marquess's subsidiary titles are Earl of Bristol (created 1714), Earl Jermyn, of Horningsheath in the County of Suffolk (1826), and ...

. After spending his early year at

Aldingbourne House Aldingbourne House is a Regency Era Grade II listed country house near the village of Aldingbourne in the Arun district of West Sussex. It was built in 1799, with later alterations and additions. History The house was commissioned shortly befor ...

, his ancestral home, he attended

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

from 1882 to 1885.

Military career

After the academy, Julian Hasler was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the

East Kent Regiment The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

, on 19 September 1888, and soon promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 4 February 1892. From 1895 he was almost uninterruptedly in active military service, first with the Chitral Relief Force (1895), then the Northwest Frontier in India as a captain (1897-1898, where he participated in the capture of the Tanga Pass), and after being seconded for service under the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created in 1768 from the Southern Department to deal with colonial affairs in North America (particularly the Thirteen Colo ...

in June 1899, in South Africa (1900-1902) where he raised the Hasler's Australian Scouts, briefly in Nigeria where he documented a new species of

Red-fronted gazelle The red-fronted gazelle (''Eudorcas rufifrons'') is widely but unevenly distributed gazelle across the middle of Africa from Senegal to northeastern Ethiopia. It is mainly resident in the Sahel zone, a narrow cross-Africa band south of the Sahar ...

, and in West Africa (1899-1900, 1903–1910). He was wounded several times and mentioned twice in dispatches because of his bravery. A brevet lieutenant colonel in April 1906, he was promoted to

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 7 February 1907, to temporary colonel in September, and to lieutenant colonel on 4 August 1914.

First World War

After the outbreak of the war, he was promoted Brigadier-General and sent to France in September 1914. There, he was given command of the 1st Battalion of the Buffs. Wounded in October of the same year, he briefly returned home for convalescence. In December he went back to the front, where he was in command of the 11th Infantry Brigade. He distinguished himself for gallantry and resilience and was mentioned in dispatches twice by Field Marshal

Sir John French Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, (28 September 1852 – 22 May 1925), known as Sir John French from 1901 to 1916, and as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a senior British Army officer. Born in Kent, ...

Death

The 11th Brigade was operating as part of 4th division in the area of Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium close to the French Border. On 24 April 1915 it was sent north to reinforce the 5th Corps in the Ypres salient and was subsequently attached to 28th Division, taking over the front line between BERLIN WOOD and FORTUIN. On 27 April 1915, Hasler fell in action at St. Jean, near

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

in Belgium, in the context of the

Second battle of Ypres The Second Battle of Ypres was fought from 22 April – 25 May 1915, during the First World War, for control of the tactically-important high ground to the east and the south of the Flanders, Flemish town of Ypres, in western Belgium. The ...

, being the second general to die because of heavy shelling of an advanced headquarter that was placed too close to the salient. His commanding officer, Major-General

Edward Bulfin General Sir Edward Stanislaus Bulfin, (6 November 1862 − 20 August 1939) was a British Army general during the First World War, where he established a reputation as an excellent commander at the brigade, divisional and corps levels. He was mo ...

, had ordered him to abandon the position after dark on that same day, but he was delayed and was killed around 9pm that evening. His death features in a number of war diaries of the time. He left a wife, Edith Gwendolin Orr-Ewing, and two young children.

Notes

References

External links

Record on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasler, Julian 1868 births British Army brigadiers British Army generals of World War I 1915 deaths British military personnel killed in World War I Military personnel from Chichester Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) officers 19th-century British Army personnel