Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Sir Stanley Brenton von Donop (22 February 1860 – 17 October 1941) was a

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 ...

officer who became Master-General of the Ordnance.

Early life and education

Donop was born in

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

, the youngest of four sons of Vice-Admiral Edward von Donop, and his wife, Louisa Mary Diana Brenton. His eldest brother was P. G. von Donop and his grandfather was the German official and historian Baron

Georg von Donop Georg Karl Wilhelm Philipp, Baron von Donop (18 March 1767 – 18 August 1845) was a German statesman and historian. Von Donop was born in Sonneberg into a noble family from Hesse-Kassel. He was the eldest of six sons born to Baron Karl Wilhelm Wo ...

, an illegitimate grandson of

Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg (4 August 1715– 5 of February 1800), was the ruling Countess of Varel and Kniphausen,Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser IV. "Portland". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1956, pp. 484-485. (German). adjace ...

. He was educated at

Wimbledon College Wimbledon College is a government-maintained, voluntary-aided, Jesuit Roman Catholic secondary school and sixth form for boys aged 11 to 19 in Wimbledon, London. The college was founded in 1892 "for improvement in living and learning for the g ...

and at the Royal Somersetshire College at Bath before attending the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town o ...

Military career

Donop was commissioned into the

Royal Garrison Artillery The Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA) was formed in 1899 as a distinct arm of the British Army's Royal Regiment of Artillery serving alongside the other two arms of the Regiment, the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) and the Royal Horse Artillery (R ...

as a

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 18 January 1880, promoted 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 1 April 1888, and to

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

on 9 October 1897. He served in 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 ...

and in November 1900 was appointed

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of Lord Methuen's Composite Regiment of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

n Bushmen, with the local rank (in South Africa) of

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 ...

. He led an important action at

Kleinfontein Kleinfontein is a culturally segregated, Afrikaner-only settlement near Pretoria, South Africa that was founded in 1992. Members of the African National Congress and Democratic Alliance youth have denounced the settlement and the continued exi ...

the following year. For his service in the war, he 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 ...

(dated 8 April 1902) and received a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel in the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902. In 1908 Donop was appointed Chief Instructor at the School of Gunnery and in 1911 he was appointed Director of Artillery at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

. Donop had a key role in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, having been appointed Master-General of the Ordnance in 1913. He ordered the 6-inch

howitzer A howitzer () is a long- ranged weapon, falling between a cannon (also known as an artillery gun in the United States), which fires shells at flat trajectories, and a mortar, which fires at high angles of ascent and descent. Howitzers, like ot ...

s which were the main instrument for the bombardments on the

Western Front Western Front or West Front may refer to: Military frontiers * Western Front (World War I), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (World War II), a military frontier to the west of Germany *Western Front (Russian Empire), a maj ...

. He was also Colonel Commandant of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

Personality

Donop is described by a modern writer as being competent and hardworking, but as having a cold manner and showing a "barely concealed contempt for politicians". During the First World War these characteristics made him disliked by civilian colleagues who did not share his technical expertise, especially Prime Minister Lloyd George.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Donop, Stanley von 1941 deaths 1860 births People from Bath, Somerset British people of German descent British Army generals of World War I Royal Artillery officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People educated at Wimbledon College British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Military personnel from Somerset British Army major generals