Major-General Frederick Drummond Vincent Wing, CB (29 November 1860 – 2 October 1915) was a senior 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 Gurk ...

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and was one of three British divisional commanders killed in action in the space of a week in the aftermath of the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used poison gas and the first mass engagement of New Army units. Th ...

. Wing had served in the army for over thirty years at the time of his death, having been commissioned into 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 ...

in 1880. He had served with distinction 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 South ...

and been an aide de camp to Lord Roberts in 1903.

Military service

Frederick Wing was born in

Christchurch, Hampshire Christchurch () is a town and civil parish in Dorset on the south coast of England. The town had a population of 31,372 in 2021. For the borough the population was 48,368. It adjoins Bournemouth to the west, with the New Forest to the east. Pa ...

in November 1860, the son of Major Vincent Wing and Gertrude Elizabeth Wing (née Vane). In 1880 aged twenty, Wing joined the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link r ...

after graduating from the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Wing rose in prominence in the regiment, and was promoted to Captain on 12 September 1888, and Major on 31 March 1898. He served in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

for the

between 1899 and 1902, where he took part in operations in

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in late 1899, including engagements at Talana. The following year, he took part in the defence of Ladysmith and was present at the Battle of Lombard's Kop, where he was slightly wounded, and for which he was mentioned in despatches and received a brevet promotion as

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 ...

on 29 November 1900. In early 1902, he was again wounded, but discharged to duty shortly before the end of hostilities, in May 1902. In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kichener wrote that Wing had "high reputation for boldness and dash" and had "rendered good service." He left

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

on board the ''SS Dunvegan Castle'' in late June 1902, and arrived at

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 ...

the next month. For his service in the war, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list. Following his return to the United Kingdom, Wing was appointed in command of the Z Battery, Royal Horse Artillery, stationed at Newbridge. He did not stay there long, however, as he was seconded to the staff of Lord Roberts, whom he served as aide-de-camp in 1903. In 1905, Wing married Mary FitzClarence, a granddaughter of the Earl of Munster and

Earl of Clonmell Earl of Clonmell, in the County of Tipperary, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1793 for John Scott, 1st Viscount Clonmell, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland. He had already been created Baron Earlsfort, of ...

.Maj.-Gen Frederick Drummond Vincent Wing
''peerage.com'', Daryl Lundy, Retrieved 5 July 2008 In 1913, Wing was given command of the artillery of the 3rd Division and accompanied them to France in 1914 at the outbreak of the

. Wing served at all the major battles of 1914 and was wounded on 22 September 1915 by a shrapnel bullet in the calf, but returned to duty the next day. Wing also had a close escape early in 1915, when a German shell burst directly over his car during a tour of his artillery positions. Wing was unhurt in the blast, but his chauffeur was wounded in the arm. Later in 1915, Wing took overall command of the newly raised

New Army The New Armies ( Traditional Chinese: 新軍, Simplified Chinese: 新军; Pinyin: Xīnjūn, Manchu: ''Ice cooha''), more fully called the Newly Created Army ( ''Xinjian Lujun''Also translated as "Newly Established Army" ()), was the modernised ...

12th (Eastern) Division The 12th (Eastern) Division was an infantry division raised by the British Army during the First World War from men volunteering for Kitchener's New Armies. The division saw service in the trenches of the Western Front from June 1915 to the ...

. In the September 1915

, generals George Thesiger and Thompson Capper were killed, and less than a week later, on 2 October 1915, a shell exploded in the road outside the 12th Division's forward report centre at Mazingarbe and killed Wing and his aide-de-camp, Lieutenant C. C. Tower of the

Essex Yeomanry The Essex Yeomanry was a Reserve unit of the British Army that originated in 1797 as local Yeomanry Cavalry Troops in Essex. Reformed after the experience gained in the Second Boer War, it saw active service as cavalry in World War I and as ar ...

, outright at 3:45pm. Both were buried in the nearby Noeux-les-Mines Communal Cemetery which is now maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

.Wing, Frederick Drummond Vincent
''Commonwealth War Graves Commission'', Retrieved 5 July 2008

Time for his men

In the diaries of Lieut A A de Jongh of the 7th Battalion, Suffolks who fought at Loos under Major General Wing, he described meeting him on 5 June 1915 while marching to Campagne. "On the way we passed Major General Wing our Divisional Commander, a simply topping man. He stopped his car and I had quite a long chat with him." On 8 July 1915, he inspected the trenches just outside Plugstreet (Ploegsteert) where Lieut. de Jongh was based. "He was please with everything and spent a long time with me."

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wing, Frederick 1860 births 1915 deaths British Army major generals Military personnel from Hampshire Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Companions of the Order of the Bath British Army generals of World War I British military personnel killed in World War I Burials in France