Major-General Sir Cecil Edward Pereira, (24 July 1869 – 26 October 1942) 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 commanded the 2nd Division during the

First World War 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 ...

Military career

Educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston, and later at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, Pereira was commissioned into the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

in January 1890.Lane Fox of Bramham
He was seconded for service under the Foreign Office in January 1898, and served in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

from 1898 and was promoted to captain in April 1899. He was seconded for service in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

in South Africa in March 1900, and attached to the Rhodesian Field Force. Promoted in November 1905 to major, in April 1908 he was made a deputy assistant adjutant general. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in November 1913 and then served in the

and was appointed

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, 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 give ...

(CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards in 1914. In February 1915 he was promoted to brevet colonel and in May was granted the temporary rank of brigadier general when he was placed in command of the 85th Infantry Brigade, which he led at the

Battle of Loos The Battle of Loos took place from 1915 in France on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, during the First World War. It was the biggest British attack of 1915, the first time that the British used Chemical weapons in World War I, ...

in September–October that year. This was followed by his taking command of the 1st Guards Brigade in January 1916, before being promoted to temporary major general in December 1916 and being made

general officer commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

(GOC) of the 2nd Division.Army Commands
His substantive rank was advanced from brevet colonel to colonel in November 1917, while his major general's rank became permanent in June 1918. After the war he became General Officer Commanding

56th (London) Infantry Division The 56th (London) Infantry Division was a Territorial Army infantry division of the British Army, which served under several different titles and designations. The division served in the trenches of the Western Front during the First World Wa ...

from 1919 until his retirement in 1923. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Pereira commanded the

Local Defence Volunteers The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an unpaid armed citizen militia supporting the 'Home Forces' of the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard comprised more than 1.5 ...

in London.

Family

Pereira had two brothers,

George Pereira Brigadier General George Edward Pereira, (26 January 1865 – 20 October 1923) was a British Army officer, writer, diplomatist, and explorer in Central Asia, Tibet and Western China. Early life and family George Pereira was descended from an o ...

, a soldier and explorer, and Edward Pereira, a priest, schoolmaster and cricketer. He was married by his brother at

Brompton Oratory Brompton Oratory, also known as the London Oratory, is a neo-classical late-Victorian Catholic parish church in the Brompton area of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, neighbouring Knightsbridge, London. Its name stems from Oratorian ...

on 28 January 1903 to Helen Mary Josephine (Nellie) Lane Fox, daughter of George Lane-Fox; they had three sons and two daughters. They settled after 1924 at Caversham Place, near

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

, a house designed for him by

Clough Williams-Ellis Sir Bertram Clough Williams-Ellis, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Military Cross, MC (28 May 1883 – 9 April 1978) was a Welsh architect known chiefly as the creator of the Italianate architecture, Italianate village of Portmeirion in North ...

Correspondence

His letters were edited by his grandson, E.A. Pereira & others, as ''Catholic General: The Private Wartime Correspondence of Maj-Gen Sir Cecil Edward Pereira, 1914–19'' (Helion, 2020).

References

Bibliography

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Cecil 1869 births 1942 deaths British Army generals of World War I Coldstream Guards officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George English people of Portuguese descent British Home Guard officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath People educated at The Oratory School British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) British Army major generals British expatriates in British Uganda Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst