Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Edward Thomas Henry Hutton, (6 December 1848 – 4 August 1923) was a British military commander, who pioneered the use of mounted infantry in the British Army and later commanded the Canadian Militia and the Australian Army.

Early career

Hutton was born in Torquay, Devon, in December 1848, the only son of Colonel Sir Edward Thomas Hutton, of Beverly, and stepson of General Sir Arthur Lawrence. The swordsman

Alfred Hutton Alfred Hutton FSA (10 March 1839 – 18 December 1910) was a Victorian officer of the King's Dragoon Guards, writer, antiquarian, and swordsman. He originated the first English revival of historical fencing, together with his colleagues Egerto ...

(1839–1910) was his uncle. He was educated at Eton College, leaving in 1867 and taking a commission in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

.Meaney (2006) Promotion to lieutenant came in 1871, and from 1873 to 1877 he served as Adjutant of the 4th Battalion. He first saw active duty in Africa in 1879, when he served with his regiment in the Anglo-Zulu War, being

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 ...

and 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 ...

for his service at the Battle of Gingindlovu. He served with the mounted infantry force in the First Anglo-Boer War of 1880–81, and as a result was appointed to command the mounted infantry in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 as a

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

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 indicators ...

. He fought around Alexandria and at the

Battle of Tel el-Kebir The Battle of Tel El Kebir (often spelled Tel-El-Kebir) was fought on 13 September 1882 at Tell El Kebir in Egypt, 110 km north-north-east of Cairo. An entrenched Egyptian force under the command of Ahmed ʻUrabi was defeated by a British ...

, where he had a horse killed underneath him and was again mentioned in despatches. In the

Nile Expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–85), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to the Sudan to help Egyptians evacuate from Sudan af ...

of 1884–85, he was appointed to the staff, again in command of the mounted infantry.''Who Was Who'' Hutton had become closely linked with the employment of mounted infantry in the African campaigns, and was the army's leading authority on its use; in 1886, he gave a public lecture calling for a widespread scheme of training and preparing mounted infantry units within the units stationed in Britain. He was supported by Sir Garnet Wolseley, a prominent Army moderniser, and Hutton was given command of the newly raised composite regiment of mounted infantry at Aldershot in 1887, promoted

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 colone ...

in 1889 and colonel in 1892. Wolseley's support of Hutton has led him to be named as a member of the influential "

Wolseley ring The Wolseley ring was a group of 19th century British army officers loyal to Garnet Wolseley and considered by him to be clever, brave, experienced and hard-working. After the Crimean War Wolseley started to keep a note of the best officers he met, ...

" by some biographers, but he was five to ten years younger than most members, and other sources often do not list him as a member of the group. His influence was strengthened by his marriage, in 1889, to Eleanor Mary Paulet, daughter of Rev. Lord Charles Paulet, and niece of the Marquess of Winchester and of Field-Marshal Lord William Paulet. His improved social connections led to him being appointed as an aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria in 1892.Hill (1983)

Overseas command

New South Wales

In 1893, Hutton was named commandant of the military forces in New South Wales and promoted to the temporary rank of major general. He was recalled in 1896 for a year's service in Ireland as chief staff officer in the Dublin district and at the Curragh.Miller (2000)

Canada and South Africa

In 1898, he was again temporary promoted to the rank of major general and made General Officer Commanding the Militia of Canada. When the Second Boer War with South Africa was on the horizon, Hutton lobbied Canada to participate. Without informing Canada's Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Hutton published mobilization plans in the ''Canadian Military Gazette''. Laurier's government then received a letter of gratuity from Britain for its decision to aid them in the Boer region. Furious, Laurier announced Canada's refusal to send any contingents. In the end, political pressure was too great, and Canada played a role in the war. However, the row led to Hutton being recalled in early 1900. Replying to a question in the Dominion House of Commons, Laurier said that the causes of the difference were that Hutton was ''insubordinate and indiscreet and deliberately ignored the authority of the Minister of Militia in the administration of his department''. In early March 1900 Hutton left Southampton in the ''SS Tantallon Castle'', which arrived in South Africa later the same month. He took up the post as Commander of the 1st Mounted Infantry Brigade, a formation made up of Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand troops. This force was actively engaged both during Lord Roberts's advance from Bloemfontein and after the fall of Pretoria. When the brigade was broken up in November 1900, he returned to the United Kingdom, where he was knighted as a

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III. It is named in honour ...

(KCMG) for his services in the South African campaign. Hutton was in November 1901 appointed Honorary Colonel of the 7th (Militia) Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps.

Australia

In late November 1901 it was announced that Hutton would become the first General Officer Commanding the Australian Military Forces. He was recommended by Field Marshal Lord Roberts after several other officers had refused or were rejected by the government. He arrived in Australia in January 1902, and his main task became that of transforming six colonial forces into one national Australian Army. In 1904, Hutton promoted what was then a novel idea that Empire military attachés should be sent to witness the clash of Russian and Japanese forces in Manchuria. Australian sources reveal a nested array of factors affecting the mission of Colonel John Hoad, who was detached by the Deakin government to serve with the Imperial Japanese Army in 1904–1905. Along with other Western military attachés, Hoad had two complementary missions–to assist the Japanese and to observe the Japanese forces in the field during the Russo-Japanese War. Hutton resigned as GOC Australian Military Force at the end of 1904.

Later career

After his resignation, Hutton was appointed commander of 3rd Division in 1905, holding the command until 1906, and given a post overseeing administration in Eastern Command. In November 1907 he was promoted lieutenant general, shortly before his retirement. In 1914, he was recalled from retirement to command the newly raised 21st Division in the

New Armies 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 a ...

– the Australian government having turned down a suggestion he should be offered command of the Australian Imperial Force – but fell ill early in 1915, after a riding accident, and was relieved of command in April. In retirement, he wrote a history of the

,Hutton (1917) and a number of pamphlets on military affairs. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Hutton died in 1923; he was survived by his wife; the couple had no children.

Works

Notes

References

* Hill, A.J. (1983
"Hutton, Sir Edward Thomas Henry (1848–1923)"
''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Vol. IX., Melbourne University Press, pp. 415–418. * * * *Miller, Carman (2000
"Hutton, Sir Edward Thomas Henry"
''Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du Canada,'' Vol. XV. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. *"HUTTON, Lt-Gen. Sir Edward (Thomas Henry)". (2007). In ''Who Was Who''
Online edition

External links

* , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Edward 1848 births 1923 deaths Australian generals British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army generals of World War I British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Military history of Canada People educated at Eton College Military personnel from Torquay Commanders of the Canadian Army Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey People of the Russo-Japanese War British Army lieutenant generals Chiefs of Army (Australia)