Major-General Sir John Frederick Maurice (24 May 1841 – 12 January 1912) was a senior

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 An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

, chiefly remembered for his military writings.

Family and early life

Maurice was born in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, London in 1841, the eldest son of Rev.

Frederick Denison Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), commonly known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War ...

, an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

priest, theologian and author, by his first wife, Anna Eleanor Barton, a daughter of Lieutenant-General Charles Barton. He published several volumes on his father's life in 1884. Maurice was educated at the Royal India Military College, Addiscombe, and the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...

, and was 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 December 1861.

Career

Maurice served as private secretary to

Sir Garnet Wolseley Field Marshal Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley (4 June 183325 March 1913) was an Anglo-Irish officer in the British Army. He became one of the most influential British generals after a series of victories in Canada, West Africa and E ...

in the Ashanti Campaign of 1873–1874; in the

Zulu War The Anglo-Zulu War was fought in present-day South Africa from January to early July 1879 between forces of the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Two famous battles of the war were the Zulu victory at Isandlwana and the British defence at ...

in 1879; was deputy assistant adjutant general of the Egyptian expedition in 1882; and was brevetted colonel in 1885. In 1885–1892 he was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of military history at the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which ...

, and in 1895 was promoted to major general. Later in his career he was commander of the

Woolwich Woolwich () is a town in South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was mainta ...

District until September 1902, and he retired from the army in January 1903. In 1905, Maurice was part of a team which went to Berlin to negotiate with the Germans on the problems of the Navy estimates and the escalating threat posed to the Empire. In January 1906, news was leaked to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' that implicated him in the leaking of war material purchases, which he had discussed. Sir

Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman ( né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. ...

, the prime minister, complained to Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, of "an outrageous interview with Genl. Sir F. Maurice in a French paper, describing all that wd. happen if Germany & France went to war; how we of course should join France". Later in the same parliament British government policy evolved around Grey's adherence to the ''

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and the French Third Republic, French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Fr ...

'' and the British willingness to defend the neutrality of the Low Countries.

Personal life

In Dublin in 1869, Maurice married Anne Frances "Annie" FitzGerald, the daughter of Richard Augustine FitzGerald. They had a large family of at least 11 children. His eldest son was Sir Frederick Maurice (1871–1951). His second daughter Annie married John Macmillan, Bishop of Guildford. Another daughter, Cosette, married the Oxford military historian, C. T. Atkinson.

Writings

Maurice's reputation depends chiefly on his military writings, which include: *''Hostilities without Declaration of War'' (1883) *''Popular History of Ashanti Campaign'' (1874) *A life of his father,

John Frederick Denison Maurice John Frederick Denison Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), commonly known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican priest and theologian. He was a prolific author and one of the founders of Christian socialism. Since the Second World War ...

(1884) *''The Balance of Military Power in Europe'' (1888) *''War'' (1891) *'' The Great War of 1892'' (1892) (along with P.H. Colomb and others) *''National Defences'' (1897) *''The Franco-German War, 1870–1871'' (1900) *''Diary of Sir John Moore'' (1904) *''History of the War in South Africa'', an official account (four volumes, 1906–1910)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maurice, Frederick 1841 births 1912 deaths British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War Graduates of Addiscombe Military Seminary Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich British Army major generals Military personnel from the London Borough of Southwark Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath English military writers Writers from the London Borough of Southwark 20th-century British Army personnel Royal Artillery officers English male writers Academics of the Staff College, Camberley People from Southwark