General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Henry Macleod Leslie Rundle, (6 January 1856 – 19 November 1934) 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 ...

general during 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 ...

and 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 ...

Early life

Rundle was born on 6 January 1856 in

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge, Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its population was 24,029 in 2011, and was estimated at 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. He was the son of Captain Joseph Sparkhall Rundle, a Royal Navy officer, and his wife Renira Cathrine (née Leslie, who was the daughter of Commander W. W. Leslie of the Royal Navy).

Career

Rundle 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 1876.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> He fought 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, the

First Boer War The First Boer War (, ), was fought from 16 December 1880 until 23 March 1881 between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and Boers of the Transvaal (as the South African Republic was known while under British ad ...

of 1881 and the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt, also known as the Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

of 1882. He was involved in the

Nile expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–1885), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to Sudan to help the Egyptians withdraw their garr ...

between 1884 and 1885 and served in the Sudan Frontier Field Force from 1885 to 1887. For service in the Khartoum expedition of 1898 he was promoted to major-general for distinguished conduct in the field. He led a column up the

Blue Nile The Blue Nile is a river originating at Lake Tana in Ethiopia. It travels for approximately through Ethiopia and Sudan. Along with the White Nile, it is one of the two major Tributary, tributaries of the Nile and supplies about 85.6% of the wa ...

to relieve

Gedaref El-Gadarif ( '), also spelt ''Gedaref'' or ''Gedarif'', is the capital of the state of Al Qadarif in Sudan. It lies on the road that connects Khartoum with Gallabat on the Ethiopian border, about from the capital. Overview El-Gadarif is surrou ...

the same year.Leslie Rundle at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> Rundle became

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 ...

, South-Eastern District on 29 December 1898. He was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 3rd (East Kent Militia) Battalion, Buffs (East Kent Regiment) on 21 June 1899. After the escalation of the

in late 1899, Rundle was in January 1900 appointed to the command of the 8th Division of the South African Field Force, with the temporary and local rank of

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank 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 battlefield, who was norma ...

. The appointment was described as "the most remarkable instance of advancement to high military office which has occurred in the recent history of heArmy" by a contemporary issue of ''

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 ...

''. He left

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in the SS ''Moor'' in March 1900 with the staff of the 8th division and 600 men of militia regiments, and arrived in Cape Town the following month. He served as commander until early March 1902, when he returned to the United Kingdom on board the SS ''Carisbrook Castle''. For his service in the war, he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) 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 of t ...

(including by Lord Kitchener on 23 June 1902) and appointed 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, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) (the award was dated 29 November 1900 in the gazette, but he was only invested by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

after his return, at

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...

on 2 June 1902). Following his return, he was in May 1902 back as General Officer Commanding South-Eastern District, based in

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

, and was on 14 May 1902 appointed in command of the 5th Division, stationed there. He became General Officer Commanding North Eastern District in November 1903, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Northern Command in 1905 and Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in 1909. He was promoted to general in September 1909. He went on to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Command in 1915 and retired in 1916. Rundle was presented with the Freedom of the borough of

on 29 October 1902, while living there as General Officer Commanding South-Eastern district. He was honorary treasurer of the Blue Cross Fund.

Personal life

In 1887, Rundle married Eleanor Georgina Campbell, daughter of Captain H. J. M. Campbell, Royal Artillery, but they had no children.Obituary: General Sir Leslie Rundle
The Argus, 21 November 1934 Rundle died on 19 November 1934.

References

, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rundle, Leslie 1856 births 1934 deaths Blue Cross workers British Army generals Military personnel from Devon British Army generals of World War I Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of the Anglo-Zulu War British military personnel of the First Boer War British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army personnel of the Second Boer War People from Newton Abbot Governors and governors-general of Malta