Brigadier-General Norman Reginald McMahon (24 January 1866 – 11 November 1914) 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. He served with the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many war ...

in the Burma expedition of 1886–87 and 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 ...

of 1899–1902. During the latter campaign he served on the

general staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, Enlisted rank, enlisted, and civilian staff who serve the commanding officer, commander of a ...

as an aide-de-camp and then

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section direct ...

. McMahon was seriously wounded in action and was subsequently

mentioned in dispatches 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 ...

and awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

. Once recovered he served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General towards the end of the war. McMahon was appointed chief instructor of the army's School of Musketry in 1905 and sought to improve the infantry's rate of fire. His request for additional machine guns to be allocated to each battalion was rebuffed and he instead worked on increasing the rate of fire from the riflemen. He implemented rapid-fire training on the

Lee–Enfield The Lee–Enfield is a bolt-action, magazine-fed repeating rifle that served as the main firearm of the military forces of the British Empire and Commonwealth during the first half of the 20th century, and was the standard service rifle of th ...

rifle with each soldier being expected to achieve 15 aimed shots within a minute. This later proved very effective during the opening stages of 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 ...

. McMahon was promoted to brigadier-general in the first months of the war and was due to take over command of the 10th Infantry Brigade shortly before he was killed by shell fire.

Early life and career

Norman Reginald McMahon was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on 24 January 1866 and was the youngest son of General Sir Thomas Westropp McMahon, 3rd Baronet. McMahon attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and the

Royal Military College Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a British military academy for training infantry and cavalry officers of the British and Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, but moved in October 1812 ...

from which he was commissioned as a subaltern, with the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

, in the

Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many war ...

on 23 May 1885. He served on the Burma expedition of 1886–87 and was appointed

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

on 28 February 1890. He relinquished his appointment after two years and was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 27 November 1896. McMahon served during the

and on 9 October 1899 was seconded to the

for service as an aide-de-camp (ADC) to an infantry major-general. He was present at the 11 October

Relief of Ladysmith The Relief of Ladysmith consisted of multiple efforts to relieve the city of Ladysmith by General Sir Redvers Buller during the Second Boer War. Buller and the Natal Field Force attempted to relieve the city through multiple offensive actions ...

and the 15 December Battle of Colenso. McMahon held the position of ADC until appointed as

of the 6th Infantry Brigade on 29 April 1900. He served in operations in the

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...

and was seriously wounded in action during operations in the Tugela Heights. He was

for his service by

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 ...

Redvers Buller General Sir Redvers Henry Buller, (7 December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He served as Commander-in-Chief ...

on 30 March 1900. McMahon was invalided due to his injury and as a result his appointment as brigade major ended on 6 May 1900. He was awarded the

(DSO) on 29 November 1900 and was promoted to the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 28 November 1901. McMahon returned to service later in the war and held the appointment of deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) from February to June 1902.

School of musketry

McMahon was appointed to the staff again in June 1905 when he was appointed chief instructor at the army's School of Musketry in

Hythe, Kent Hythe () is an old market town and civil parish on the edge of Romney Marsh in Kent, England. ''Hythe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The earliest reference to Hythe is in Domesday Book (1086) though there i ...

. As chief instructor in 1907 he foresaw the future of warfare and recommended that each infantry battalion be allocated 6 machine guns. This recommendation was rejected and he instead instituted reforms of rifle training. Under McMahon all infantrymen were required to be able to fire 15 aimed shots in a minute, a practice that was enshrined in the ''Musketry Regulations of 1909''. This became known as the "mad minute" and proved highly effective during the August 1914

Battle of Mons The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force (World War I), British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies of World W ...

. It is said that German soldiers coming up against such rapid fire presumed that they were facing a battery of machine guns. McMahon relinquished his appointment as chief instructor on 9 June 1909 and thereafter served at army headquarters until January 1910. He passed the staff officer's course 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 ...

in December 1910 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on 3 May 1911.

First World War

After the outbreak of the

in August 1914 McMahon served with the Royal Fusiliers on the Western Front and was mentioned in dispatches on 8 October 1914 by Field Marshal Sir John French, commander-in-chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), for his actions during the

First Battle of the Aisne The First Battle of the Aisne () was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army (led by Alexander von Kluck) and the Second Army (led by Karl von Bülow) as they retreated after the First Battle of the ...

. On 23 October he was appointed a 1st grade staff officer (GSO1) and on 5 November was promoted to the

temporary rank Military ranks is a system of hierarchical relationships within armed forces, police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of La ...

of brigadier-general. It was intended that he command the 10th Infantry Brigade. At the request of General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien,

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) II Corps of the BEF, McMahon was retained in command of a battalion of the Royal Fusiliers until a suitable replacement could be found. A replacement was found and McMahon was to take command of his brigade on 12 November. On 11 November 1914 his battalion was fighting in the

First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres (, , – was a battle of the First World War, fought on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front around Ypres, in West Flanders, Belgium. The battle was part of the First Battle of Flanders, in which German A ...

. They were holding a position east of Hooge and just south of the main

Ypres Ypres ( ; ; ; ; ) is a Belgian city and municipality in the province of West Flanders. Though the Dutch name is the official one, the city's French name is most commonly used in English. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres/Ieper ...

- Menin road. After a period of heavy shelling an attack by the 15th Battalion of the German Imperial Guard drove back McMahon's men, though a counter assault in conjunction with men of the

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Ma ...

and the

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foo ...

recovered the position. McMahon was rallying a group of recently arrived battalion support staff when he was hit in the leg. Whilst kneeling to attend to his injury a shell burst nearby, killing him. McMahon has no known grave and is commemorated on the

Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing The Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) memorial in Belgium for missing soldiers of World War I. It commemorates men from the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers who fought on the northern Western Fr ...

in Belgium. He was mentioned in dispatches again by Field Marshal French after his death, on 14 January 1915, for service during the

Battle of Armentières The Battle of Armentières (also Battle of Lille) was fought by German and Franco-British forces in northern France in October 1914, during reciprocal attempts by the armies to envelop the northern flank of their opponent, which has been called ...

. At the time of his death he was a member of the

British Numismatic Society The British Numismatic Society exists to promote the study and understanding of British numismatics. The Society was founded in 1903, focusing on all forms of coinage, tokens, banknotes and medals relating to the British Isles and former parts ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McMahon, Norman 1866 births 1914 deaths British Army generals of World War I British Army personnel of the Second Boer War People educated at Eton College Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British military personnel killed in World War I British expatriates in British Burma British Army brigadiers Military personnel from London British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Burmese War Missing in action of World War I

Early life and career

School of musketry

First World War

See also

References