Lieutenant-Colonel Reginald Vincent Kempenfelt Applin, DSO, OBE (11 April 1869 – 5 April 1957) was a

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military officer who took a prominent part in the development of machine gun tactics in the

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 ...

. He later entered politics, initially in two minor

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parties before becoming a Conservative Party Member of Parliament.

British North Borneo Company

He was the eldest son of Captain Vincent Jesson Applin, Military Train, of "Exeview", Alphington, near

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

. Following education at

Sherborne School Sherborne School is a full-boarding school for boys aged 13 to 18 located beside Sherborne Abbey in the Dorset town of Sherborne. The school has been in continuous operation on the same site for over 1,300 years. It was founded in 705 AD by Ald ...

, he initially sought employment as a stage actor. However, in December 1889 he became a cadet with the British North Borneo Company. He continued to serve in the company's administration of the protectorate, becoming successively a police magistrate and justice of the peace for

Labuan Labuan (), officially the Federal Territory of Labuan (), is an island federal territory of Malaysia. It includes and six smaller islands off the coast of the state of Sabah in East Malaysia. Labuan's capital is Victoria, which is best kno ...

and a District Officer. He was involved in the suppression of the

Mat Salleh Rebellion The Mat Salleh Rebellion was a series of major armed disturbances against the British North Borneo Chartered Company administration in North Borneo, now the Malaysian state of Sabah. It was instigated by Datu Muhammad Salleh (also known as ), a ...

from 1895 to 1897 and was awarded The British North Borneo Company's Medal and clasp. After eight years service Applin had reached the rank of Captain Superintendent in the British North Borneo Armed Constabulary, but was forced to resign due to ill health and returned to England. He wrote an account of his years in North Borneo entitled ''Across the Seven Seas''.

Military service

Second Boer War

In November 1898 Applin obtained a commission as a captain in the 6th (

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) Battalion,

Lancashire Fusiliers The Lancashire Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that saw distinguished service through many years and wars, including the Second Boer War, and the World War I, First and World War II, Second World Wars. It had many diffe ...

. With the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War in 1899 the battalion was mobilised and sailed to

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. He was appointed District Commissioner at

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in June 1900 and acting Provost-Marshal for the Orange River in October of the same year. He subsequently saw active service in the

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, the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

and the Transvaal, and was twice mentioned in despatches. In April 1902 he was granted the local rank of captain in the Army whilst serving with a provisional battalion, and the following August he transferred to the

Royal Garrison Regiment The Royal Garrison Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army that formed in 1901 and disbanded in 1908. The regiment was originally formed from personnel of the Royal Reserve Regiments, a reserve force composed of veteran soldiers f ...

. For his service in the war, he was made a Companion of 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 ...

(DSO) in the October 1902 South African Honours list. The following year he was appointed Brigade Major of Royal Artillery at

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Development of machine gun tactics

In July 1905 he transferred to a regular line regiment, the 14th (King's) Hussars. In August of the same year he was seconded to the General Staff and was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for Musketry in

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. In December 1906 Applin returned to his regiment, and in June 1911 promoted to major. During this period he was involved in developing tactics for the use of the machine gun, and in 1909 published one of the first books on the subject, ''Machine Gun Tactics''.

First World War

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 ...

Applin became an instructor in the use of the machine gun, and was attached to the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a Regiment, corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in the World War I, First World War. Th ...

Training Centre in July 1916. In November 1916 he was appointed temporary lieutenant-colonel, and commanded the machine guns of the II ANZAC Corps at the battles of Messines and Passchendaele. With the entry of the

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into the war, Applin was part of a British mission to the country, and gave lectures on machine gun tactics. He remained with the MGC until July 1919. In January 1919 Applin was given the

brevet rank In military terminology, a brevet ( or ) is a warrant which gives commissioned officers a higher military rank as a reward without necessarily conferring the authority and privileges granted by that rank. The promotion would be noted in the of ...

of lieutenant-colonel and in February was made commanding officer of the 14th Hussars. He retired from the army in January 1921.

Politics

With the ending of his military career, Applin entered politics. After making two unsuccessful attempts to enter parliament with minor parties, he became the Conservative MP for Enfield.

Dartford by-election 1920

Applin was originally a member of the National Party, a xenophobic party that broke away from the Conservatives in 1917. He stood at the parliamentary by-election at

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

in April 1920. The party came in a poor fourth place, with Applin losing his deposit. The intervention of the National Party and an

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candidate split the Conservative vote and allowed

John Edmund Mills John Edmund Mills (2 September 1882 – 11 November 1951) was Labour MP for Dartford (UK Parliament constituency), Dartford for three separate periods during the 1920s. Born in Perth in Australia, Mills grew up in Plymouth, being educated at the ...

of the Labour Party to secure an unexpected victory. The National Party was disbanded a year later.

Abbey by-election 1921

In August 1921 a parliamentary byelection was held for the constituency of

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. Applin stood as the candidate of

Anti-Waste League The Anti-Waste League was a political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1921 by the newspaper Media proprietor, proprietor Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, Lord Rothermere. Formation The formation of the League was announced in a ...

, a right-wing party formed by Lord Rothermere in opposition to the spending plans of the Lloyd George Coalition government. Such was the unpopularity of the government that all three candidates, including the winner Brigadier-General John Nicholson of the Conservative Party (who formed part of the coalition), claimed to be "anti-waste". Applin finished in second place, receiving 34.9% of the votes cast.

Member of Parliament for Enfield

In September 1924 Applin was chosen as the Conservative Party's candidate to contest the north London seat of Enfield. The seat had been won by William Henderson of the Labour Party at the general election of 1923. When a further election was held in October of that year, he was elected with a majority of 2,079 votes in a straight fight with Henderson. At the next general election in 1929, Applin again faced Henderson as well as a Liberal candidate. Henderson regained the seat for Labour by the narrow margin of 258 votes. Following the collapse of the minority Labour Government, a National Government was formed in August 1931 and an election was held in October of the same year. Applin was the Conservative and National Government candidate, and was returned to the

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when he defeated his Labour opponent by the large majority of 10,886 votes. He retired from parliament at the 1935 general election.

Later life

In 1935 he emigrated to South Africa. He died at his home in Howick, Natal in April 1957 aged 87. His medals were auctioned in 2009.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Applin, Reginald 1869 births 1957 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1931–1935 Lancashire Fusiliers officers 14th King's Hussars officers Machine Gun Corps officers People educated at Sherborne School Politicians from Exeter North Borneo Chartered Company administrators Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from Exeter British Militia officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of the Second Boer War