Beauvoir De Lisle

Born in Guernsey and educated in Jersey,[1] De Lisle was commissioned into the 2nd Bn Durham Light Infantry in 1883.[2] He saw service with the Mounted Infantry in Egypt between 1885 and 1886,[2] being awarded his DSO there, and was promoted to the rank of captain on 1 October 1891.[1]

He studied at the Staff College in 1899. During the Second Boer War he commanded the Australian Brigade, a mobile column comprising the 6th Battalion Mounted Infantry, the West Australian Mounted Infantry, the South Australian Imperial Bushmen and the New South Wales Mounted Rifles. He was severely wounded and three times mentioned in despatches.[3][4] Promotion to major followed on 1 January 1902,[5] and to the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel on the following day.[6] During the early months of 1902 his brigade was stationed in Natal, but in April he left the command of this brigade and transferred to Transvaal where there was more intense fighting.[7] He left Cape Town for the United Kingdom in late May 1902.[8][9] In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief during the latter part of the war, described De Lisle as "an officer of remarkable force of character. He has soldierly qualities and is a fine leader."[10] For his service he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 21 August 1902,[11] and received the actual decoration from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.[12] After his return he formally transferred to the cavalry when he was commissioned major in the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards on 22 October 1902.[13] The following month he was appointed in command of the 2nd Provisional Regiment of Hussars at Hounslow.[14]

He was appointed Second in Command of the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in 1903 and then became Commanding Officer of the regiment in 1906.[2] He became a General Staff Officer at Aldershot in 1910 and in 1911 was appointed Commander of 2nd Cavalry Brigade.[2] He served in World War I initially as commander of 2nd Cavalry Brigade on the Western Front and then as GOC 1st Cavalry Division also on the Western Front in 1914.[2]

He then became GOC 29th Division leading the Division at the Third Battle of Krithia during the Gallipoli Campaign of April 1915 to January 1916.[2] He returned to the Western Front in 1916 and fought at the Battle of the Somme before moving on to become GOC XIII Corps in March 1918 and GOC XV Corps in April 1918.[2] After the War he was appointed GOC-in-Chief of Western Command: he held this post until 1923 and then retired in 1926.[2]

Along with the First Sea Lord, Admiral Lord Fisher, General de Lisle convinced General Edmund Allenby that Jerusalem would be delivered from the Turks in 1917 by the British. In June 1917, General Allenby was ordered to leave his Third Army and take command of the British war effort in the Middle East. However General Allenby was not excited about his new assignment. General Sir Beauvoir de Lisle met Allenby at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London before the latter left for Cairo. Allenby lamented that the last man failed, and he does not see why he should succeed. He was referring to the Turkish repulsions in Suez Canal zone. Sir Beauvoir de Lisle, who was later to preach a sermon at St. Martin-in-the-Fields about the capture of Jerusalem, consoled him with Bible prophecies of the deliverance of Jerusalem. He told General Allenby that the Bible said that Jerusalem would be delivered in that very year, 1917, and by Britain.[15]

He was known for his polo skills and spent much of the years 1929 to 1930 training polo teams for the Maharaja of Kashmir in India.[1]

De Lisle married on 16 July 1902, at Stoke Poges church, Leila Annette Bryant, daughter of Wilberforce Bryant, of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire (the proprietor of Bryant and May, matchmakers).[16][17]

• Reminiscences of sport and war by Beauvoir De Lisle, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1939
• Tournament Polo by Beauvoir De Lisle, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1938
• Polo in India by Beauvoir De Lisle, Thacker, 1907