Charles Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville

Sackville-West was born in 1870, the second son of Colonel the Hon. William Edward Sackville-West and Georgina Dodwell. His father was the youngest son of the 5th Earl De La Warr and a younger brother of the 1st and 2nd Barons Sackville. As the younger son of a younger son of an earl, Sackville-West was not entitled to any particular style from birth, though his elder brother succeeded to the title of Lord Sackville in 1908. On 14 June 1910, however, he and his siblings were granted the style of Honourable by royal decree, to "henceforth have hold and enjoy the same title, rank, place and precedence as would have been due to them if their father, William Edward Sackville-West had survived his brother, the said Lionel Sackville, Baron Sackville, and had thereby succeeded to the title and dignity of Baron Sackville."[1]

Sackville-West was educated at Winchester College, an independent school for boys in the English South Coast city of Winchester in Hampshire, followed by the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

On 18 December 1889, Sackville-West was commissioned into the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a second lieutenant and participated in the 1891 Anglo-Manipur War (for which he was mentioned in dispatches)[2] and the 1892 expedition to Burma. He was promoted to lieutenant on 4 November 1891,[3] and appointed an adjutant on 1 May 1894.[4] By the mid-1890s, Sackville-West was serving as a staff officer in a number of posts. He was promoted to supernumerary captain on 27 January 1898,[5] and on 9 October was seconded to the staff and appointed an aide-de-camp to General Sir Redvers Buller, later a prominent commander in the Second Boer War.[6] For his services during the war, Sackville-West received a brevet promotion to major on 29 November 1900,[7] and was also mentioned in dispatches.[8]

Following the war, Sackville-West was appointed Aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Hildyard, Commanding the 1st Army Corps.[9] He was advanced to substantive captain in January 1903,[10] and was appointed a staff captain in January 1905.[11][12] He was promoted to major on 2 August 1905.[13] In 1906, Sackville-West was attached to the Staff College, Camberley, receiving an appointment as a deputy assistant adjutant-general with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel on 21 December.[14][15] He was appointed a GSO 2 for the London District on 27 November 1909.[16] He was transferred to the War Office in the same grade on 1 October 1910,[17] receiving promotions to brevet lieutenant-colonel and then to substantive lieutenant-colonel on 1 April 1914.[18]

At the outbreak of the First World War, Sackville-West was at the War Office. He was appointed a GSO 1 on 16 January 1915.[19] However, the need for experienced officers in the field prompted his movement to the Indian Army Corps on the Western Front until 3 December 1915, when he was given command of the 21st Infantry Brigade and promoted to brigadier-general.[20] He would serve as a brigade commander for the duration of the war.

On 30 July 1916, at the height of the Battle of the Somme, Sackville-West was wounded in an attack by a German bomber on his brigade headquarters. Evacuated to Britain, he had recovered by October, when he took over the 190th Infantry Brigade. Within days of this posting however Sackville-West was wounded in the jaw when a high-explosive shell detonated in the midst of his command group as he inspected the trenches in front of Hamel. Although wounded, dazed and partially buried, Sackville-West was able to reach the casualty clearing station unaided, and was again evacuated to Britain to recover.[21]

Returning to the Western Front for the third time in March 1917, Sackville-West commanded the 182nd Infantry Brigade until 18 November, when he was promoted to temporary major-general and attached to the General Staff.[22] He was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 1 April 1918.[23] In 1918–9, as an ally of the CIGS Henry Wilson, he served on the Supreme War Council, and was promoted to substantive major-general on 1 January 1919.[24]

Sackville-West received several decorations during his wartime service. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (CMG) on 18 February 1915,[25] and was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1919 Birthday Honours on 3 June 1919.[26] He was also decorated as a Commander of the Legion of Honour of France in 1918 and as a Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy in 1919.[27][28] In 1921, he was decorated with the Italian Cross of War,[29] followed by the Cross of War of France.[30]

From 15 January 1920 until 15 January 1924, Sackville-West was military attaché in Paris.[31][32] From 1 July 1925 to his retirement on 5 June 1929 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.[33][34] In 1924 he married for a second time, to Mrs Anne Meredith Bigelow.[21] In 1928, on the death of his elder brother Lionel Sackville-West, Charles inherited his uncle's title of Baron Sackville and sat in the House of Lords until his death in 1962.

Sackville-West married Maude Cecilia Bell in 1897, with whom he had one son and one daughter. His son Edward inherited the title and later became a noted author.[21]

• 10 August 1870 – 14 June 1910: Charles John Sackville-West, Esq.
• 14 June 1910 – 3 June 1919: The Hon. Charles John Sackville-West
• 3 June 1919 – 3 July 1925: The Hon. Sir Charles John Sackville-West
• 3 July 1925 – 28 January 1928: His Excellency The Hon. Sir Charles John Sackville-West, Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey
• 28 January 1928 – 5 June 1929: His Excellency The Rt. Hon. The Lord Sackville, Lieutenant-Governor of Guernsey
• 5 June 1929 – 8 May 1962: The Rt. Hon. The Lord Sackville

• Frank Davies & Graham Maddocks (1995). Bloody Red Tabs. Leo Cooper.