James Douglas McLachlan

James Douglas McLachlan CB CMG DSO (1869–1937) was the first British wartime Military attaché to Washington, D.C.

James Douglas McLachlan, photographed 26 October 1927

Biography

James Douglas McLachlan was born in Semarang, Java, 14 February 1869 and commissioned into the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders in 1891.[1] He participated in the Nile Expedition in 1898 and, subsequently, at the famous Battle of Khartoum. He married Gwendolin Mab White,[2] of Havilah, New South Wales in 1903 at St Margaret Church in London.[3]

As lieutenant colonel, McLachlan commanded the 1st Battalion of the Cameron Highlanders in March 1913 and led it to France in the early stages of the World War I until September 1914, when he was wounded. He then commanded 8th Infantry Brigade from October 1915 to March 1916. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (June 1916) and mentioned in dispatches twice (January 1916 and June 1916). He served on the staff as a Brigadier General before being appointed as the first wartime military attaché to the United States;[4] he arrived in the United States with his wife and two school girl daughters on 11 September 1917.[5]

In-post, he was promoted to Major General. He was raised to a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 3 June 1918[6] and a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1919. Upon relinquishing his post as military attaché, he reverted to his substantive rank of Colonel. He was awarded the United States Distinguished Service Medal in July 1919. He died on 7 November 1937.[7]

Citations
  1. London Gazette, Appointments. 24 March 1891. Accessed 20 September 2017.
  2. Daughter of Henry Charles White (1837–1905) and his second wife, Mary Helen MacMillan (1857–1931). An elder sister, Ivy Victoria, married George McLachlan in 1909. Daisy White. Daisy in Exile: The Diary of an Australian Schoolgirl in France, 1887–1889, National Library Australia, 2003 p. 188. ISBN 9780642107640
  3. Married 23 August 1903 at St. Margaret's Church, London. Queenslander Marriage notices. Accessed 20 September 2017.
  4. Nick Metcalfe. Mclachlan. 2015. Accessed 20 September 2017.
  5. Year: 1911; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: T715, 1897-1957; Microfilm Roll: Roll 1620; Line: 3; Page Number: 2.
  6. Edinbuergh Gazette, Order of the Bath, 11 June 1918, Accessed 20 September 2017.
  7. Peter Hodgkinson, Cameroons. 2016. Accessed 20 September 2017. Nick Metcalfe. Mclachlan. 2015. Accessed 20 September 2017. David R. Woodward, Trial by Friendship. University of Kentucky, 2015, p. 234.
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