Allegiance United Kingdom Rank Lieutenant-general Service/branch British Army | Name Alfred Keogh | |
 | ||
Born 3 July 1857
Dublin, Ireland ( 1857-07-03 ) Commands held Director General Army Medical Services
No. 3 General Hospital Battles/wars Second Boer War
First World War Awards Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of Honour
Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of Saint John
Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)
Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France)
Grand Officer's Cross of the Order of the White Eagle (Serbia) Other work Rector of Imperial College London (1910–22) Died July 30, 1936, London, United Kingdom Battles and wars Second Boer War, World War I | ||
Years of service 1880–1910
1914–1918 | ||
Lieutenant General Sir Alfred Henry Keogh (3 July 1857 – 30 July 1936) was a medical doctor in the British Army. He served as Director General Army Medical Services twice; from 1905 to 1910 and 1914 to 1918.
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Early life
Keogh was born in Dublin on 3 July 1857 to Henry Keogh, a barrister and magistrate of Roscommon. He was educated at Queen's College, Galway, and Guy's Hospital, London. He received his Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree from the Queen's University of Ireland in 1878.
Upon graduation he moved to London to undertake his house officer placements. He served as a house physician at the Brompton Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, and as a clinical assistant at the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital.
Military career
On 2 March 1880, Keogh was commissioned into the Army Medical Services as a surgeon-captain. His first posting was as a surgeon to the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. On 6 March 1892, he was promoted to surgeon-major. With the outbreak of the Second Boer War in 1899, he was posted to South Africa. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 6 March 1900, and became commander of No. 3 General Hospital near Cape Town. During the war, he served in Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal Republic.
In January 1902, following his return from the Second Boer War, he was appointed Deputy Director General of the Army Medical Services. He was promoted to colonel on 2 December 1904. On 1 January 1905, he was appointed Director General Army Medical Services and promoted to lieutenant-general. He retired from the military on 6 March 1910.
With the outbreak of the First World War, he was reappointed DGAMS on 3 October 1914. He supervised the huge expansion of the Army’s medical services to cope with the war, and was in command of the medical services in the UK. He left the appointment and the military in June 1918.
Later life
He was appointed Rector of Imperial College London and served from 1910 to 1922.
He died at 10 Warwick Square, London, on 30 July 1936. A requiem mass was held at Westminster Cathedral. He was buried in the Marylebone Cemetery, Finchley.
Honours and decorations
On 29 November 1900, he was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in recognition of services in the campaign in South Africa, 1899 to 1900. On 7 May 1903, he was appointed a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of Saint John (KStJ). He was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1906 King's Birthday Honours. On 24 July 1907, he was appointed Honorary Physician to the King (KHP). He was promoted to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) on 24 January 1917 'for services rendered in connection with [WWI]'. He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) on 25 February 1918 'for services in connection with the war'. In the 1918 King's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO).
He was a recipient of a number of foreign honours. In 1917, he was appointed Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown by the King of the Belgians, and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour by the President of France. In 1918, he was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, 2nd Class by the King of Serbia.
He received the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps in 1901.
Legacy
An original portrait of Sir Alfred Keogh by Arthur Hacker RA hangs in the RAMC HQ Mess at the former Army Staff College, Camberley.