Allegiance United Kingdom | Name Bruce Hamilton | |
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Born 7 December 1857 ( 1857-12-07 ) Commands held 2nd DivisionScottish Command Battles/wars Second Boer WarWorld War I Died July 6, 1936, Aylesbury, United Kingdom Awards Order of the Bath, Royal Victorian Order Battles and wars Second Boer War, World War I | ||
General Sir Bruce Meade Hamilton, (7 December 1857 – 6 July 1936) was a British Army General during the Second Boer War and World War I.
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Early life
He was born the second son of General Henry Meade Hamilton. His three brothers all became officers in the British Army, including the third son Hubert Ion Wetherall Hamilton.
Military career
Hamilton was commissioned into the East Yorkshire Regiment in 1877. He served in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1880 and the South African War in 1881. He became Commander of the Niger Coast Protectorate Force in Benin in 1897 and took part in the Second Boer War in 1900. He played a key role in the capture of Naauwpoort. During the latter part of the war he was in command of the military columns operating in Eastern Transvaal, and following the announcement of peace on 31 May 1902, he supervised the surrender of arms in that area. In his final despatch from South Africa in June 1902, Lord Kitchener, Commander-in-Chief of the forces during the latter part of the war, described Hamilton as an officer "possessed of qualities of boldness, energy and resolution in no common degree". He left Cape Town on board the SS Walmer Castle in late June 1902, and arrived at Southampton the following month. In the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902, Hamilton was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB).
He became General Officer Commanding 2nd Division within 1st Army Corps in 1904 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Scottish Command in 1909. He was Army Commander of the Home Defence formations First Army and Northern Army during World War I.