Nisha Rathode (Editor)

Ernest Makins

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Name
  
Ernest Makins

Role
  
Statesman


Died
  
May 18, 1959

Education
  
Winchester College

Children
  
Roger Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield

Brigadier-General Sir Ernest Makins, KBE, CB, DSO (14 October 1869 – 18 May 1959) was a British military officer, statesman and Conservative Party politician.

Contents

Early life

Making was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford.

Military career

Making was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 1st (Royal) Dragoons on 23 January 1892, was promoted to lieutenant on 31 August 1893, and to captain on 2 February 1898. He fought in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902, where he took part in the Relief of Ladysmith, including the battles of Colenso (15 December 1899), Spion Kop (20-24 January 1900), Vaal Krantz (5-7 February 1900), and the Tugela Heights and Pieter´s Hill (14-27 February 1900).

In the following months he tok part in operations in Natal March to June, and in the Orange River Colony until November 1900. He was mentioned in despatches (including the Final Despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902) and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his service during the war. After peace was declared in May 1902, Makins left South Africa on board the SS Bavarian and arrived in the United Kingdom the following month. On 3 September 1902 he was promoted to major.

He fought in the First World War, where he was also mentioned in despatches. In 1914 he was named Temporary Brigadier-General of the 6th Cavalry Brigade. He was Colonel of the 1st Royal Dragoons between 1931 and 1946. He was Colonel of the Palace of Westminster's Home Guard from 1940–41, which he raised.

Honours

  • Companion, Distinguished Service Order (DSO; 1902).
  • He was invested as a Companion, Order of the Bath (CB; 1917).
  • He was decorated with the award of Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus of Italy.
  • He was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE; 1938).

    • Political career

    He was elected at the 1922 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Knutsford division of Cheshire, and held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1945 general election.

    Family

    He married Maria Florence Mellor (ca. 1877 — 11 August 1972) on 31 January 1903. They had three sons, two of whom predeceased their parents:

  • Sir Roger Mellor Makins, 1st Baron Sherfield, KCMG (1904—1996)]
  • Guy Herbert Makins (5 July 1906—17 September 1923)
  • Major Geoffrey Henry Makins (19 October 1915—4 September 1944)
    • One of Sir Ernest Makins' grandsons, by his eldest son, was Christopher J. Makins (1942—2006), a British-American diplomat

    References

    Ernest Makins Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA