Allegiance United Kingdom Rank Lieutenant-general Service/branch British Army | Name George Fowke Years of service 1884–1922 | |
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Born 10 September 1864 ( 1864-09-10 ) Commands held Engineer-in-Chief, BEF Battles/wars South African War
Defence of Ladysmith
First World War Died February 8, 1936, Dinard, France Awards Order of the Bath, Order of St Michael and St George, Mentioned in dispatches Battles and wars Siege of Ladysmith, World War I | ||
Lieutenant General Sir George Henry Fowke (10 September 1864 – 8 February 1936) was a British Army general, who served on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force during the First World War.
Biography
Fowke joined the Royal Engineers in 1884, and saw service in the South African War at the Defence of Ladysmith, where he was mentioned in despatches. After the end of the war, he was appointed as Director of Public Works in the Transvaal and was a member of the Transvaal Legislative Council from 1902 to 1904. During the Russo-Japanese War he was an observer attached to the Japanese Army in Manchuria, and then lectured on fortifications at the School of Military Engineering. He was appointed the Assistant Adjutant General for the Royal Engineers in 1910, and then the Inspector of the Royal Engineers in 1913.
On the outbreak of the First World War, he was appointed to the post of Brigadier-General Royal Engineers in the BEF, the senior engineering advisor. As the war settled into a stalemate it became apparent that the Royal Engineers would play a significant role in trench warfare, and the position was changed to Chief Engineer and then to Engineer-in-Chief in 1915. It was in this position, that he agreed the formation of the Royal Engineer tunnelling companies, after a proposal from John Norton-Griffiths.
In February 1916 he was promoted to hold the post of Adjutant-General of the Expeditionary Force. He held this post until the end of the war, and retired from the Army in 1922.