Died 29 September 1953 | ||
Brigadier Henry Coventry Maitland-Makgill-Crichton, CB, CMG, DSO (29 June 1880 – 29 September 1953) was a senior officer in the British Army. A graduate of the Royal Military College Sandhurst, Maitland served as an officer in the Royal Scots Fusiliers during the Second Boer War and the First World War. He was severely wounded in both conflicts and received multiple mentions in dispatches.
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In 1915, Maitland was promoted to the rank of brevet major; subsequent promotions followed and he was gazetted as a Colonel in 1931. This coincided with the start of a two-year appointment as Quartermaster-General in Gibraltar. On his return, he was granted the temporary rank of Brigadier, commanded an infantry regiment and became an Aide-de-Camp to the King before his retirement in 1937. Despite returning as an area commander for the first two years of the Second World War, Maitland left active service in 1941 and died at the age of 73 in 1953.
Early life and family
Henry Coventry Maitland-Makgill-Crichton was born on the 29 June 1880, the second son of Andrew Coventry Maitland-Makgill-Crichton (1845–1925), a director of the Standard and Chartered banking group, and his wife Katherine Charlotte (died 1941), eldest daughter of Sir Edward Hulse, 5th Baronet. He married in 1911 Dorothy Margaret (died 1979), daughter of Sir Walter Thornburn, a Member of Parliament. They had a daughter, Diana Elizabeth Katherine (1916–1999), who earned the Territorial Decoration, and a son, Hamilton Ian (born 1918), who was killed in action in June 1940 while commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers.
Career
Following his Charterhouse education, Maitland attended the Royal Military College Sandhurst before entering the Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1899. He was wounded in the Second Boer War and received the Queen's South Africa Medal with four clasps. After the war, he served with the second battalion in the United Kingdom until 1906, when he was transferred to the first battalion in India. After leaving there in 1910, he trained at the Staff College, graduated three years later and then served in World War I. He was promoted to brigade Major in April 1915, and to be brevet Major that June. He suffered severe injuries at Ypres, was mentioned in dispatches eight times, received the Distinguished Service Order in 1916, and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1919.
Maitland was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in 1928, placing him in command of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Scots Fusiliers; he was promoted to Colonel in 1931, with seniority from 3 June 1922. Between 1931 and 1933, he was Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in Charge of Administration in Gibraltar. On 11 July 1933, he was transferred to the command of the 14th Infantry Brigade and granted the temporary rank of Brigadier. After four years in that post and three as an Aide-de-Camp to the King, he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath and retired on 29 June 1937, when he was granted the honorary rank of Brigadier. Maitland returned to the Army during World War II, when he served as an area commander between 1939 and 1941. He died on 29 September 1953 at the age of 73.