Honorary Colonels...go to war?

[centurion]

Colonel was a rank and some were appointed Acting or Temporary Brigadier General because there was no such rank as Brigadier General (and never has been in the British army). Serving colonels were general staff nad hence wore general staff insignia although their badge of rank was field officer grade not general officer.

However, then there were and are the appointments of Regimental Colonel, Honory Colonel, Colonel Commandant and Colonel in Chief.

Col Commandant briefly replaced the rank of Brigadier General and in turn was replaced by Brigadier. It ws not an honorary rank but a real active command.

[centurion]

nigelfe said:

Colonel was a rank and some were appointed Acting or Temporary Brigadier General because there was no such rank as Brigadier General (and never has been in the British army).

Someone should have mentioned it to these guys

Brigadier-General Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg, K.C.M.G., D.S.O., R.E. (1869-1930),

"On the outbreak of the European War rejoined the army, and commanded the 94th field company, Royal Engineers, from 1915 to 1916; he was in command of the Royal Engineers in the 8th division during the battle of the Somme (July 1916), and in the 66th division from November 1916. He was brigadier-general commanding the 170th infantry brigade 1917-1918, assistant-inspector-general of training, general headquarters, France, in 1918; and in command of the 100th infantry brigade in 1918. He was mentioned in dispatches five times, and was awarded the D.S.O. (1918). "

Brigadier General Harold Edward 'Pompey' Elliott, CB, CMG, DSO, DCM, VD

"A short-lived command of the 1st Brigade was followed in March 1916 by promotion to brigadier general and command of the 15th Brigade. Through no fault of Elliott's, the brigade's first action on the Western Front, at Fromelles, was a disaster in which over 5,500 men were killed or wounded in one night. Elliott wept as he met survivors coming out of the line."

Brigadier General Charles FitzClarence, VC,

"was one of the few senior British officers to be killed in action during WW1. The son of a naval officer, he had been educated at Eton College and Wellington College, before joining the Royal Fusiliers as a lieutenant in 1885."

[dutchbarge]

I fear that there is some confusion creeping in to this thread. During WW1 serving British full Colonels ('bird colonels' in US parlance) did not command anything, apart from a few coastal defence sectors in UK, and held senior staff positions.

Thank you Charles, while the rest of the thread is interesting, this was the information I was seeking.

Cheers, Bill

[nigelfe]

Col Commandant briefly replaced the rank of Brigadier General and in turn was replaced by Brigadier. It ws not an honorary rank but a real active command.

Ah pedantry, what fun. My turn.

There was no such 'rank' as B-G (however spelt) it was an appointment, although they wore the insignia of a general officer (crossed sword & baton only) since it was not a rank it did not constitute a position in the Army List, (where B-Gs were shown as Colonel, sometimes with acting/temp B-G).

It is correct that on 1 Jan 1921 the appointment of B-G was abolished and replaced by 'Colonel Commandant' and 'Colonel on the Staff'. On 1 JUn 1928 these were replaced by Temporary Brigadier. In early 1948 Brigadier was finally established as a rank. However, Temp Brig and Temp B-G were actually paid more than their rank of Colonel.

Note that Colonel Commandants also existed as honory appointments for retired generals, notably in the Royal Regiment (which of course had plenty of generals), not sure about the Royal Corps.

[lostinspace]

I was wondering about this. Doing research on the original BEF in the London Gazette I found that all of the officers that commanded Brigades were listed as substantive (is this the correct terminology?) Colonels with the notation of temp/Brigadier-General after each one. Thanks for the clarification.

Regards,

lostinspace