Brigadier-General Granville George Loch

[Tom Thorpe]

Loch was my grandfather's brigade commander (168 Brigade) while he was a private in the Kensingtons (1st Battalion).

Loch was born on 22 July 1870 and commissioned in the Royal Scots on 3 May 1890. Two years later he was a lieutenant, Captain in 1898 and Major in 1908.

At the start of war he commanded the 12th Royal Scots (Service) Battalion (Lothian Regiment) before being promoted to Brigadier General.

In 1916 he was given command of 168 Infantry Brigade which he held for the duration of the war.

There is very little information on him beyond what is listed in the Army Lists and Who’s Who.

Can anyone shed any light on him?

[scotchegg75]

Loch was my grandfather's brigade commander (168 Brigade) while he was a private in the Kensingtons (1st Battalion).

Loch was born on 22 July 1870 and commissioned in the Royal Scots on 3 May 1890. Two years later he was a lieutenant, Captain in 1898 and Major in 1908.

At the start of war he commanded the 12th Royal Scots (Service) Battalion (Lothian Regiment) before being promoted to Brigadier General.

In 1916 he was given command of 168 Infantry Brigade which he held for the duration of the war.

There is very little information on him beyond what is listed in the Army Lists and Who's Who.

Can anyone shed any light on him?

His obituary from the Times

[bmac]

Loch was badly affected by the disaster at Gommecourt, 1.7.16. A quote from my book:

At 168th Brigade’s Forward H.Q. Brig. Gen. Loch and Maj. Philip Neame V.C. surveyed the wreckage of their attack and contemplated the ruin of their command. For Loch the loss seemed overwhelming. He had gone as far forward as reasonably possible to stay in touch with his men and he had spent much of the day begging and pleading VII Corps for effective heavy artillery counter-battery fire. He could see the carnage being caused amongst his men by the German guns at first hand. He just had to step out of his dugout to see the shattered bodies of soldiers killed where they stood in what was left of the trenches. And he could not understand why the artillery support for the attack had been so feeble. Its failure was killing and maiming his men and he took it badly. As the day drew to a close, Neame, Loch’s Brigade Major, decided it was time for his general to retire to a safer position. Sgt Coates, who had stood alongside them under the terrific German barrage, was ordered to accompany Loch to the rear and he later described their journey and the impact the Brigade’s destruction had on Loch:

“He was like a man in a dream. It was terrible to see him like that, because he was quite a chatty old boy, always talking about his little daughter, and friendly, though he could be severe sometimes. The Old Man was a daredevil, a real fighter… I’m sure the Old Man was shell-shocked. I know he was! He was broken. He made no objection to coming with me. He didn’t say a word. He just got up very, very slowly and, in a break in the shelling, we went off… the line was absolutely broken and the trenches were all knocked in and chaps buried underneath. We were treading over dead bodies and all sorts of things going along. We just struggled back as best we could.”

Joining the stream of casualties that was flowing across the plain to Sailly, Coates and Loch struggled back the two kilometres to the village and the main Brigade H.Q. Here they each found a corner in the cellar in which to silently reflect on the disaster and the shattering loss of officers and men, friends and colleagues.