Field Marshal Sir Philip Walhouse Chetwode Bt, 1st Lord Chetwode GCB OM GCSI KCMG DSO


Philip Walhouse Chetwode was born on 21 Sep 1869, the son of the Sir George Chetwode, 6th Baronet, and Alice Jane Bass of the brewery family. He was educated at Eton and commissioned into the 19th Hussars on 20 Nov 1889. His first active service was in Burma in 1892/3 and he fought throughout the Boer War as a captain and then a major in 1901. He was mentioned in despatches and won the DSO. He succeeded to the 7th Baronet in 1905. He was CO of the 19th Hussars from 3 Jan 1908 and promoted to Colonel in 1912. He gained some enemies after the Curragh Incident when he accepted the job of replacing Hubert Gough. But Gough remained in his post.

In WW1 he commanded 5th Cavalry Brigade from Aug 1914, and helped cover the retreat, checking the Germans at Cerizy. After he First Battle of Ypres he was appointed GOC 2nd Cavalry Division and promoted to major-general on 1 Jan 1916. He was transferred to the Middle East and commanded the Desert Mounted Corps at Rafa in Jan 1917 and Gaza in March 1917. He was promoted to the command of XX Corps and led them successfully at Beersheba and Jerusalem in Nov 1917. After the war he held many important positions including Commander-in-Chief in India.' He was opposed to the mechanisation of cavalry but was a firm believer in the modernisation and Indianisation of the army in India. The Chetwode Motto is engraved on a sign on the entrance to the hall of the Indian Military Academy (see below), to the effect that an officer should put his country and his men first and himself last. He was married to Hester Alice Camilla Stapleton Cotton. They had a son and a daughter. The son, Roger, died in WW2, and the daughter, Penelope Chetwode, travel writer, married John Betjeman, which produced a son Paul, and daughter Candida Lycett Green, the author who died in 2014. The portrait of Lieutenant-General Sir Philip Chetwode in 1919 is by John Lander.

1919 Promoted to Lieutenant-General, 1 Jan
1920 Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Oct
1922 Adjutant General to the Forces, Sep
1923 C-in-C Aldershot Command
1925' Colonel of Royal Scots Greys, 5 Sep, until 31 Dec 1946
1926 Promoted to General, 1 June 1926
1928 Chief of the General Staff in India
1930 C-in-C India, Nov
1933 Promoted to Field Marshal, 13 Feb
1943 Constable of the Tower of London
1944' Colonel of 15th/19th Hussars, 27 Feb, until 31 Dec 1946
1945 Created Baron Chetwode in the County of Bucks, 10 Jul
1950 Died in London, 6 Jun


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by Stephen Luscombe