Robert Fanshawe

Major-General Sir Robert Fanshawe, (5 November 1863 – 24 August 1946) was a British Army officer, who commanded the 48th (South Midland) Division from 1915 to 1918 during the First World War. He was the youngest of three brothers (Edward, Hew, and Robert) who all rose to command divisions or corps during the war. Fanshawe joined the Oxfordshire Light Infantry in 1883, and served with his regiment in India until the Second Boer War in the late 1880s, where he commanded a mobile column and was mentioned in despatches. At the outbreak of the First World War he was on the staff of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and later commanded a regular brigade on the Western Front, before being promoted to divisional command in 1915. He commanded the 48th (South Midland) Division for three years, including service at the Somme, Ancre, Passchendale, and on the Italian Front, before being removed from command after his corps commander objected to his defensive strategy. He was relegated to commanding a second-line home service division, and retired from the army in 1918. Early military career Fanshawe was born in 1863, the youngest son of the Reverend Henry Leighton Fanshawe, of Chilworth, Oxfordshire. After attending Marlborough College, Fanshawe joined the 2nd Battalion of the newly formed Oxfordshire Light Infantry, the former 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot, in 1883. He spent the next sixteen years with the regiment, primarily on service in India, during which he was promoted to captain on 15 April 1892, and served in the Tirah Campaign of 1897–1898. He was the younger son of three brothers with significant military careers; Edward (b. 1859) joined the artillery and Hew (b. 1860) joined the cavalry, all three rising to command corps or divisions during the First World War. Fanshawe entered the Staff College, Camberley at the beginning of 1899, but following the outbreak of the Second Boer War, he was sent to South Africa that November, to serve on the Inspector-General's staff. He saw service at the Relief of Kimberley and the Battle of Paardeberg (February 1900), where he was wounded; later, in April 1900, he was made adjutant of the 6th Battalion Mounted Infantry, and on 2 September 1900 promoted to major. In 1901, he took command of a mobile column, which he commanded to the end of the war. He received the local rank of lieutenant colonel whilst holding this command, on 27 January 1902.