William Donovan Stamer

Major General William Donovan Stamer CB, CBE, DSO, MC (14 June 1895 – 21 September 1963) was a British Army officer who was commissioned into the North Staffordshire Regiment at the outbreak of the First World War and served in the Army until retirement in 1948, finishing his career with the temporary rank of major-general and serving as General Officer Commanding Sudan and Eritrea. Early life Stamer was born in Keele, Staffordshire, the eldest son and third child of the Reverend Frederick Stamer and Ethel Donovan. His paternal grandfather was the 3rd Baronet Stamer, Lovelace Stamer. After being educated at Rugby School, Stamer attended the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the North Staffordshire Regiment on 19 August 1914 (just two weeks after Great Britain declared war on Germany), although this was subsequently backdated to 8 August 1914. First World War Stamer joined the 1st Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment on the Western Front, then serving as part of the 17th Brigade of the 6th Division, in November 1914 and was promoted to lieutenant in December 1914. After a period as an acting captain, Stamer was promoted to captain in March 1917. In November 1917 he was mentioned in despatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, and about the same time was appointed the battalion adjutant. Stamer was still the battalion adjutant when the German Army launched its Spring Offensive in March 1918. On the first day of the offensive the battalion headquarters position was overrun and Stamer led a rearguard action despite during which he was wounded in the head. For his actions on that day he was awarded the Military Cross, the citation read: It was July before he returned to duty and in September he was appointed as second-in-command of the battalion with the rank of acting major. In the closing weeks of the war Stamer assumed command of the battalion when, during the Battle of the Selle, the Commanding Officer (CO) was severely wounded and continued to command the battalion until the Armistice with Germany and after, being appointed an acting (later temporary) lieutenant colonel.