Arthur Grenfell Wauchope

{{Infobox military person

| honorific_prefix = Sir

| name = Arthur Wauchope

| image = Arthur_Grenfell_Wauchope22.jpg

| caption = Wauchope as High Commissioner in Palestine

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1874|3|1|df=yes}}

| death_date = {{death date and age|1947|9|14|1874|3|1|df=yes}}

| placeofburial_label =

| placeofburial =

| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland

| death_place = London, England

| placeofburial_coordinates =

| nickname =

| allegiance = {{UK}}

| branch = 23px British Army

| serviceyears = 1893–1938

| rank = General

| unit =

| commands = 2 Bn Black Watch
44th (Home Counties) Division
Northern Ireland District
Palestine and Trans-Jordan

| battles = Second Boer War
World War I
Arab revolt in Palestine

| awards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire
Distinguished Service Order

| relations =

| laterwork =

| signature = Arthur Grenfell Wauchope Signature.png

}}

General Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|GCMG|CIE|DSO}} (1 March 1874 – 14 September 1947) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.

Military career

Educated at Repton School,{{cite web|url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/biography/wauchopearthur.htm|title=Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope|publisher =British Empire|access-date=11 June 2020}} Wauchope was commissioned into the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in 1893.{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/WAUCHOPE.shtml|title= Wauchope, Arthur Grenfell |publisher= Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120923094200/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/WAUCHOPE.shtml |access-date=11 June 2020|archive-date= 23 September 2012 }} He transferred to the 2nd Battalion Black Watch in January 1896.

He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa from 1899, and took part in operations in Cape Colony, south of Orange River. British forces advancing north from the Cape to relieve the town of Kimberley, which was sieged by Boer forces, met heavy resistance in the Battle of Magersfontein on 11 December 1899. Wauchope was severely wounded in the battle, and was later mentioned in despatches and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his services.{{cite web|url=https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/4663780|title=Arthur Grenfell Wauchope|publisher=Imperial War Museum|access-date=11 June 2020}}

In April 1902 he was seconded for a Staff appointment,{{London Gazette| issue=27431 |page=3014 |date=6 May 1902}} as an extra Aide de camp to Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape Colony.{{London Gazette| issue=27430 |page=2937 |date=2 May 1902}}

He served in World War I as Commanding Officer of 2 Bn Black Watch in France and Mesopotamia. After the War he joined 2nd Silesian Brigade, part of the British Upper Silesian Force, in Germany. He became Military Member of an Overseas Delegation to Australia and New Zealand in 1923 and then Chief of the British Section of the Military Inter-Allied Commission of Control for Berlin in 1924. He relinquished this position in March 1927.{{London Gazette|issue=33254|page=1434|date=4 March 1927}} He was appointed General Officer Commanding 44th (Home Counties) Division in 1927 and GOC Northern Ireland District in 1929. He was promoted to lieutenant general in May 1931.{{London Gazette|issue=33718|page=3321|date=22 May 1931}}

His last appointment was as High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief for Palestine and Trans-Jordan in 1931. Wauchope's administration was generally sympathetic to Zionist aspirations. By 1941 the former chief immigration officer for the Mandate, Albert Montefiore Hyamson, could write in his book Palestine: A Policy that "the first four years of his [Wauchope's] term were the heyday of Zionist history in Palestine." Not only did immigration go up threefold (the Jewish population increased from 174,606 to 329,358), but Jews also increased their land holdings (in 1931 they increased their land holdings by 18,585 dunams or 4,646 acres, while in 1935 they increased them by 72,905), and finally Jewish business and commerce enjoyed an economic boom.Hyamson, Albert Montefiore. Palestine: A Policy Methuen, 1942, p. 147 He also promoted public works and civil engineering schemes but was regarded as lax by some of his political colleagues at the early stages of the Arab rebellion. However, Wauchope oversaw mass detention throughout the revolt and sought to impose "collective punishment" on Palestinian cities and towns. This culminated in the June 1936 demolition of the Old City of Jaffa which rendered 6,000 Palestinians homeless.David Cronin, Balfour's Shadow (London: Pluto Press, 1936), p. 45–46. Wauchope retired in 1938.{{Cite book |last=Kessler |first=Oren |title=Palestine 1936: The Great Revolt and the Roots of the Middle East Conflict |date=2023 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-5381-4880-8 |location=Lanham MD |pages=xiv, 133}}

File:הנציב העליון ארתור ווקופ נוטע עץ ביער בלפור בגבעת שימרון בעמק יזרעאל. מימינו מנחם אוסישקין משמאלו יו-JNF037282.jpeg|Wauchope with Menachem Ussishkin in Palestine, 1928

File:כפר החורש - הנציב העליון נואם בחגיגת הנטיעה של יער אלברט.-JNF044743.jpeg|Wauchope speaking at Kfar HaHoresh 1936