Charles Loftus Bates

Charles Loftus Bates was born 2 August 1863, at Aydon, Northumberland, the son of Thomas Bates.{{cite web|accessdate=12 October 2013|publisher=Anglo Boer War|title=Charles Loftus Bates|url=http://www.angloboerwar.com/index.php?option=com_grid&gid=22_uw_0&p=2}} He was educated at Eton College.{{cite web|accessdate=16 December 2013|publisher=Western Front Association|title=Charles Loftus Bates|url=http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/the-british-generals-biographies/3092-brigadier-general-charles-loftus-bates-kcmg-cb-dso.html|archive-date=26 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170426073358/http://westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/the-british-generals-biographies/3092-brigadier-general-charles-loftus-bates-kcmg-cb-dso.html|url-status=dead}} He became a second lieutenant in the Northumberland Militia Artillery in January 1881,{{London Gazette|date=18 January 1881|issue=24925|page=232}} before joining the Regular Army as a lieutenant in the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards in January 1884.{{London Gazette|date=29 January 1884|issue=25313|page=432}} He served in this cavalry regiment until 10 March 1896, when as a captain, he resigned his commission.{{London Gazette|date=10 March 1896|issue=26720|page=1612}} He was later appointed a captain in the Reserve.

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, Bates volunteered for service with the Imperial Yeomanry, where he was commissioned a captain on 7 February 1900.{{London Gazette|date=6 February 1900|issue=27162|page=808}} He left Liverpool for South Africa the same week,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The War - The Imperial Yeomanry|date=3 February 1900 |page=12 |issue=36056}} and served with the

5th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry. On 18 October 1901 he was promoted to major in the yeomanry regiment the Northumberland Hussars, while still serving as a captain with the Imperial Yeomanry in South Africa.{{London Gazette|date=22 November 1901|issue=27379|page=7654}} After the end of the war, he relinquished his active commission in the Imperial Yeomanry in October 1902.{{London Gazette|date=28 October 1902|issue=27488|page=6805}} He was severely wounded during the war, and appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his service.

Returning home, he was granted the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Northumberland Hussars on 8 May 1903.{{London Gazette|date=8 May 1903|issue=27550|page=2927}} He became a substantive lieutenant-colonel and commanding officer (CO) of the Northumberland Hussars on 24 March 1905,{{London Gazette|date=24 March 1905|issue=27778|page=5378}} was given the honorary rank of colonel on 4 August 1905,{{London Gazette|date=4 August 1905|issue=27824|page=5378}} and in May 1913 was appointed as the Colonel of the Regiment for the Northumberland Hussars.{{London Gazette|date=17 June 1913|issue=28729|page=4309}}

Three months after the start of the First World War, on 10 November 1914, his reputation with horses led to his appointment as the Deputy Director of Remounts for the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front.{{London Gazette|date=10 November 1914|issue=28971|supp=y|page=9323}} Then, while holding the temporary rank of brigadier-general, he relinquished that post on 17 December 1915.{{London Gazette|date=17 December 1915|issue=29405|page=12566}} The next month, on 11 January 1916, he was invested as a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.{{London Gazette|date=11 January 1916|issue=29438|supp=y|page=565}} Leaving the Western Front, he was posted to Egypt, and took up the post of Director of Remounts for the Sinai and Palestine campaign. He remained in the Middle East for the remainder of the war, and was awarded the Order of the White Eagle 3rd Class with Swords on 19 February 1917,{{London Gazette|date=19 February 1917|city=Edinburgh|issue=13053|page=384}} and was also mentioned in despatches.{{London Gazette|date=8 August 1919|issue=31498|supp=y|page=10195}}

On 29 April 1919, five months after the Armistice with Germany, he relinquished his appointment and was granted the honorary rank of brigadier-general,{{London Gazette|date=29 April 1919|issue=31317|supp=y|page=5426}} and was invested as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.

On 27 April 1892, at St Mary's Catholic Church, Hexham, Bates married Katharine Leadbitter, daughter of Edward Leadbitter, from Spittal, Northumberland. They had one son, Edward Giles Bates, who served in the Northumberland Fusiliers (later the Royal Northumberland Fusiliers) in the First World War. He was an active Conservative, contesting the seat of Hexham in both a 1907 by-election and the 1910 general election.{{cite web|accessdate=16 December 2013|publisher=The Tablet|title=Obituary Lady Bates|url=http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/16th-october-1937/30/obituaries}}

The next year, in December 1911, he was appointed as the Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Northumberland.{{London Gazette|date=9 January 1912|issue=28570|page=222}}

After the First World War he was appointed Chairman of the Race Course Owners Association. Then in later life he became Chairman of the Bedlington Coal Company Limited (1923-1947), Director of the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Company Limited (1940-1947), and Director of the Hartley Main Collieries from 1947.{{cite web|accessdate=16 December 2013|publisher=Durham Mining Museum|title=C. Loftus Bates, Brig.-Gen. Sir, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O.|url=http://www.dmm.org.uk/whoswho/b902.htm}} Charles Loftus Bates died at his family home in 1951 at the age of 87.

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Category:1863 births

Category:1946 deaths

Category:British Army brigadiers

Category:Military personnel from Northumberland

Category:People educated at Eton College

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:British Militia officers

Category:Royal Artillery officers

Category:1st King's Dragoon Guards officers

Category:Imperial Yeomanry officers

Category:Northumberland Hussars officers

Category:Deputy lieutenants of Northumberland

Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War

Category:British Army cavalry generals of World War I

Category:Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates