Cuthbert Lucas

Lucas was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, on 1 March 1879.{{cite news |last1=Rigby |first1=Nic |title=The Army general who charmed his IRA kidnappers |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-46786760 |accessdate=10 March 2019 |date=10 March 2019}} He later attended Marlborough College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Lucas was commissioned as a second lieutenant into 2nd Battalion, the Royal Berkshire Regiment, on 7 May 1898.{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/LUCAS.shtml |title=Lucas, Cuthebert|publisher= Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003072417/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/LUCAS.shtml|archive-date=3 October 2012}}{{London Gazette|issue=26964|page=2822|date=6 May 1898}}

He served with the battalion in South Africa during the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1902, taking part in operations in the Orange Free State from February to July 1900, in Transvaal from July to November 1900, and later in Cape Colony south of Orange River. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 August 1900, while in South Africa.Hart's Army list, 1903

After the end of the war in June 1902, Lucas and the rest of the 2nd battalion was sent to Egypt, where they arrived on the SS Dominion in November 1902.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title= The Army in South Africa – The War office and reservist|date=8 November 1902 |page=10 |issue=36920}} He later served in the Egyptian Army and Sudan Civil Service. He was seconded from his regiment in order to attend the Staff College, Camberley from January 1913 onwards{{London Gazette|issue=28687|page=844|date=4 February 1913}} and was still there upon the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914.

He served in the war, initially with the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. Promoted to brevet major in February 1915,{{London Gazette|issue=29074|page=1695|date=16 February 1915|supp=y}} he later fought in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 where he was promoted to temporary brigadier general{{London Gazette|issue=29543|pages=3803-3804|date=11 April 1916}} in August and succeeded W. R. Marshall in command of the 87th Infantry Brigade of the 29th Division. He was promoted once again to temporary brigadier general in October{{London Gazette|issue=29360|page=11048|date=9 November 1915}} and to brevet lieutenant colonel{{London Gazette|issue=29357|page=11026|date=5 November 1915|supp=y}} and led the brigade during the Battle of the Somme in 1916{{Cite web|url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/partnerships/first-world-war-centenary/centenary-partnership|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120330234520/http://www.1914.org/projects/brigadier-general%E2%80%99s-blog-from-the-somme/|title=First World War Centenary Partnership|archive-date=30 March 2012|website=Imperial War Museums}} and into 1917 before becoming commandant of the Machine Gun Corps Training Centre in 1918. He was promoted to temporary major general{{London Gazette|issue=31050|page=14421|date=3 December 1918|supp=y}} and appointed general officer commanding (GOC) of the 4th Division in October 1918, during the closing stages of the war.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf|title=Army Commands|archive-date=5 July 2015}}

On 30 June 1919, Lucas was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Hertfordshire.{{London Gazette | issue=31478 |page=9587 | date=29 July 1919}} He was made Commander of 17th Infantry Brigade in Ireland, and of Fermoy Barracks, on 30 October 1919,{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oVl5AAAAQBAJ&q=%22cuthbert+lucas%22+%2217th+infantry%22&pg=PT184|title=The Republic: The Fight for Irish Independence, 1918–1923|first=Charles |last=Townshend|publisher=Allen Lane|year=2013|isbn=9780241003497}} the same date he was promoted to substantive colonel,{{London Gazette|issue=31643|page=13878|date=14 November 1919|supp=y}} and on 26 June 1920, during the Irish War of Independence, he was captured by the IRA while he was fishing on the Munster Blackwater near Fermoy along with Colonels Tyrell and Danford. After Danford was wounded during an unsuccessful attempt to escape from a moving car the same day, the volunteers freed Tyrell to attend to Danford's wounds. Both Colonels were subsequently taken to a military hospital at Fermoy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/HomeService-BertramDanfordRoyalEngineers.html|title=Bertram William Young Danford, Royal Engineers|website=Soldiers of the Queen|access-date=22 June 2020|archive-date=24 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624042346/https://www.soldiersofthequeen.com/HomeService-BertramDanfordRoyalEngineers.html|url-status=dead}}

General Lucas was subsequently held in West Limerick and East Clare.{{Cite web|url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/wain061.pdf|title=Photograph of General C. H. Lucas being held by East Clare Brigade, Limerick Chronicle article of 31 May 1994 with 1921 archive photo on Limerick City Library Local Studies website|website=Limerick City and County Council|access-date=19 June 2020}}

A letter from his wife, announcing the birth of their child, and addressed simply "to the IRA", was delivered to him and his captors allowed a subsequent exchange of letters between the couple. His letters home remain in the possession of his descendants and were shown on an episode of the BBC Television programme Antiques Roadshow.

The IRA moved him to East Limerick from where Lucas escaped four weeks later.{{Cite web|url=http://www.limerickcity.ie/media/olj%20vol%2051%20p053%20to%20059.pdf|title=The General Lucas Abduction by Chris Ryan, historical account with footnotes in The Old Limerick Journal of Winter 2016 on Limerick City Library Local Studies website|website=Limerick City and County Council|access-date=19 June 2020}} It is believed his captors purposely relaxed the guard to allow him to escape rather than be faced with the possibility of executing him. While being transferred from Pallas RIC barracks to Tipperary military barracks in a routine army patrol they were ambushed and Lucas received a slight injury.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/june_1920.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070905215654/http://www.dcu.ie/~foxs/irhist/june_1920.htm|title=Chronology of Irish History 1919 – 1923|archive-date=5 September 2007}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.schudak.de/timelines/ireland1922-1919.html|title=The World at War - Ireland 1922 - 1919|website=www.schudak.de}}

In 2014 Barbara Scully, a granddaughter of one of the IRA volunteers involved, George Power, published his recollections to his family of the kidnap in the Irish Times.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/inviting-the-british-back-to-the-gpo-1.1798829#|title=Inviting the British back to the GPO, article published on 17 May 2014|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=19 June 2020}} This brought a friendly reply from General Lucas' granddaughter, Ruth Wheeler, in which she stated that General Lucas risked a court martial for stating that during his kidnap and time in captivity he was treated as “a gentleman by gentlemen” and was held by “delightful people".{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/letters/inviting-the-british-back-to-the-gpo-1.1817771#|title='Inviting the British back to the GPO', Letter to the Editor published on 3 June 2014|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=19 June 2020}}

Ireland's Defence Forces have published online Bureau of Military History witness statements by the IRA volunteers involved in the kidnap, as well as those who guarded General Lucas while he was held as a prisoner of war.{{Cite web|url=http://www.militaryarchives.ie/collections/online-collections/bureau-of-military-history-1913-1921/bmhsearch/search.jsp?querystr=%22General+Lucas%22|title=Witness statement search for phrase "General Lucas"|website=Óglaigh na hÉireann Defence Forces Ireland, Military Archives|access-date=19 June 2020}}

In 2020 Lucas' granddaughter, Ruth Wheeler, and other members of the Lucas family published the letters he wrote and received while in captivity online.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/century/revealed-100-years-on-the-letters-of-a-british-general-kidnapped-by-the-ira-1.4281705|title=Revealed 100 years on: the letters of a British general kidnapped by the IRA|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=18 June 2020}} Limerick Councillor Emmett O'Brien and other local people in March 2019 announced an intent to re-enact the capture, imprisonment, and release of General Lucas on the anniversary in 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.limerickcity.ie/media/0-999/02%20olj%2052%20maj%20gen%20cuthbert%20tindall.pdf|title=Letters reveal story of 'friendly kidnap', Limerick Leader of 30 March 2019 article on Limerick City Library Local Studies website|website=Limerick City and County Council|access-date=18 June 2020}}

Lucas became Assistant Adjutant General at Aldershot Command in 1924 and served with the staff at General Headquarters, British Army of the Rhine from 1927 before he retired to Stevenage in 1932. He died on 7 April 1956 and is buried in Graveley, Hertfordshire.{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121343649/cuthbert-henry_tindall-lucas|title=Cuthbert Henry Tindall Lucas|website=Find a Grave|access-date=19 June 2020}}

He married Joan Holdsworth in October 1917, who died on 6 September 1979 and is also buried in Graveley, Hertfordshire.{{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/121343723/joan-lucas|title=Joan Lucas|website=Find a Grave|access-date=19 June 2020}}

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• [http://chtl.co.uk/ Letters from Captivity, family website with General Lucas' letters and other information on his time as a prisoner of war of the IRA]

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Category:1879 births

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