Francis Loraine Petre

F. Loraine Petre descended from an aristocratic English Catholic family, the House of Petre. His father, the Honourable Edmund George Petre,Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1881. Class: RG11; Piece: 47; Folio: 116; Page: 43; GSU roll: 1341011. was born 23 June 1829 (d. 1 September 1889), in London's Marylebone district; he was the son of William Petre, 11th Baron Petre, and his second wife, Emma Agnes Howard.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_XBMwAAAAYAAJ#page/n507/mode/2up |first=Edmund |last=Lodge |author-link=Edmund Lodge |title=The peerage and baronetage of the British empire as at present existing |edition=38th |location=London |publisher=Hurst and Blackett |year=1869 |page=443}} Also {{Cite news |title=Death of Right Honourable Lord Petre |newspaper=The Ipswich Journal |location=Ipswich, England |date=6 July 1850 |issue=5800}} Edmund married Marianna Jane Kerr, born in 1831 in Midlothian (Edinburgh), Scotland,Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1871. Class: RG10; Piece: 161; Folio: 83; Page: 34; GSU roll: 823299. the daughter of the accountant and stock broker Lorraine M. Kerr, Esquire,Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1–217. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Parish: Barony; ED: 54; Page: 2; Line: 26; Roll 389; Year: 1851. They married 3 June 1851, at her home at 26 India Street in Glasgow, Lanarkshire.{{cite news |title=Marriages |newspaper=The Herald |location=Glasgow, Scotland |date=6 June 1851 |issue=5045}} Edmund Petre worked as a stockbroker.Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1861. Data imaged from the National Archives, London, England. Class: RG9; Piece: 458; Folio: 82; Page: 11; GSU roll: 542642.

Petre was born at Netherley House, in Aberdeen, Scotland on 22 February 1852,{{cite news |title=Births |newspaper=The Aberdeen Journal |location=Aberdeen, Scotland |date=3 March 1852 |issue=5434}} Loraine Petre's younger sister, Rosamund Catherine, was born on 25 August 1857, at the High Elms, in Hampton Court (now Hampton, London).{{cite news |title=Births |newspaper=The Era |location=London, England |date=30 August 1857 |issue=988}} She married in 1884 to William Henry Hare Hedges-White, an Irish Peer, the fourth and last Earl of Bantry.{{cite news |title=Death of the Earl of Bantry |newspaper=Manchester Times |location=Manchester, England |date=4 December 1891 |issue=1792}} Petre maintained his connections to his illustrious family; in 1873, his cousin married George Forbes, 7th Earl of Granard, and he was listed as a guest.{{cite news |title=Marriage of the Earl of Granard |newspaper=The News Letter |location=Belfast, Ireland |date=6 September 1873 |issue=55738}}

In 1887, Petre married Maud Ellen Rawlinson, the daughter of a clergyman; their son, Roderic L(oraine), born 1888 in Indore, India; Roderick attended school near Midsomer Norton and Stratton-on-the-Fosse,Francis Philip Whiteside. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives, 1901 where he sang treble in the boys choir.St. Gregory's School (Downside, England). Downside Review. 1902, vol. 22, p. 312. Roderick served in the South Wales Borderers in the Gallipoli campaign of World War I,Army Medal Office.WWI Medal Index Cards. British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914–1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: [http://www.ancestry.com Ancestry] Operations Inc, 2008. Accessed 27 June 2010. and was awarded the Military Cross.{{London Gazette |issue=29460 |supp=y |date=1 February 1916 |page=1337}} Eventually he achieved the rank of major-general.{{London Gazette |issue=45455 |date=24 August 1971 |page=9274 |nolink=yes}} A daughter, Enid, was born in 1890, and a second daughter was born in 1894 and died the same year.

Petre was educated at Oscott College, and called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1873. The next year he competed in the examinations for the Indian Civil Service,{{cite newspaper The Times |title=F. Loraine Petre (obituary) |date=11 May 1925 |page=8 |issue=43958 |column=C}} in which he was placed fourth of the top thirty.{{cite news |title=Indian Civil Service Competition |newspaper=The Pall Mall Gazette |location=London, England |date=27 April 1872 |issue=2247}} Initially he served in the North-Western Provinces, and later in Oudh. From 1885 to 1889, he was at Hyderabad, in the Political Department. He also served in the Secretariat of the Indian Board of Revenue. Upon his retirement in 1900, he was Commissioner of Allahabad.Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review. II:2. April 1901. np.

While serving in India, he published several articles on Indian politics and culture,{{cite news |title=Library Table |newspaper=The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post |location=Bristol, England |date=2 July 1888 |issue=12523}} and on the progress of the central states of India.{{cite news |title=The Quarterlies |newspaper=The Herald |location=Glasgow, Scotland |date=2 August 1888 |issue=184}} In 1888, his article on "Progress and Prospects of Native States of Central India" was published in the Asiatic Quarterly Review.{{cite journal |last=Petrie |first=F. Loraine |title=Progress and Prospects of Native States of Central India |journal=The Asiatic Quarterly Review |editor-first=Demetrius |editor-last=Bougler |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DL0VAAAAYAAJ&q=F.+Loraine+Petre+&pg=PP7 |year=1888 |number=5 |pages=156–176 |publisher=Swan Sonnenshein & Company}} After retirement, he maintained his interest in India Affairs: he regularly attended the meetings of the East India Society, a group of civil servants and military men who had served in the Far East and India, and of which he was a member of the governing council."Proceedings." Asian Review. Series III. 25:49–50 (1908), pp. 163, 359, 375–376, 381. In 1901, he presented a paper, The Indian Sectarists and their Relation to the Administration, which was published in the Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review. In 1907, during the civil turmoil in India, he wrote to the editor of The Times (London) to clarify the problems faced by local police forces in maintaining civil order in the Indian Provinces.{{cite newspaper The Times |title=Unrest in India |author=Petre, F. Loraine |date=17 May 1907 |page=11 |issue=38335 |column=D}}

On his retirement from the Indian Civil Service, his interest in the Napoleonic Wars led him to seek out studies of the European campaigns. The lack of English language studies on the wars, particularly the campaigns of 1806 and 1807, encouraged him to write both Napoleon's Conquest of Prussia 1806 and Napoleon's campaign in Poland, 1806–1807.Petre. ...campaign in Poland..., pp. ii, viii. The latter, originally published in 1910, has been reprinted in several additions, the most recent in 2001 by Stackpole and Greenwood Press.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=Napoleon's Campaign in Poland, 1806–1807 |location=Mechanicsburg, PA |publisher=Stockpole |year=2001 |isbn=1-85367-441-9}} His Napoleon's Conquest of Prussia 1806, first published in 1901, entered three editions: in 1907, by J. Lane and in 1914; its 1907 and subsequent editions contained an introduction by the Field Marshal Earl Roberts.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=Napoleon's conquest of Prussia 1806–1807 |location=London |publisher=S. Low |year=1901 |oclc=457586317}} Both of these campaigns, Petre surmised, were Napoleon's greatest achievements: never again did he organize so great a campaign, nor did his political or military power reach such heights.

Similarly, his Napoleon & the Archduke Charles; a history of the Franco-Austrian campaign in the valley of the Danube in 1809 reflected the dearth of English language material on the subject. For Petre, the campaign was of particular interest as the one of two campaigns in which Napoleon was opposed by arguably his most able continental opponent. In 1809, that opponent was the Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen; the other campaign, in Italy 1797, that opponent was Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. His son Roderick assisted with the map-making.Petre. Archduke Charles, p. v–vi. The volume entered three reprints–1916, 1976, 1989—and a second edition in 1991, reprinted in 2001, reflected the ongoing fascination with the Napoleonic wars.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=Napoleon & the Archduke Charles; a history of the Franco-Austrian campaign in the valley of the Danube in 1809 |location=London & New York |publisher=J. Lane Co. |year=1909 |orig-year=1908 |oclc=511002}}

Both Napoleon's last campaign in Germany, 1813 and Napoleon at Bay 1814, were translated immediately into German, and both had 1970s reprints.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=Napoleon at bay 1814 |url=https://archive.org/details/napoleonatbay18100petr |location=London & New York |publisher=John Lane Co. |year=1914 |oclc=252434389}}

In Napoleon's Last Campaign, Petre posits that the Emperor Napoleon abandoned the guiding principles of his previous success, which lay in his relentless pursuit of his opponent's main army. In the Saxon Campaign, Napoleon lost sight of his primary objectives, becoming mired in secondary achievements.Petre, Last Campaign, p. vi. Petre noted also the vast increase in sheer numbers, on both sides of the contest, and predicted that in terms of numbers, "we must wait for the wars of tomorrow to see those numbers exceeded."Petrie, Last Campaign, p. vii. World War I interrupted his work as a military historian; he was recalled from retirement to work in the Finance office of the Munitions Ministry. On 26 March 1920, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire.{{London Gazette |supp=y |issue=31840 |date=24 August 1971 |page=3800 |nolink=yes}}

Petre wrote a two-volume history of the Norfolk Regiment,{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=The History of the Norfolk Regiment, 1685–1918 |publisher=Jarrold & Sons |location=Norwich |year=1924–26 |oclc=558567159}} the second volume of which was published a month before his death. In addition, he also wrote histories of the Royal Berkshire Regiment (Royal Berks), the 1st Gurkha Rifles, and the Scots Guards in the Great War 1914–1918.{{cite book |first1=F. Loraine |last1=Petre |first2=Wilfrid |last2=Ewart |first3=Major-General Sir Cecil |last3=Lowther |author-link3=Cecil Lowther |title=The Scots Guards in the Great War, 1914–1918 |location=London |publisher=J. Murray |year=1925 |oclc=6126064 |name-list-style=amp}} His regimental histories also included The 1st, King George's Own, Gurkha Rifles-The Malaun Regiment, 1815–1921.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=The 1st, King George's Own, Gurkha Rifles-The Malaun Regiment, 1815–1921 |publisher=Royal United Service Institution |location=London |year=1925 |oclc=561603950}}

Petre also wrote two books on South America, responding to the need for investors to find additional information in a convenient form in English. In it, he maintained, he simply collated information and in his tour of the country he remained on what he called "the beaten tracks", principal cities, and the countryside. Furthermore, he maintained, he used statistical information supplied by the President of Columbia. The book includes photographs that he took himself.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=The republic of Colombia; an account of the country, its people, its institutions and its resources |url=https://archive.org/details/republicofcolomb00petr |location=London |publisher=E. Stanford |year=1906 |oclc=191025517 |no-pp=yes |pages=Preface, pp. v–vi}} His second book on South America was Simon Bolivar—El Libertador; a life of the chief leader in the revolt against Spain in Venezuela, New Granada and Peru.{{cite book |first=F. Loraine |last=Petre |title=El Libertador; a life of the chief leader in the revolt against Spain in Venezuela, New Granada and Peru |url=https://archive.org/details/simonbolivarelli00petruoft |location=London |publisher=John Lane |year=1910}}

• Napoleon's conquest of Prussia 1806–1807, London: S. Low, 1901. OCLC: 457586317.
• Napoleon's Campaign in Poland, 1806–1807. London: John Lane, 1907. OCLC: 504519385
• Napoleon & the Archduke Charles; a history of the Franco-Austrian campaign in the valley of the Danube in 1809. London, J. Lane; New York, J. Lane Co., 1909 [1908]. OCLC: 511002.
• Napoleon's last campaign in Germany, 1813, London & New York, John Lane Co., 1912. OCLC: 3677122.
• Napoleon at bay 1814. New York, John Lane Co., 1914. OCLC: 503529 and OCLC: 252434389.

• Ramsay Weston Phipps
• Charles Oman

{{Reflist}}

; Periodicals

• "Death of Right Honourable Lord Petre." The Ipswich Journal. (Ipswich, England), Saturday, 6 July 1850; Issue 5800.
• "Births." The Aberdeen Journal (Aberdeen, Scotland), Wednesday, 3 March 1852; Issue 5434.
• "Births." The Era (London, England), Sunday, 30 August 1857; Issue 988.
• "Marriage of the Earl of Granard." The Belfast News-Letter (Belfast, Ireland), Saturday, 6 September 1873; Issue 55738.
• "Indian Civil Service Competition." The Pall Mall Gazette (London, England), Saturday, 27 April 1872; Issue 2247.
• "Library Table". The Bristol Mercury and Daily Post (Bristol, England), Monday, 2 July 1888; Issue 12523.
• "The Quarterlies." Glasgow Herald (Glasgow, Scotland), Thursday, 2 August 1888; Issue 184.
• "Death of the Earl of Bantry." Manchester Times (Manchester, England). Friday, 4 December 1891; Issue 1792.
• F. Loraine Petre (obituary). The Times, Monday, 11 May 1925; pg. 8; Issue 43958; col C.

; Databases

• Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1861. Data imaged from the National Archives, London, England. Class: RG9; Piece: 458; Folio: 82; Page: 11; GSU roll: 542642.
• Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1871. Class: RG10; Piece: 161; Folio: 83; Page: 34; GSU roll: 823299.&
• Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1881. Class: RG11; Piece: 47; Folio: 116; Page: 43; GSU roll: 1341011.
• Scotland. 1851 Scotland Census. Reels 1–217. General Register Office for Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland. Parish: Barony; ED: 54; Page: 2; Line: 26; Roll 389; Year: 1851

; Books

• Lodge, Edmund. The peerage of the British empire as at present existing. London: Saunders and Otley, 1850, OCLC 457524910.
• Petre, F. Loraine. Napoleon's conquest of Prussia 1806–1807, London: S. Low, 1901. OCLC: 457586317.
• Petre, F. Loraine. Napoleon's Campaign in Poland, 1806–1807. London: John Lane, 1907. OCLC: 504519385
• Petre, F. Loraine. Napoleon & the Archduke Charles; a history of the Franco-Austrian campaign in the valley of the Danube in 1809. London, J. Lane; New York, J. Lane Co., 1909 [1908]. OCLC: 511002.
• Petre, F. Loraine. Napoleon's last campaign in Germany, 1813, London & New York, John Lane Co., 1912. OCLC: 3677122.

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Category:1852 births

Category:1925 deaths

Francis Loraine

Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers

Category:English historians

Category:British military historians

Category:Members of Lincoln's Inn

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:Historians of the Napoleonic Wars