Geoffrey Feilding

Born on 21 September 1866 in South Kensington, London, Feilding was the son of Hon. Sir Percy Feilding (son of the 7th Earl of Denbigh), who fought with the Coldstream Guards during the Crimean War, and his wife Lady Louisa Isabella Harriet Thynne, eldest daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Bath.

Feilding was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in April 1888,{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/FEILDING.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120925214130/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/FEILDING.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 September 2012 |title=Feilding, Sir Geoffrey Percy Thynne|publisher=Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives|accessdate=16 June 2020}}{{sfn|Davies|Maddocks|2014|p=137}} promoted to lieutenant on 27 November 1890, and again to lieutenant from supernumerary lieutenant in August 1895,{{London Gazette|issue=26681|page=6252|date=19 November 1895}} and lastly to captain on 6 April 1898.{{London Gazette| issue=26954|page=2211| date=5 April 1898}}

He served in the early part of the Second Boer War from 1899 to 1900 and was present in the engagements at Belmont in November 1899, being mentioned in dispatches twice, and received the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).{{sfn|Davies|Maddocks|2014|p=137}}{{London Gazette|issue=11343|page=1078|date=1 October 1901|city=e}} In February 1901 he was made an aide-de-camp to Major General M. W. Willson.{{London Gazette|issue=27293|page=1769|date=17 March 1901}} He returned to South Africa in 1902 commanding a battalion of mounted infantry and was granted the local rank of major on 20 April 1902.{{London Gazette| issue=27442|page=3900| date=13 June 1902}}

Following the end of the war in June 1902, he returned to the United Kingdom on board the SS Ortona, which arrived in Southampton in September that year.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa - Troops returning Home |date=1 September 1902 |page=6 |issue=36861}}

File:The Battle of the Somme, July-november 1916 Q994.jpg, General Sir Douglas Haig, and Feilding at Beauquesne, France, 12 August 1916]]

Fielding later served in the First World War, being mentioned in despatches seven times.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p24537.htm#i245366|title=Person Page|website=www.thepeerage.com}}

File:The British Army on the Western Front, 1914-1918 Q9185.jpg, Divisional Headquarters at Bavincourt, 30 June 1918.]]

He was appointed commanding officer (CO) of the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards in 1914. After being promoted to brevet colonel in February 1915,{{London Gazette|issue=29074|page=1691|date=16 February 1915|supp=y}} and the temporary rank of brigadier general in late April,{{London Gazette|issue=29162|page=4652|date=14 May 1915}} he went on to succeed Brigadier General James Foster Riddell as commander of the 149th (Northumberland) Brigade, part of the 50th (Northumbrian) Division, after Riddell was killed in action. He was only there for a few weeks before being moved to command of the 1st Guards Brigade in June.{{sfn|Davies|Maddocks|2014|p=137}}

After a promotion to temporary major general in early January 1916,{{London Gazette|issue=29475|page=1695|date=15 February 1916}} he was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the Guards Division from 1916 until September 1918. A war memorial, unveiled by Feilding, honours the battlefield at Ginchy where many British soldiers from the Guards Division fell during the Battle of the Somme in 1916.{{cite web|url=http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/guillemont.html|publisher=World War I Battlefields|title=Guillemont|accessdate=7 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423185924/http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/guillemont.html|archive-date=23 April 2009|url-status=dead}}

After the war Feilding, promoted to the substantive rank of major general in January 1918,{{London Gazette|issue=30450|page=9|date=28 December 1917|supp=y}} became Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District{{sfn|Davies|Maddocks|2014|p=138}} and then in 1923 he was made General Officer Commanding 56th (1st London) Division. Feilding retired in 1927. He is buried at St. Editha's Church in Monks Kirby.[http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/WARWICK/2004-07/1090264991 Roots.web]

• {{Cite book|first1=Frank|last1=Davies|first2=Graham|last2=Maddocks|title=Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire|publisher=Leo Cooper|year=2014|orig-year=1995|isbn=978-1-78346-237-7}}

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Category:1866 births

Category:1932 deaths

Category:British Army major generals

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order

Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War

Category:British Army generals of World War I

Category:Coldstream Guards officers

Category:Burials in Warwickshire

Geoffrey

Category:Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Category:People from South Kensington