William Thwaites

Thwaites was born in Kensington, the son of William Thwaites of Durham Villas. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and at Heidelberg before passing into the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Burke, Sir Bernard |editor-link=Bernard Burke |edition= 97th |year=1939 |page= 2928 |ref=Burke }}

Thwaites was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1887.{{cite web|url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/THWAITES.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120922063031/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/THWAITES.shtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 September 2012 |title=Thwaites, Sir William |publisher= Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives|access-date=13 June 2020}}

He was promoted to lieutenant on 16 February 1890 and to captain on 10 October 1897.Hart′s Army list, 1904 He served in the Second Boer War 1899–1900 as an Adjutant in 33rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery, and took part in operations in Natal in late 1899, including engagements at Rietfontein and Lombard′s Knop and the defence of Ladysmith. For his service he was mentioned in despatches. Following his return to the United Kingdom, he served as divisional adjutant in Kildare until late 1902,Hart′s Army list, 1903{{London Gazette |issue=27519 |date=27 January 1903 |page=531}} after he was promoted to major on 20 August 1902.{{London Gazette |issue=27513 |date=6 January 1903 |page=107 }}

In February 1912 he was seconded for service on the staff{{London Gazette|issue=28587|page=1663|date=5 March 1912}} and appointed as a general staff officer, grade 2 of the 2nd London Division.{{London Gazette|issue=28586|page=1563|date=1 March 1912}}

He served in the First World War on the Western Front in France and Belgium. He was confirmed as GSO1 of the 2nd London Division on 5 August.{{London Gazette|issue=28885|page=6886|date=28 August 1914|supp=y}} After being promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general in June 1915, he took command of the 141st (5th London) Brigade, taking over from its previous commander, George Colborne Nugent, who had been killed.{{London Gazette|issue=29218|page=6589|date=6 July 1915}} He was then promoted to the temporary rank of major general{{London Gazette|issue=29693|page=7659|date=1 August 1916|supp=y}} and made general officer commanding (GOC) of the 46th (North Midland) Division in July 1916. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in January 1917.{{London Gazette|issue=29886|page=2|date=29 December 1916|supp=y}} His major general's rank became substantive in June 1918.{{London Gazette|issue=30716|page=6455|date=31 May 1918|supp=y}}

After the war Thwaites became director of military intelligence at the War Office from 1918, and then director of military operations and intelligence from 1922. In July 1923 he succeeded Major General Nevill Smyth as GOC of the Territorial Army's 47th (2nd London) Division.{{London Gazette|issue=32853|page=5554|date=14 August 1923}} He was promoted to lieutenant general while still commanding the division in October 1926,{{London Gazette|issue=33207|page=6295|date=1 October 1926}} and was in April 1927 appointed general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR):{{London Gazette|issue=33272|page=2960|date=6 May 1927}} he was the last person to hold this post until after the Second World War.[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Germany.html World Statesmen] He became colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery in January 1929.{{London Gazette|issue=33466|page=1042|date=12 February 1929|supp=y}}

In July 1931, after being made a general in May,{{London Gazette|issue=33718|page=3321|date=22 May 1931}} he was appointed an aide-de-camp general to King George V, in succession to General Sir Philip Chetwode.{{London Gazette|issue=33742|page=5179|date=7 August 1931}} He was then director general of the TA from later that year until 1933, and retired from the army on 1 October 1933, when he was appointed an extra aide-de-camp general to King George V.{{London Gazette|issue=33983|page=6355|date=3 October 1933}} He relinquished this assignment in July 1935.{{London Gazette|issue=34189|page=5195|date=13 August 1935}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|first1=Frank|last1=Davies|first2=Graham|last2=Maddocks|title=Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918|publisher=Pen and Sword Books|year=2014|orig-year=1995|isbn=978-1-78346-237-7}}

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Category:1868 births

Category:1947 deaths

Category:British Army generals

Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire

Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich

Category:British Army generals of World War I

Category:Royal Artillery officers

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

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

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

Category:People from Kensington

Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War