Полковник Пол Сэнфорд Метуэн: Британдық әскери шендінің өмірбаяны

19/20th century British Army officer

Field Marshal Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen, (1 September 1845 – 30 October 1932), was a British Army officer. He served in the Third Anglo Ashanti War in 1873 and then in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland in the mid 1880s. He took a prominent role as General Officer Commanding the 1st Division in the Second Boer War. He suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties. He was later captured by the Boers at Tweebosch. After the war, he became General Officer Commanding in Chief in South Africa in 1908, Governor and Commander in Chief of Natal in 1910 and then Governor and Commander in Chief of Malta in 1915.

Paul Sanford Methuen was born at Corsham Court, Wiltshire, the eldest of three sons of Frederick Methuen, 2nd Baron Methuen, and his wife Anna Horatia Caroline Methuen (née Sanford).

Educated at Eton College, Methuen served two years as a cornet in the Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry and then joined the Scots Fusilier Guards as an ensign in the regiment and lieutenant in the army on 22 November 1864. He was promoted to lieutenant in the regiment and captain in the army on 25 December 1867, and became adjutant of the 1st battalion in 1868. He became brigade major, Home District in 1871 and saw active duty on the staff of Sir Garnet Wolseley at Amoaful in 1873 during the Third Anglo Ashanti War. Promoted to captain in the regiment and lieutenant colonel in the army on 15 July 1876, he became assistant military secretary in Ireland in 1877, military attaché in Berlin in 1878 and quartermaster general at the Home District in April 1881, before being promoted to colonel on 1 July. He was the commandant of headquarters in Egypt for three months in 1882, being present at the Battle of Tel el Kebir. On return to the UK he became assistant adjutant and quartermaster general for the Home District again. He was promoted to major in the regiment on 25 October 1882. Methuen served in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland from 1884 to 1885, where he commanded Methuen's Horse, a corps of mounted rifles. He became deputy adjutant general, in South Africa in 1888, and having been promoted to major general on 21 May 1890, he succeeded his father as 3rd baron in 1891. He became Major General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding the Home District in April 1892 and then served as press censor at headquarters on the Tirah expedition in 1897. Promoted to lieutenant general on 1 April 1898, he was given the command of the 1st Division on the outbreak of the Second Boer War.

Despite visible setbacks on the battlefield during the Boer War, Methuen continued to be well regarded and was given more responsibilities. Appointed colonel of the Scots Guards on 1 May 1904 and promoted to full general on 26 May, he was given the command of the IV Army Corps in June 1904, before it was reconstituted as Eastern Command in June 1905. He was also invited to become a board member of the Royal Patriotic Fund Corporation in August 1905. He became General Officer Commanding in Chief in South Africa in April 1908 and Governor and Commander in Chief of Natal in January 1910 before being promoted to field marshal on 19 June 1911. Methuen helped raise the standards of training of the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 He devoted himself to the interests of the Brigade of Guards and died at Corsham Court on 30 October 1932.