George Harper (British Army officer)

British Army general

Lieutenant General Sir George Montague Harper, (11 January 1865 – 15 December 1922), was a senior officer of the British Army during the First World War. As a protégé of General Henry Wilson, he held important staff positions at the War Office before the war and at British Expeditionary Force (BEF) GHQ in 1914. He later commanded the 51st (Highland) Division at the Battles of the Ancre, Arras, Third Ypres and Cambrai. It was widely claimed by tank officers that his adoption of idiosyncratic tactics at Cambrai caused his division's failure to reach its objectives, although this view has now been called into question. He commanded IV Corps in 1918.

Harper was born on 11 January 1865 in Batheaston, Somerset, the son of Charles and Emma Harper. His father was a physician and surgeon.

George Harper was educated at Bath College and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 5 July 1884, and promoted to captain on 1 October 1892. In 1899 he was deployed to South Africa where he joined 37th Field Company Royal Engineers and saw action at Spion Kop, Val Kranz, Tugela Heights and Pieter's Hill.

Harper was promoted to major on 1 April 1901, and entered the Staff College, Camberley, the same year. Following his graduation from Camberley, he was appointed a staff captain at headquarters on 15 October 1902. He later returned to the Staff College where he served on the directing staff from May 1908 to December 1910. Harper accompanied Henry Wilson, then Commandant of the Staff College, on his reconnaissance of the likely future theatre of war. In August 1908, along with Edward Percival ("Perks"), they explored south of Namur by train and bicycle. In August 1909 Harper and Wilson travelled from Mons then down the French frontier almost as far as Switzerland. In the spring of the following year, this time by motor car, they travelled from Rotterdam into Germany, then explored the German side of the frontier, noting the new railway lines and "many sidings" which had been built near St Vith and Bitburg (to allow concentration of German troops near the Ardennes).

He became Deputy Director of Military Operations (DDMO) at the War Office in 1911 (serving under Wilson, DMO). Because of the need for secrecy, Harper's MO1 was tiny – ten officers, three of them seconded from the Quartermaster General's Department. Secret documents (e. g. railway timetables) were typed up by officers rather than (enlisted) clerks and printed on a secret printing press. By 14 November 1912, after two years of work, the railway timetables were ready for the assembly of the BEF, prior to sea transport to France. When Deputy Director of Military Operations, Colonel Harper minuted (1 October 1913) that in the event of war corps should simply be "post boxes" to relay the decisions of GHQ to divisions – this view would gradually be revised in the course of the war, and by the latter part of World War One experienced corps commanders were taking on more and more autonomy over operations.

On the outbreak of war Colonel Harper was placed in charge of the Oa (planning operations and written orders) section at BEF GHQ. The I (intelligence) and Ob (written records) sections were subordinate to Oa, making Oa in practice something of a bottleneck. He had a poor relationship with the BEF Chief of Staff Murray, as he was used to working with Murray's deputy and rival Wilson. On 24 August (the day after the Battle of Mons) Harper refused to do anything for Murray, so that Lord Loch had to write messages even though it was not his job. Wilson had to intercede to prevent French from sacking Harper (Wilson diary 7 Sep) but a week later recorded (Wilson diary 14 Sep), that Murray and Harper argued constantly. Robertson (Quarter Master General of the BEF) was known to remark by one account to some visiting politicians at Abbeville in 1914 who saw the letters written on a door that "Oa" stood for "Old 'Arper". Robertson, now BEF Chief of Staff, removed Harper – who had been promoted temporary brigadier general in November "in a very untactful way" (Rawlinson diary 29 Jan & 8 Feb 1915) whilst Wilson was away touring the French front. Robertson separated Staff Duties and Intelligence out from Operations into separate sections, each headed by a Brigadier General. Although Harper's removal was part of a restructuring at GHQ, his successor Whigham was more focussed and approachable than Harper.

In February 1915 he was given command of 17th Infantry Brigade. He told Wilson (24 September 1916) that GHQ was out of touch with the troops and had no knowledge and no imagination. 51st Division took part in the Battle of the Ancre. He blamed the failure on the creeping barrage being too fast, causing his "impetuous" men to become caught up in their own barrage.

Harper's Division also saw action in the Battle of Arras in spring 1917. Spears described him as "fine looking, with an aquiline nose and snow white hair, although his moustache was black". He was known as "Uncle" or, occasionally, "Daddy".

Ivor Maxse (GOC XVIII Corps) wrote a glowing report of Harper's performance between 31 July and 22 September 1917 (he was highly critical of H. D. Fanshawe of 58th Division and Cuthbert, 39th Division). Maxse's report stressed Harper's skill both at training and command, and mentioned the improvement in 51st Division, which had previously been "ill organised and unsoldier like", and recommended him for promotion to corps command.

Harper's 51st Division also took part in the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917. Christopher Baker Carr later claimed in his memoirs (From Chauffeur to Brigadier – 1930) that the attack on Flesquieres failed as a result of Harper using his own idiosyncratic tactical drill. Although widely repeated, this claim is dismissed by Bryn Hammond as "plainly rot" – Baker Carr made no such complaint at the time (he in fact praised the arrangements), it is not corroborated in other contemporary accounts, and it was Baker Carr's own brigade which failed. To retake Fontaine on 23 November, Harper concurred with the brigade commander Henry Pelham Burn's suggestion to attack with only two of his seven battalions in a misguided attempt to conserve lives. Bryn Hammond attributes Harper's failure to take Flesquieres to a strong German defence, to the holding back of his reserve brigade, and partly to the overextended command and control structure (Harper had sited his HQ too far back, 8,000 yards (over 4.5 miles) behind the original British front line, and 7 miles from Flesquieres). Brigadier General Hardress Lloyd (GOC 3 Tank Brigade) thought Harper "an old ass" and claimed (according to the May 1918 journals of J. F. C. Fuller) that he had expressed scepticism about the new tactics of infantry advancing in single file ("worms") and had remarked that they should advance in line as if "you were walking arm in arm with a girl". Hardress Lloyd claimed to have retorted "if the late Oscar Wilde were walking with you, where do you think he would go?” and that Harper almost had to be "carried from the room in an ambulance".

Harper was promoted to GOC IV Corps on 11 March 1918, as part of a reshuffle in which a number of older corps commanders were retired from front line command. He held this command, part of British Third Army, until the end of the war. In September 1918, during the period after the Battle of Albert whilst Third Army was advancing towards the Hindenburg Line, Haldane regularly vented in his diary about Harper's supposed shortcomings. At one point Haldane lobbied Byng (GOC Third Army) to urge Harper to make quicker progress, and when Byng pointed out that IV Corps were making progress recorded "I should "progress" by sending Harper to the rear". Haldane was concerned that Third Army orders gave Harper (on Haldane's right, i. e. southern flank) "an excuse for not coming forward at the same time as my Corps" (22 September). Haldane appealed to Byng, who refused to overrule Harper. Haldane attributed this to their lack of experience of the NorthWest Frontier. Byng's decision was wrong and Haldane's advance was hampered by Harper's failure to seize the high ground.

After the War, in 1919, Harper became General Officer Commanding in Chief of Southern Command.

27 September 1901 Captain (now Major) George Montague Harper is appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in recognition for services during operations in South Africa. 18 February 1915 Colonel (Temporary Brigadier General) George Montague Harper DSO is appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in recognition of the meritorious service during the war. 1 January 1918 Major General George Montague Harper CB DSO is promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath for valuable services rendered in connection with military operations in the field. Harper also was awarded foreign decorations; Legion of Honour, French Croix de Guerre, Belgian Croix de Guerre, Grand Cross of the Belgian Order of Leopold and the Serbian White Eagle.

He married Ella Constance Jackson in 1893.