# Beauvoir De Lisle

General Sir Henry de Beauvoir De Lisle, KCB, KCMG, DSO (27 July 1864 – 16 July 1955), known as Beauvoir De Lisle, was a British Army officer and sportsman. He served in both the Second Boer War and the First World War.

## Early military career

Born in Guernsey and educated in Jersey, De Lisle was, after graduating from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, commissioned into the 2nd Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry (DLI) in March 1883. He saw service with the mounted infantry in Egypt between 1885 and 1886, being awarded his Distinguished Service Order (DSO) there, and was later promoted to the rank of lieutenant in March 1887 and captain on 1 October 1891.
De Lisle studied at the Staff College, Camberley in 1899. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, he was appointed in command of the Australian Brigade, with the local rank of lieutenant colonel from 30 January 1900. The brigade was a mobile column comprising the 6th Battalion, Mounted Infantry, the West Australian Mounted Infantry, the South Australian Imperial Bushmen and the New South Wales Mounted Rifles. He was severely wounded and three times mentioned in dispatches. Promotion to major came on 1 January 1902, and to the brevet rank of lieutenant colonel on the following day. During the early months of 1902 his brigade was stationed in Natal, but in April he left the command of this brigade and transferred to Transvaal where there was more intense fighting. He left Cape Town for the United Kingdom in late May 1902. In a despatch dated 23 June 1902, Lord Kitchener, who had been commander-in-chief (C-in-C) during the latter part of the war, described De Lisle as "an officer of remarkable force of character. He has soldierly qualities and is a fine leader." For his service he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 21 August 1902, and received the actual decoration from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.
After his return he formally transferred to the cavalry when he was commissioned as a major in the 5th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) Dragoon Guards on 22 October 1902. Later the same year he was appointed in command of the 2nd Provisional Regiment of Hussars at Hounslow. De Lisle was appointed second-in-command of the 1st (Royal) Dragoons in 1903 and then became commanding officer (CO) of the regiment in 1906, after being promoted to lieutenant colonel in February. He was promoted to brevet colonel in August.
After serving on half-pay from February 1910, he was promoted to colonel, and succeeded Colonel Alexander Godley as general staff officer, grade 1 (GSO1) of the 2nd Division at Aldershot from March 1910. Upon relinquishing this assignment, in August 1911 he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general and was appointed commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade.

## First World War

He served in the First World War, initially as commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, which he led overseas on the Western Front. Then, after being promoted to temporary major general in October 1914, he was general officer commanding (GOC) of the 1st Cavalry Division, his former brigade's parent formation, taking over from Edmund Allenby. De Lisle, his rank of major general having been made substantive in February 1915, remained in command of the division until he became GOC 29th Division, leading the division at the Third Battle of Krithia during the Gallipoli campaign of April 1915 to January 1916. He briefly and temporarily led IX Corps during the campaign.
After the evacuation of Allied forces from Gallipoli in early 1916, Dr Lisle returned to the Western Front at the head of his division later in the year and fought with the 29th at the Battle of the Somme and in the battles of 1917. After being appointed a Knight Companion of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in January 1917, he was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant general in March 1918 became GOC XIII Corps before being reassigned to command XV Corps in April, leading it in the final months of the war.

## Post-war

After the war he was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant-general, in January 1919, and in October was appointed to succeed Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Snow as general officer commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of Western Command. He held this post until 1923 and then retired from the army in October 1926, after being promoted to general in January.

## Retirement

De Lisle was made colonel of his old regiment, the Durham Light Infantry, in October 1928, in succession to Major General Sir Frederick Robb.
He was known for his polo skills and spent much of the years 1929 to 1930 training polo teams for the Maharaja of Kashmir in India.
He died shortly before his 91st birthday in July 1955.

## Family

De Lisle married on 16 July 1902, at Stoke Poges church, Leila Annette Bryant, daughter of Wilberforce Bryant, of Stoke Park, Buckinghamshire (the proprietor of Bryant and May, matchmakers).