Frederick Stanley Maude Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Stanley Maude KCB , CMG , DSO ( 24 June 1864 – 18 November 1917 ) was a British commander , most famous for his efforts in Mesopotamia during World War I and for conquering Baghdad in 1917 . Early life . Family . Maude was born in Gibraltar into a military family ; his father was Sir Frederick Francis Maude – a general who had been awarded the Victoria Cross in 1855 during the Crimean War , and who is buried in Brompton Cemetery , London . His mother was Catherine Mary Bisshopp , daughter of Very Rev . Sir George Bisshopp , 9th Baronet of Parham Sussex ( which was created in July 1620 ) . Education . Maude attended Eton College and then the Royal Military College , Sandhurst . He graduated in 1883 and joined the Coldstream Guards in February 1884 . Early service . Maude first saw active service in Egypt from March to September 1885 , where he was awarded the Egyptian Medal and the Khedive ' s Egyptian Star . He next saw service as a Major during the Second Boer War , where he served from January 1900 to March 1901 ; and for which he was mentioned in Despatches ( 10 September 1901 ) , was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order ( DSO ) and received the Queen ' s South Africa Medal . In May 1901 he was appointed Military Secretary to the Earl of Minto , Governor - General of Canada , in which capacity he accompanied the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York ( later King George V and Queen Mary ) on their Royal Tour of Canada in September and October 1901 . During this trip Maude joined the Duke of York and Lord Minto on a duck hunt at Delta Marsh , Manitoba , and for his services administering the tour he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George ( CMG ) in October 1901 . He served on the staff of the Governor - General until Lord Minto stepped down in 1904 , when he returned to Britain to become second - in - command at the Coldstream Guards . He then joined the General Staff , was promoted to Lieutenant - Colonel in 1907 and Colonel in 1911 . World War I . Western Front . In World War I , Maude first served in France . He was a staff officer with III Corps when , in October 1914 , he was promoted to Brigadier - General and given command of the 14th Brigade . He was wounded in April 1915 and returned home to recover . He returned to France in May and , in June , he was promoted to Major - General and transferred to command the 33rd Division , then still in training . Dardanelles . In mid - August , however , Maude was instead given charge of the 13th Division in Suvla . The 13th suffered heavy casualties retreating from Suvla and landing and later evacuating from Helles before being shifted to Mesopotamia in March 1916 . He was the last man evacuated from Suvla Bay . Mesopotamian Campaign . Maude arrived to catch the end of the British failure at the Siege of Kut where he was promoted to Lieutenant - General , replacing General George Gorringe as commander of the newly dubbed Tigris Corps ( III Indian Army Corps ) in July 1916 . Despite being instructed to do no more than hold the existing line , Maude set about to re - organising and re - supplying his mixed British and Indian forces . He was made commander of all Allied forces in Mesopotamia in late July 1916 , replacing Sir Percy Lake . Further advances in Mesopotamia were ordered ( 18 September 1916 ) by politicians such as Curzon and Chamberlain and against the wishes of the CIGS Robertson . Liddell Hart later argued that Maude clearly “ consciously or unconsciously ” ignored his secret orders from Robertson not to attempt to take Baghdad . Robertson changed his mind when it seemed that the Russians might advance to Mosul , removing any Turkish threat to Mesopotamia , and authorised Maude to attack in December 1916 . Given reinforcements and more equipment , Maude directed his force in a steady series of victories . Advancing up the Tigris and winning the battles of Mohammed Abdul Hassan , Hai and Dahra in January 1917 , recapturing Kut in February 1917 , he took Baghdad on 11 March 1917 . ( He issued the Proclamation of Baghdad on 19 March . ) From Baghdad , he launched the Samarrah Offensive and extended his operations to the Euphrates and Diyala rivers . After a lull over the summer , by November his forces were engaged at Ramadi and Tikrit when he became ill from cholera ( which some sources claim to have been caught from drinking " unboiled " milk ) and abruptly died . Coincidentally , he died in the same house as German Field Marshal von der Goltz a year earlier . General Marshall succeeded him . Mount Maude , a peak in the Cascade Range , was named for Frederick Maude by Albert H . Sylvester . In 2003 , the British military headquarters in Baghdad ' s Green Zone was named " Maude House " . Maude is buried in Baghdad ( North Gate ) War Cemetery . He is also noted on a memorial in Brompton Cemetery , London .