Edmund Allenby , 1st Viscount Allenby Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby , 1st Viscount Allenby GCB , GCMG , GCVO ( 23 April 1861 – 14 May 1936 ) was an English soldier and British Imperial Governor . He fought in the Second Boer War , and also in World War I in which he led the British Empire ' s Egyptian Expeditionary Force ( EEF ) during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in the conquest of Palestine capturing Beersheba and Jerusalem in October and December , 1917 . After occupying the Jordan Valley during the summer 1918 , he went on to defeat the Yildirim Army Group at the Battle of Megiddo . Subsequently the EEF advanced to capture Damascus and Syria . He supervised the activity og T . E . Lawrence ( " " Lawrence of Arabia " " ) , whose campaign with the Arab irregulars assisted the EEF ' s destruction of the Ottoman Empire in Syria by capturing Aleppo . Early years and active service . Born the son of Hynman Allenby and Catherine Anne Allenby ( née Cane ) , Allenby was educated at Haileybury College . He had no great desire to be a soldier , and tried to enter the Indian Civil Service , failing the entry exam . He sat the exam for the Royal Military College , Sandhurst in 1880 , was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 6th ( Inniskilling ) Dragoons on 10 May 1882 and joined his regiment in South Africa later that year . After serving at the cavalry depot in Canterbury , he was promoted to captain on 10 January 1888 and then returned to South Africa . Allenby returned to Britain in 1890 and he sat – and failed – the entry exam for the Staff College in Camberley . Not deterred , he sat the exam again the next year and passed . Captain Douglas Haig of the 7th Hussars also entered the Staff College , at the same time , thus beginning a rivalry between the two that was to run until the First World War . Allenby was more popular with fellow officers , even being made " Master of the Draghounds " in preference to Haig who was the better rider ; Allenby had already developed a passion for polo . James Edmonds , a contemporary , later claimed that the staff at Staff College thought Allenby dull and stupid but were impressed by a speech he gave to the Farmers ' Dinner , which had in fact been written for him by Edmonds and another . Promoted to major on 19 May 1897 , Allenby was posted to the 3rd Cavalry Brigade , then serving in Ireland , as the Brigade - Major in March 1898 . Boer War . At the outbreak of the Second Boer War , Allenby was returned to his regiment , and the Inniskillings were embarked at Queenstown before landing at Cape Town , South Africa , later that year . He took part in the actions at Colesberg on 11 January 1900 , Klip Drift on 15 February 1900 and Dronfield Ridge on 16 February 1900 . While camped beside the Australian Light Horse outside Bloemfontein with Lord Roberts ' army , the New South Wales Lancers with the rest of French ' s cavalry , waited to move . At this time both men and horses suffered continuously rainy weather and cases of enteric were taken away every day . Major Allenby , appointed to commanded the squadron of New South Wales Lancers , arrived one evening towards midnight . He was about to walk in on a rum soaked officers ' mess , when he was intercepted by an acquaintance , ( A . B . Paterson who later commanded Remounts during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War ) who informed Allenby the mess were just drinking his health . He replied , " I heard you . But that ' s no excuse for keeping the whole camp awake . You tell them to be in bed with all lights out , in five minutes , or I ' ll have to do something about it . " Allenby went on take part in the actions at Zand River on 10 May 1900 , Kalkheuval Pass on 3 June 1900 , Barberton on 12 September 1900 and Tevreden on 16 October 1900 when the Boer General Jan Smuts was defeated . He was promoted to local lieutenant - colonel on 1 January 1901 , local colonel on 29 April 1901 , lieutenant - colonel on 2 August 1902 and brevet colonel on 22 August 1902 . Edwardian Period . Allenby returned to Britain in 1902 and became commanding officer of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers in Colchester . Promoted to the substantive rank of colonel and to the temporary rank of brigadier general on 19 October 1905 , Allenby assumed command of the 4th Cavalry Brigade in 1906 . Promoted again to the rank of major - general on 10 September 1909 – due to his extensive cavalry experience , was appointed Inspector - General of Cavalry in 1910 . His increasing tendency as his career progressed for sudden bellowing outbursts of explosive rage directed at his subordinates , combined with his powerful physical frame , led to the coining of his nickname as " " The Bull " " . World War I . Western Front . During the First World War he initially served on the Western Front . At the outbreak of war in August 1914 a British Expeditionary Force ( BEF ) was sent to France , consisting of four infantry divisions and one cavalry division , the latter commanded by Allenby , which first saw action in semi - chaotic circumstances covering the retreat after the Battle of Mons opposing the German Army ' s invasion of France , and distinguished itself under Allenby ' s direction in the subsequent fighting with minimal resources at its disposal at the First Battle of Ypres . Allenby was promoted to temporary lieutenant - general on 10 October 1914 . As the BEF was expanded in size to two Armies , he was rewarded by being made commander of the Cavalry Corps . On 6 May 1915 Allenby voluntarily left the Cavalry Arm to take up command of V Corps which was engaged at that moment in severe fighting at Second Battle of Ypres ; V Corps , whilst victorious in defeating the German Imperial Army ' s assault incurred controversially heavy losses in the process through Allenby ' s tactical policy of continual counter - attack s at the German attacking force . In September 1915 , as an attempted diversion of German Army strength to facilitate the concurrent British Army offensive at Loos , V Corps under Allenby ' s direction executed a minor attack in the Hooge Sector in the Ypres Salient , which once again incurred substantial losses to its units involved in the affair . In October 1915 Allenby was promoted to lead the British Third Army , being made Lieutenant - General ( substantive rank ) on 1 January 1916 . In mid - Summer 1916 , in support of the launch of the Battle of the Somme offensive , he was the Army Commander with responsibility for the abortive assault by 3rd Army troops on the trench fortress of the Gommecourt salient , which failed with severe casualties to the units under his command in the operation . After weeks of heavy fighting during 3rd Army ' s offensive at the Battle of Arras in the Spring of the 1917 , where an initial break - through had deteriorated into trench - fighting positional warfare once more with heavy casualties to 3rd Army ' s units involved , Allenby lost the confidence of his Commander - in - Chief Douglas Haig , and , having been promoted to full General on 3 June 1917 , he was replaced at the head of 3rd Army on 9 June 1917 and returned to England . Egypt and Palestine . With Allied victory over Germany far from certain in May 1917 , the allocation of British resources between the Western Front and other fronts was a matter of debate in the War Cabinet . Curzon and Hankey recommended that Britain seize ground in the Middle East . Lloyd George , who also wanted more effort on other fronts , wanted a commander " of the dashing type " to replace Sir Archibald Murray in command of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force . Smuts refused the command ( late May ) unless promised resources for a decisive victory . Lloyd George appointed Allenby , telling him that his objective was " Jerusalem before Christmas " and that he had only to ask for reinforcements to get them . The Chief of the Imperial General Staff ( " CIGS " ) Robertson believed that Western Front commitments ( Third Ypres was in progress from 31 July until November ) did not justify a serious attempt to capture Jerusalem , and throughout 1917 put pressure on Allenby to demand unrealistically large reinforcements to discourage the politicians from authorising Middle East offensives . Allenby ' s exact remit was still undecided when he was appointed . Shortly after his departure from England for the Middle East he learned that his son , Michael , had fallen in action on the Western Front . He arrived on 27 June 1917 . He assessed the Turkish Army ' s fighting force that he was facing as 46 , 000 rifles and 2 , 800 sabres , and estimated that he could take Jerusalem with 7 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions , although he did not feel there was a sufficient purely military case to do so , and that he would need reinforcements to advance further . Allenby was eventually ordered to attack the Turks in southern Palestine , but the extent of his advance was not yet to be decided , advice which Robertson repeated in " secret and personal " notes ( 1 and 10 August ) . Allenby quickly won the respect of his troops by making frequent visits to the EEF ' s front - line units , in a marked change from the leadership style of his predecessor Murray , who had commanded primarily from Cairo , and moved the EEF ' s GHQ from the Egyptian capital city to Rafah , nearer to the front lines at Gaza , and re - organized the hitherto disparate forces of the EEF into a three primary corps order of battle : XX , XXI & the Desert Mounted Corps . He also approved the utilisation of Arabic irregular forces which were operating at that time to the Turkish Army ' s open left flank in the Arabian interior under the direction of a young British Army Intelligence Officer called T . E . Lawrence , whom he sanctioned the provision of £200 , 000 a month for to facilitate his work amongst the tribes involved . In early October 1917 Robertson asked Allenby to state his extra troop requirements to advance from the Gaza - Beersheba line ( 30 miles wide ) to the Jaffa - Jerusalem line ( 50 miles wide ) , urging him to take no chances in estimating the threat of a German - reinforced threat . Allenby ' s estimate was that he would need 13 extra divisions ( an impossible demand even if Haig ' s forces went on the defensive ) and that he might face 18 Turkish and 2 German divisions . Yet in private letters Allenby and Robertson agreed that sufficient British Empire troops were already in place to take and hold Jerusalem and in the event the Germans sent only 3 battalions to Palestine , and Turkish strength there was only 21 , 000 ( out of 110 , 000 on all fronts ) facing 100 , 000 British Empire troops . Having reorganised his regular forces Allenby won the Third Battle of Gaza ( 31 October – 7 November 1917 ) by surprising the defenders with an attack at Beersheba . His force pushed northwards towards Jerusalem . The Ottomans were beaten at Junction Station ( 10 – 14 November ) and Jerusalem was captured on 9 December 1917 . Honouring Jerusalem on foot . In deliberate contrast to the perceived arrogance of the Kaiser ' s entry of Jerusalem on horseback in 1898 , Allenby dismounted and together with his officers , entered the city on foot through the Jaffa Gate out of respect for the status of Jerusalem as the Holy City important to Judaism , Christianity and Islam ( see his proclamation of martial law below ) . He subsequently stated in his official report : Allenby ' s official proclamation of martial law following the fall of Jerusalem on 9 December 1917 read as follows : Middle East victory . Asked again after the Fall of Jerusalem , Allenby wrote that he would need 16 – 18 divisions for a further advance of 250 miles to Aleppo ( the Damascus - Beirut Line ) to cut Turkish communications to Mesopotamia . By early 1918 50 , 000 Turks in the theatre were tying down a British Empire ration strength of over 400 , 000 ( of whom almost half were non - combatants , and 117 , 471 were British troops ) . With Robertson ' s clash with the government now moving to its final stages , and the new Supreme War Council at Versailles drawing up plans for more efforts in the Middle East , Smuts was sent to Egypt to confer with Allenby and Marshall . Allenby told Smuts of Robertson ' s private instructions ( sent by hand of Walter Kirke , appointed by Robertson as Smuts ' adviser ) that there was no merit in any further advance and worked with Smuts to draw up plans , reinforced by 3 divisions from Mesopotamia , to reach Haifa by June and Damascus by the autumn , the speed of the advance limited by the need to lay fresh rail track . This met with War Cabinet approval ( 6 March 1918 ) . The German offensive on the Western Front meant that Allenby was without reinforcements and after his forces failed to capture Amman in March and April 1918 he halted the offensive . In the spring of 1918 he had to send 60 , 000 men to the Western Front , although the Dominion Prime Ministers in the Imperial War Cabinet continued to demand a strong commitment to the Middle East in case Germany could not be beaten . New troops from the Empire ( specifically Australia , New Zealand , India and South Africa ) led to the resumption of operations in August 1918 . Following an extended series of deceptive moves the Ottoman line was broken at the Battle of Megiddo ( 19 – 21 September 1918 ) and the Allied cavalry passed through and blocked the Turkish retreat . The EEF then advanced at an impressive rate , ( as high as 60 miles in 55 hours for cavalry , and infantry slogging 20 miles a day ) encountering minimal resistance , Damascus fell on 1 October , Homs on 16 October and Aleppo on 25 October . Turkey capitulated on 30 October 1918 . Field Marshal and High Commissioner . Allenby was made a field marshal on 31 July 1919 and on 7 October of that year was created Viscount Allenby , of Megiddo and of Felixstowe in the County of Suffolk . He remained in the Middle East as High Commissioner for Egypt and the Sudan until 1925 , retiring from active service in that year . Retirement . Murray and Allenby were invited to give lectures at Aldershot in 1931 about the Palestine Campaign . Exchanging letters beforehand , Murray asked whether it had been worth risking the Western Front to transfer troops to Palestine . Allenby avoided that question , but commented that in 1917 and into the spring of 1918 it had been far from clear that the Allies were going to win the war . Russia had dropped out , but the Americans were not yet present in strength . France and Italy were weakened and might have been persuaded to make peace , perhaps by Germany giving up Belgium , Alsace - Lorraine and the Trentino . In those circumstances , with Germany likely to be left in control of Eastern Europe and the Balkans , it had been sensible for Britain to grab some land in the Middle East to block Germany ' s route to India . Allenby ' s views mirrored those of the War Cabinet at the time . Allenby went to Patagonia for a last fishing trip , aged 74 , to see if the salmon really were as big as those in the Tay . He died suddenly from a ruptured cerebral aneurysm , on 14 May 1936 , in London , aged 75 . He was cremated and his ashes were buried in Westminster Abbey . Legacy . Allenby supposedly once said that people would have to visit a war museum to learn of him , but that T . E . Lawrence would be remembered and become a household name . This quote was used by Robert Bolt in his screenplay for the 1962 film " Lawrence of Arabia " , directed by David Lean . A blue plaque unveiled in 1960 commemorates Allenby at 24 Wetherby Gardens , South Kensington , London . Publicity surrounding Allenby ' s exploits in the Middle East was at its highest in Britain in the immediate aftermath of the First World War . Allenby enjoyed a period of celebrity in the United States as well . He and his wife went on an American tour in 1928 , receiving a standing ovation when he addressed Carnegie Hall in New York City . Biographer Raymond Savage claimed that for a time Allenby was better known in America than Lawrence . In the epic film " Lawrence of Arabia " , which depicts the Arab Revolt during World War I , Allenby is given a major part and is portrayed by Jack Hawkins in one of his best - known roles . Screenwriter Bolt called Allenby a " very considerable man " and hoped to depict him sympathetically . Nonetheless , many view Allenby ' s portrayal as negative . T . E . Lawrence ( " " Lawrence of Arabia " " ) , whose efforts with the Arab Revolt were greatly aided by Allenby , thought highly of him : " ( He was ) physically large and confident , and morally so great that the comprehension of our littleness came slow to him " . Into the 1990s , residents of Ismaïlia , in north - eastern Egypt , would burn effigies , including of Allenby , to mark an annual spring holiday , more than 70 years after he led forces in the Sinai . Family . In 1897 , Allenby married Miss Adelaide Chapman , the daughter of a Wiltshire landowner . Honours . Ribbon bar ( as it would look today ) : < br >