George Milne , 1st Baron Milne Field Marshal George Francis Milne , 1st Baron Milne , GCB , GCMG , DSO ( 5 November 1866 – 23 March 1948 ) , was a British military commander who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff from 1926 to 1933 . He served in the Second Boer War and during World War I he served briefly on the Western Front but spent most of the war commanding the British forces on the Macedonian front . As Chief of the Imperial General Staff he generally promoted the mechanization of British land forces although limited practical progress was made during his term in office . Army career . Born the son of George Milne and Williamina Milne ( née Panton ) and educated at MacMillan ' s School in Aberdeen and the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich , Milne was commissioned into the Royal Artillery on 16 September 1885 . He was initially posted to a battery at Trimulgherry in India and then joined a battery at Aldershot in 1889 before being posted back to India to a battery at Meerut in 1891 . Promoted to captain on 4 July 1895 , he joined the garrison artillery in Malta and then took part in the Suakin Expedition in 1896 . Next he was appointed battery captain at Hilsea and then attended Staff College , Camberley in 1897 . He took part in the Nile Expedition in 1898 and served in the Second Boer War earning promotion to major on 1 November 1899 , and having been appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant - General on 18 February 1900 , saw further promotion to lieutenant colonel on 1 November 1900 . He was mentioned in despatches on 2 April 1901 and then awarded the Distinguished Service Order in June 1902 . He was appointed a Deputy - Assistant Quartermaster - General in the intelligence division at Headquarters on 26 January 1903 and then , having been promoted to colonel on 1 November 1905 , became a general staff officer at Headquarters 46th North Midland Division ( a Territorial Force formation ) on April 1908 . He joined the general staff at Headquarters 6th Division in Cork in 1909 and , having been appointed CB in the King ' s Birthday Honours 1912 , became Brigadier - General Royal Artillery for 4th Division at Woolwich on 1 October 1913 . World War I . France . At the outbreak of World War I in July 1914 , Milne was commanding the divisional artillery of 4th Division which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force in France . He joined the general staff of III Corps in January 1915 and , having been promoted to major - general on 23 February 1915 , was mentioned in despatches for his service during the Second Battle of Ypres . He was appointed General Officer Commanding the 27th Division in July 1915 . Salonika . Milne was appointed to command XVI Corps in Salonika in January 1916 with orders to oppose Bulgarian advances on the Macedonian front . As Commander - in - Chief of the British Salonika Army Milne became Commander - in - Chief of British Troops in Macedonia on 9 May 1916 . He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle ( 1st Glass , with Swords ) by the King of Serbia on 1 July 1916 . The British Government accepted the need to maintain a presence in Salonika to keep the French happy , but the CIGS Robertson , who often communicated by secret letters and " R " telegrams to generals in the field , privately told Milne that he did not favour offensive operations . Milne broadly agreed with Robertson that any attempt to attack across the mountains to cut the Nis - Sofia - Constantinople railway was logistically impractical , although he did stress that his forces must either advance or retreat from the malaria - infested Struma Valley and that the Bulgarians might be beaten if pressed hard . Milne was promoted to permanent lieutenant general on 1 January 1917 . At the Rome Conference ( January 1917 ) Milne was placed under the command of the French General Sarrail , with right of appeal to his own government - who overruled him when he protested against Sarrail ' s movement of a British brigade outside the British zone . This precedent was much discussed in the next few months when Lloyd George attempted to place Britain ' s Western Front forces under Nivelle . Milne undertook numerous offensives in support of his French and Serbian Allies with limited resources . His troops were constantly suffering from malaria . Milne was appointed a Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus by the King of Italy on 31 August 1917 and advanced to KCB on 1 January 1918 . Although Milne was repulsed at the Battle of Doiran in September 1918 , French and Serbian units were successful in defeating the Bulgarian Army at the Battle of Dobro Pole which took place that same month . Bulgaria then signed an armistice . After World War I . In September 1918 , Milne became responsible for the military administration of a vast area around the Black Sea at a time of considerable internal disorder following the Russian Revolution and the start of the Turkish War of Independence . Small British forces had twice occupied Baku on the Caspian , while an entire British division had occupied Batum on the Black Sea , supervising German and Turkish withdrawal . British ( including Indian and some Arab ) troops were in Persia ( partly to protect the oilfields at Abadan ) and larger British forces were also deployed in Mesopotamia and Syria . Milne toured the Caucasus in early 1919 and thought “ the country and the inhabitants are equally loathsome ” and that British withdrawal “ would probably lead to anarchy ” but “ the world would ( not ) lose much if the whole of the country cut each other ’ s throats . They are certainly not worth the life of a single British soldier ” . At the end of August 1919 the British withdrew from Baku ( the small British naval presence was also withdrawn from the Caspian Sea ) , leaving only 3 battalions at Batum . Lord Curzon , Foreign Secretary , wanted a British presence in the region , although to Curzon ’ s fury ( he thought it “ abuse of authority ” ) the CIGS Henry Wilson gave Milne permission to withdraw if he deemed it necessary . After a British garrison at Enzeli ( on the Persian Caspian coast ) was taken prisoner by Bolshevik forces on 19 May 1920 , Lloyd George finally insisted on a withdrawal from Batum early in June 1920 . Financial retrenchment forced a British withdrawal from Persia in the spring of 1921 . Milne was appointed Grand Cross ( First Class ) of the Order of the Redeemer by the King of the Hellenes in October 1918 , appointed KCMG on 1 January 1919 , advanced to GCMG on 3 June 1919 and given the Greek Military Cross in July 1919 . He was also awarded the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honour in August 1919 and made a Knight of Grace of the Venerable Order of Saint John on 9 April 1920 . In March 1920 he occupied Constantinople and took over the administration of the City which was collapsing . Later Life and Career . Promoted to full general on 26 April 1920 , he was appointed Lieutenant of the Tower of London on 15 December 1920 and General Officer Commanding Eastern Command on 1 June 1923 . Having been made ADC to the King on 31 July 1923 , he became Chief of the Imperial General Staff on 19 February 1926 . In that role he supported the publication of the study " Mechanised and Armoured Formations " ( issued in 1929 ) and generally promoted the mechanization of British land forces although limited practical progress was made during his term in office . Having been advanced to GCB in the New Year Honours 1927 , he was promoted to field marshal on 30 January 1928 before retiring in 1933 . On 28 January 1933 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Milne of Salonika and of Rubislaw in the County of Aberdeen . He was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery from 21 November 1918 , Honorary Colonel of Hampshire Heavy Brigade from 24 April 1926 , Master Gunner , St James ' s Park from 1929 , Constable of The Tower of London from 1933 and Colonel Commandant of the Pioneer Corps from 1940 . During World War II he was an Air Raid Warden in Westminster . He also wrote a weekly column for the Sunday Chronicle . He died in London on 23 March 1948 . Family . In 1905 , he married Claire Maitland , daughter of Sir John Nisbet Maitland , 5th Baronet ; they had a son and a daughter . External links .