Beauchamp Duff General Sir Beauchamp Duff , GCB , GCSI , KCVO , CIE , KStJ ( 17 February 1855 – 20 January 1918 ) , was a Scottish officer with a distinguished military career in the British Indian Army serving as Commander - in - Chief of India during World War I . Early life . Duff was educated at Trinity College , Glenalmond before attending the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich , from which he graduated in 1874 . Duff was commissioned in the Royal Artillery in 1874 and served in the Afghan War from 1878 to 1880 . In 1881 , he was transferred to the Indian Staff Corps and then attended the Staff College from 1888 to 1889 . Career . He was Deputy Assistant Adjutant - General at the Indian Army Headquarters from 1891 to 1895 , then served as a Brigade Major in the Isazai Expedition in 1892 . He was Deputy Assistant Adjutant - General during the Waziristan Expedition from 1894 to 1895 . From 1895 to 1899 he was Military Secretary to the Commander - in - Chief in India before being appointed Assistant Military Secretary for Indian Affairs in the War Office in 1899 . However , the same year he took part in the South African War of 1899 to 1901 . Upon returning to India , he served as Deputy Adjutant - General at the Indian Army Headquarters from 1901 to 1902 , before commanding the Allahabad District as a Brigadier - General in 1903 . With the appointment of Lord Kitchener as Commander - in - Chief of India in November 1902 , Duff quickly rose in ranks , serving first as Adjutant - General , India from June 1903 to March 1906 and then as Chief of the General Staff in India from March 1906 to 1909 . Following Kitchener ' s departure , Duff served as Secretary in the Military Department of the India Office from 1910 to 1914 . In 1914 , he was appointed as ADC General to H . M . the King . On 8 March 1914 , Duff reached the top position when replacing General O ' Moore Creagh as Commander - in - Chief , India . World War I . During the war , the Mesopotamian Campaign was under the responsibility of the Indian Army up until the disaster surrounding the surrender at Kut . The campaign started well with the landing in Basra in November 1914 , but the attack on Baghdad by 9 , 000 troops of the 6th Indian Division commanded by General Townshend in 1915 ended in catastrophe when the remnants of the British invasion force were surrounded in Kut El Amara , and three attempts to relieve the trapped British and Indian troops also ended in failure , at the cost of 23 , 000 lives . The surrender on 29 April 1916 was described as one of the worst military disasters of the British Army . Consequently , Duff was relieved of command on 1 October 1916 . In 1917 , the Mesopotamia Commission of Enquiry was damning in its conclusions . While General Townshend was exonerated , the Commission was harsh towards the Government of India and Duff together with the Viceroy , Lord Hardinge . Both were found to have showed " little desire to help and some desire actually to obstruct the energetic prosecution of the war . " General Nixon , the Commander - in - Chief of the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force , was also held responsible for the failed campaign . Unable to live with the shame , Duff committed suicide on 20 January 1918 . External links .