Roland Haig
Brigadier-General Roland Charles Haig DSO & 2 Bars (1 February 1873 – 28 February 1953) was a British Army officer who served in the Second Boer War and First World War. After a brief period of service in the militia, Haig joined the 16th Lancers in 1894. He served with them until 1899 when he joined the 7th Dragoon Guards, being promoted to captain in the following year. He served in the Orange Free State and Transvaal in the Second Boer War, including fighting at the Battle of Diamond Hill. In 1903 Haig retired from the army, joining the  Imperial Yeomanry. He transferred to the Rifle Brigade in 1907, where he was promoted to major. Haig began his service in the First World War in the 1st Battalion of that regiment. Haig became second in command of the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment in January 1915, moving in the same position to the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade in April. From May 1915 to May 1916 Haig commanded a division of mounted troops in 8th Division, before briefly commanding the III Corps Cyclist Battalion. In June he was given command of the 2nd Battalion of the  Royal Berkshire Regiment, with which he fought in the Battle of the Somme and Battle of Passchendaele, in the latter of which he was wounded in early August 1917. Haig returned to service in October and in November was promoted to brigadier-general and given command of the 24th Infantry Brigade. He commanded the brigade during the German spring offensive. On 27 May 1918, during the Third Battle of the Aisne, Haig's headquarters was attacked and overrun by a German attack. He was heavily gassed but managed to escape. His injuries from the gas attack forced him to resign  his command, and he saw no further service in the war. Haig retired from the army in 1923 and died at Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire, at the age of 80. Early life. Roland Charles Haig was born in Kensington, London, on 1 February 1873, the son of the barrister and justice of the peace Charles Edwin Haig of Pen-Ithon, Radnorshire, and his wife Janet Stein, whose family were the Haigs of Cameron House. He was a cousin of the future Field Marshal Douglas Haig. Haig was educated at Winchester College. Military career. Early service. Haig's first military service came  on 6 September 1890 when he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the South Wales Borderers. He only served briefly in the militia, resigning his commission on 4 March 1891. Haig later went to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, from which he passed out in 1894 to join the 16th Lancers. He did so on 14 November, becoming a second lieutenant. He served in the 16th Lancers until 1899, transferring to the 7th Dragoon Guards as a lieutenant on 4 October. He was then promoted to captain on 17 January 1900. He travelled with  the 7th Dragoon Guards to South Africa, where he fought in the Second Boer War. He served in operations in the Orange Free State between April and May, when he moved to the Transvaal, where he participated in the captures of Johannesburg on 31 May and Pretoria on 5 June, and then fought at the Battle of Diamond Hill between 11 and 12 June. Haig later received the Queen's South Africa Medal with clasps for Cape Colony, Orange River Colony, Johannesburg, and Diamond Hill. On 10 October 1903 Haig retired from the army, still a captain, to instead join  the Imperial Yeomanry. This came about because of the results of a serious hunting accident that left him unable to continue in the regular army. Within the Yeomanry, Haig joined the Royal Bucks Hussars. For 1907 he also took up the role of master of the Radnorshire & West Herefordshire Hunt. Unit commands. In April 1907 Haig transferred as a captain to the 7th (Militia) Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, the regiment's special reserve. He was promoted to major in the 6th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade on 5 August 1914, a day after the British entry into World War  I, and then transferred to the 1st Battalion of that regiment, and it was with this battalion that he travelled to France to fight in the First World War. In January 1915 he was made second-in-command of the 2nd Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment, which was in action at Cuinchy on 1 and 6 February. Haig was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for his service on 18 February. He stayed with the South Staffords until April of the same year. Haig then moved to serve as second-in-command of the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle  Brigade until May, when he was given command of a division of mounted troops within 8th Division. On 9 May 8th Division fought in the Battle of Aubers. Haig commanded his mounted troops until May 1916 when he was made commander of the III Corps Cyclist Battalion, which he commanded for only one month. In late June Haig took part in the preparations for the Battle of the Somme, going to the front lines to ascertain the condition of the barbed wire in front of the German positions, and advising that more be done with artillery to cut it. He  was then promoted to lieutenant colonel in July and given command of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment in the 25th Infantry Brigade. The battalion had lost all its senior officers in the first day on the Somme, with a second lieutenant left in command. Haig's battalion fought at the Battle of Le Transloy in October, serving in support of the centre of the brigade's line. Haig fought in another attack, this at Bouchavesnes-Bergen, on 4 March 1917. While commanding his regiment he received a bar to his DSO on 18 June, for "conspicuous gallantry  and devotion to duty" in a successful attack against an enemy position. Between 9–10 July his regiment was taken out of the line for rest, but one company stayed behind for a night raid on Hooge on 11 July. Haig led this raid, entering the German trenches and destroying a hastily set up enemy machine gun position. The raid was finished in forty-four minutes, having captured one prisoner and killed between seventy and eighty enemy soldiers. Haig also fought with his regiment at the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, the beginning of the Battle of Passchendaele, between 31 July and  1 August. Wounded by a bullet in the right thigh during the battle, he was relieved of his command and sent home to recover. 24th Infantry Brigade. Haig returned to the Western Front in October and on 21 November was promoted to brigadier-general as commander of the 24th Infantry Brigade, part of the 8th Division he had already been serving in with the Berkshires. Major-General William Heneker had promoted him to replace the previous commanding officer of the brigade, who Heneker thought was "not very satisfactory". Military history J. M. Bourne comments favourably on the appointment, describing Haig  as "a man of great courage and leadership". The brigade was made up of the 1st Battalions of the Worcestershire Regiment and Sherwood Foresters, and the 2nd Battalions of the East Lancashire Regiment and Northamptonshire Regiment. The brigade entered the front line, having been in a period of rest and training, on 25 December, at Passchendaele. The brigade was then brought into action to defend against the German spring offensive in March 1918, being the first part of the division to reach their positions near Eterpigny on 23 March. The position was attacked heavily as part of Operation Michael, and  by 25 March Haig had been forced to partially withdraw, making his new headquarters at Ablaincourt. By 27 March the front around 8th Division had stabilised, and the unit was relieved on 2 April. Haig's brigade returned to the front line on 20 April, and on 23 April was engaged in fighting as part of the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. Haig went on to fight with his brigade in the Third Battle of the Aisne in May. On 27 May the German advance succeeded in pushing back the units to the flanks of 8th Division, leaving Haig's  brigade exposed. At 6 a.m. his headquarters at Berry-au-Bac was attacked, and having been gassed in the assault, Haig and his brigade major only narrowly escaped capture. At 9 a.m. the brigade mustered only three officers and sixty-eight men, who were sent to garrison a trench near Roucy. Haig relinquished his command, due to his gassing and more general exhaustion, on 4 June. He received his second bar to the DSO on 26 July, cited for "conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during a long period of active operations", with particular mention given to an action in  which he personally rode forwards to re-establish the wavering front line. He saw no more active service during the war having, as well as his DSOs, been mentioned in dispatches on five occasions. Back in England, Haig was given command of the 5th Cyclist Brigade in Kent on 21 June. Retirement and death. Haig continued to command the 5th Cyclist Brigade after the war. He moved to command Number 1 Sub-District in the Midland District of the Irish Command some time after 1919, and continued in that post until 1921. He retired from the army in 1923. In  retirement Haig was an avid golfer as a member of St Andrews Golf Club, in which he won several tournaments and was very well thought of. He had two residences; The Vale in Windsor Forest and a town house in St Andrews, and was also a member of the Cavalry Club. In the Second World War Haig served as a company commander in the Home Guard until he was forced to retire in around 1941 because of his advanced age. He died at Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire, on 28 February 1953, aged 80, and was buried at Tomnahurich Cemetery in Inverness . Family. Haig married Geraldine Dorothy Kerr-Pearse, daughter of the Reverend Beauchamp Kerr-Pearse of Batts Park in Somerset, and granddaughter of the member of parliament Richard Samuel Guinness, on 20 April 1889. Together they had two sons and a daughter: