LORD KITCHENER & SIR lAN HAMILTON

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 33, 7 August 1914, Page 7

LORD KITCHENER & SIR lAN HAMILTON

. i APPOINTED TO IMPORTANT POSITIONS. LONDON, sth August. Field Marshal Lord Kitchener has accepted the Secretaryship of War, at \ present held by Mr. Asquith. The Egyptian post will be kept open for him. General Sir lan Hamilton will command the Home Army. [Earl Kitchener (Horatio Herbert) has left his mark in more parts .of the British Empire than any other living maji. He was born on 29th June, 1850, and is a son of the late Lieutenant-Colonel H. H. Kitchener, of Leicestershire. He was educated for the Army, and joined the Royal Engineers 'in 1871. He took part in the Palestine and Cyprus surveys in 1874-82} then he was appointed to the command of the Egyptian Cavalry. In 1884 he led the famous Nile Expedition, receiving the brevet rank of lieut.-colonel/ the Khedive's Star, and other honours. From 1886 to 1888 he was Governor of Suakim ; in 1889, fought on the Soudan frontier, was adjutant-general of the Egyptian Army for many years, and Sirdar in 1890. In 1896 ho commanded the Dongola Expeditionary Force, and was promoted to major-general, made « I a X.C.8., and received various medals. The great Khartum Expedition, from which he derived his title, was in 1898; and for his work he received the thanks of Parliament, and a grant of £30,000, was raised to the Peerage, made G.C.8., and bad two clasps added to the Khedive's medal. j In 1899-1900 he commanded the forces in South Africa 1 , and in the two foli lowing years was Commander-in-Chief. Then he received the thanka of Par- | liament, was promoted to General and created Viscount, and given a grant of £50,000. Ho was Commander-in-Chief in India in 1902-09, and in 1910 was made a member of the Council of Imperial Defence. In that capacity he toured a great part of the Empire, including Australasia, and upon his recommendations the hew system of military training on the overseas Dominions were based. Since 1911 he has been His Majesty's Agent and ConsulGeneral in Egypt, and has continued the magnificent work he had- begun years before in reorganising the country. This year, he was made an Earl, and his presence in England is due to his havihg taken his seat in the House of Lords. General Sir lan Hamilton, like Kitchener,^ is one of the few great British soldiers who have made themselves known personally in New Zealand, having visited tho Dominion only v a few months ago as InspecWrGenera! of tho Oversea Forces. Ho is the son of Colonel C. M. Hamilton, and was born at Corfu in January, 1853. Ho entered the Army in 1873, and - served in the Afghan War (1878-80), in the Boer War (1881), and the Nile Expedition (1884-85), receiving then (he brevet rank of major, the Khedive's Star, and Medal with two clasps. In 1886-67 he took part in the Burmese Expedition, and. jvas niade lieut,'C.olonel A and jyaa jorpnioto.il cokaigl in 1891 .

His part in the Chitral 'Relief Force in 1895 brought him the C.8. ; in 1897-98 he commanded the Third Brigade in the Tirah Campaign.. Served in the Boer War in 1899-1901, at Elandslaagte, the defence of Ladysmith (including Wagon Hill), LTamoncl Hill, and in other engagements; and was promoted to major-general. Thence till the end of the war he commanded mobile forces in the western Transvaal, and took part in various engagements, except during two yeras, when he was Kitchener's Chief-of -Staff ; and he was promoted lieut. -general. In 1903-4 he served as tho military representative of India with the Japanese Army in Manchuria; and received the English southern command from 1905 to 1909. He was appointed Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces in 1910, and has just concluded his tour of the Dominions. He is the author of a number of books on travel and military subjects.]