Page:Generals of the British Army.djvu/46

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IX LIEUT. -GEN. SIR WALTER NORRIS CONGREVE, *.c., K.C.B., M.V.O. SIR WALTER CONGREVE, born in 1862, of Chartley and Congreve, County Stafford, was educated at Harrow and entered the Rifle Brigade in 1885. He became a Captain in 1893, and Brevet Lieut. -Colonel in 1901. During the South African War he won the Victoria Cross for an heroic attempt to save the guns at Colenso the occasion on which Lord Roberts' only son won the same honour and lost his life. During the war he received a brevet Lieut. -Colonelcy. He was Private Secretary and Assistant Military Secretary to Lord Kitchener when the latter was Commander-in-Chief at Pretoria. After his return to England he became Commandant of the School of Musketry at Hythe, and, on the outbreak of the European War, went out in command of the i8th Infantry Brigade. From this he proceeded to the command of the 6th Division, with which he was present at the fighting at Hooge and Ypres in August and September, 1915. At the Battle of the Somme he commanded the XIII Corps on the extreme British right in liaison with the French. He was responsible for the taking of Montauban, Bazentin and Longueval, and the desperate fighting around Guillemont. Ill-health compelled him to relinquish his command at the end of August, 1916, and, on his return, the XIII Corps was moved further to the left to Sir Hubert Cough's Army. General Congreve has been in command of the XIII Corps since November i5th, 1915. His son, Brevet-Major William Congreve, The Rifle Brigade, who fell at Longueval, July 22nd, 1916, at the age of 25,