Gen Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton
Hamilton, Gen Sir Ian Standish Monteith (1853-1947). From a privileged military background, commissioned in 1872 and with experience of the Afghan, Egypt, Burma, and Second Boer wars, a COS to both Roberts and Kitchener, Hamilton was regarded by the Germans as the most experienced soldier in the world. Inspector general of Overseas Forces in 1910-14, he commanded the Gallipoli operation indecisively until he was replaced in October 1915. Hamilton was an intellectual and a writer who, in old age, became something of an anti-war Liberal. He was the visionary force behind the creation of the British Legion (1921) and as a Germanophile advocated greater rapprochement with Germany, even in the Third Reich era, meeting Hitler in 1938. Liddell Hart believed that it was this Hamilton whom Rudolf Hess flew to see in 1941, and not the duke of the same name. (See also operational concepts and general staff).
Bibliography
- Lee, John, A Life of Ian Hamilton (London, 1999)
— Peter Caddick-Adams
