Gerald Kitson

Major General Sir Gerald Charles Kitson KCVO CB CMG (6 October 1856 – 3 March 1950) was a British Army officer who became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst.

Sir Gerald Kitson
Born(1856-10-06)6 October 1856
Morval, Cornwall, England
Died3 March 1950(1950-03-03) (aged 93)
Redhill, Surrey, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1875–1918
RankMajor-General
Commands heldRoyal Military College of Canada
Royal Military College Sandhurst
Jubbulpore Brigade
Jullundur Brigade
2nd (Rawalpindi) Division
Battles/warsFirst World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George

Military career

The youngest son of the Rev James Buller Kitson, Gerald was educated at Winchester College and Royal Military College Sandhurst, Gerald Kitson was commissioned into the 1st Regiment of Foot in 1875 and transferred to the King's Royal Rifle Corps in 1876.[1]

After serving as aide-de-camp to the Viceroy of India from 1879 and then as aide-de-camp to the General Officer Commanding Western District from 1884,[1] he was appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General in Meerut in 1890, Assistant Adjutant-General in Ambala in 1892 and Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston in 1896.[2] In Canada he introduced major reforms clearing out the staff and reducing the College programme from four years to three years.[3] and in the New Year Honours on 1 January 1901 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) for his work there.[4]

He went on to be military attaché in Washington D. C. in 1900. Two years later he was on 17 September 1902 appointed Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst,[5] arriving there after a tumultuous year at the college during which cadets had been expelled and its position as a place of discipline was at stake. He was given command of the Jubbulpore Brigade in India in 1907 and of the Jullundur Brigade in 1908 before becoming Quartermaster-General in India in 1909. He commanded the 2nd (Rawalpindi) Division in India from 1912, through the early years of the Great War, until 1916[2] and retired in 1918.[1]

Kitson lived at Wendlebury House near Bicester in Oxfordshire.[6] In 1939 he gave his support to a campaign to stop the abolition of the kilt in the British Army.[7]

References
  1. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, kcl.ac.uk; accessed 17 May 2016.
  2. Edward Walford. The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, p. 206; accessed 17 May 2016.
  3. Ross McKenzie, Curator, RMC Museum The Tale of the T-Square Or The Little Black Sheep of RMC Archived 2011-10-09 at the Wayback Machine, rmcclubkingston.com; accessed 17 May 2016.
  4. "No. 27261". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1901. p. 1.
  5. "No. 27480". The London Gazette. 7 October 1902. p. 6347.
  6. The Peerage
  7. Abolition of the Kilt, Scotsman.com (archives), 15 December 1939.
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