John Longley Explained

Sir John Longley
Birth Date:1867 3, df=y
Birth Place:Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England[1]
Allegiance: United Kingdom
Serviceyears:1887–1920
1939–1945
Rank:Major General
Commands:1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment
82nd Brigade
10th (Irish) Division
44th (Home Counties) Division
Unit:East Surrey Regiment
Battles:Second Boer War
World War I
World War II
Awards:Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Mentioned in despatches (10)

Major General Sir John Raynsford Longley (7 March 1867 – 13 February 1953) was a British Army officer who reached high command during World War I.

Military career

Educated at Cheltenham College,[2] Longley was commissioned into the East Surrey Regiment in 1887 and served in South Africa in 1902, towards the end of the Second Boer War.[3] In 1911 he was appointed Commanding Officer of 1st East Surreys and went to France in August 1914 at the start of World War I, fighting in the battles of Mons, Le Cateau, the Marne, the Aisne, La Bassée and Armentières.[2] In early 1915 he was appointed Commander of 82nd Infantry Brigade and in December 1915, with the rank of Major General, he became the General Officer Commanding 10th (Irish) Division.[4] He retained command of this division until 1919, serving in Salonika, before moving to Egypt in September 1917 where the division was part of XX Corps in its advance into Palestine. In 1919 Longley became General Officer Commanding 44th (Home Counties) Division before retiring in 1923.[3]

From 1920 to 1939 Longley held the colonelcy of the East Surrey Regiment.[5] Recalled at the start of the Second World War in 1939, he was re-employed as a Brigadier in the Dover Garrison.[2] He died on 13 February 1953.[6] The East Surrey Regimental chapel in All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, has a memorial plaque to Longley and a stained glass window to the memory of both Longley and his son, killed in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland.[7]

Honours and awards

Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) 1919[8]
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) 1918
Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) 1916
Grand Officer of the Order of the Nile (Egypt) 1919

References

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Major-General Sir John Raynsford Longley KCMG CB. British Empire. 12 January 2024.
  2. http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/colonels_and_co/colonels/east-surrey-regiment/major-gen-sir-john-raynsford-longley.shtml Major General Sir John Raynsford Longley KCMG CB 1920–39
  3. Web site: Longley, John . https://web.archive.org/web/20110205224417/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/LONGLEY.shtml. dead. 5 February 2011. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. 11 June 2020.
  4. http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf Army Commands
  5. Web site: East Surrey Regiment . Regiments.org . 2 March 2017 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060104202721/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/031ESurr.htm. 4 January 2006 .
  6. Book: Who Was Who 1951–1960. 1984. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. 0-7136-2598-8.
  7. http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/monuments-and-memorials/monuments02.shtml Memorials within the Chapels
  8. https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/31395/page/7422 No. 31395".