Raymond Reade Explained

Raymond Reade
Birth Place:Chelsea, London, England
Death Place:Samford, Suffolk,[1] England
Allegiance:United Kingdom
Branch:British Army
Serviceyears:1880–1920
Rank:Major General
Commands:68th (2nd Welsh) Division
59th (2nd North Midland) Division
Straits Settlements
Royal Military College of Canada
Battles:First World War
Awards:Companion of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George
Commander of the Royal Order of George I (Greece)
Medal of Military Merit, 1st Class (Greece)

Major General Raymond Northland Revell Reade, (– 18 October 1943) was a British Army general and Commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada.

Background

Born in Chelsea, London,[2] he was the son of John Page Reade and his wife Lady Mary Stuart Knox, daughter of Thomas Knox, 2nd Earl of Ranfurly. He was educated at Eton College and went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[3]

Military career

Reade was commissioned into the 85th Regiment of Foot on 14 January 1880. He served as Commandant of Royal Military College of Canada from 1901 to 1905. His criticism of poor RMC examination marks in French, physics and chemistry in 1901 and surveying and physics 1904 led to reforms at the college: smaller classes for French, entrance tests in physics and chemistry, and separate instructors for physics and surveying. He also built up the RMC library and extended library privileges to Permanent Force Officers in the Kingston, Ontario, area. A 25-bed hospital was also constructed adjacent to the education block, and a large gymnasium was constructed south of the Stone Frigate. He secured quarters for the staff-adjutant and his family in what was later called Panet House, after the first resident. He built an extension to the rear of the Stone Frigate for bathroom facilities.[4]

Reade served in Malta and Scotland and became General Officer Commanding the Troops in the Straits Settlements in 1914. Poor health prevented his active service in the First World War, but he commanded the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division from November 1915 to February 1916, and the 68th (2nd Welsh) Division for most of 1916 while the formation was under training in the UK. He was the British representative on the Inter-Allied Military Mission to Greece in 1918, for which he was appointed a Commander of the Royal Order of George I and awarded the Medal of Military Merit, 1st Class from Greece.

Family

Reade married Rose Frances Spencer, daughter of Colonel Almeric George Spencer and Alice Isabel Fraser, on 9 June 1894.[5]

Sources

|-|-|-

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Index entry. 17 April 2023. FreeBMD. ONS.
  2. Web site: Index entry. 17 April 2023. FreeBMD. ONS.
  3. Book: Tulchinsky . Gerald J. J. . To Preserve & Defend . 1976 . McGill-Queen's Press – MQUP . 978-0-7735-0214-7 . 126 .
  4. Preston, Richard Arthur Preston (1982) "Canada's RMC – A History of Royal Military College" Second Edition
  5. Web site: Armourial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour (Volume 2) . Arthur Charles. Fox-Davies. 14 June 2020.