GeneralSir James Willcocks,GCB, GCMG, KCSI, DSO (1 April 1857 – 18 December 1926) was aBritish Army officer who spent most of his career in India and Africa and held high command during theFirst World War.
Willcocks was born inBaraut,Meerut District,British India, the son of an officer in theEast India Company's army. He was educated in England and passed out from theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst, in January 1878 (having only got in on the third attempt), being commissioned into the100th Foot in thePunjab.[1]
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In late 1879, shortly after being promoted lieutenant,[2] Willcocks persuaded his superiors to send him to theSecond Afghan War (although his regiment was not engaged there), where he served as a transport officer. In 1881 he again served as a transport officer in theMahsud Waziri expedition, rejoining his regiment the following year. In 1884 he was seconded to the newly formedArmy Transport Department and posted toAssam. He was promotedcaptain in what was by now thePrince of Wales's Leinster Regiment in August 1884.[3] He served in theSudan in 1885–1886 and then returned to Assam before serving inBurma in 1886, for which he was awarded theDistinguished Service Order (DSO).[4] In December 1887 he was offered a permanent transfer to theCommissariat and Transport Department, but declined in favour of theadjutantcy of the 1st Battalion of his regiment.[5]
In 1889 Willcocks served as anintelligence officer in theChin-Lushai expedition and in 1891 in theManipur expedition. In June 1897 he was appointed assistantadjutant-general of theBaluchistan field force, and in November 1897second-in-command of the newWest African Frontier Force as a temporarylieutenant-colonel,[6] under the command ofFrederick Lugard. He was appointedCompanion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the1899 New Year Honours.[7] In July 1899, while onhalf-pay, he was promoted substantive lieutenant-colonel[8] (having received hisbrevet in May 1898).[9] On the 23 September 1899 Willcocks is recorded as being aboard the British and African Steam Navigation Company Royal Mail ship SS Bornu, embarking from Liverpool with the destination beingForçados. He was accompanied aboard ship by a number of officers who took part in theWar of the Golden Stool.[10]
Colonel Lugard became High Commissioner following the proclamation of the newProtectorate of Northern Nigeria on 1 January 1900, and Willcocks succeeded him ascolonel-commandant of the Frontier Force, being granted the local rank ofcolonel on the same day.[11] For his relief ofKumasi during theAshanti War of 1900, Willcocks was appointedKnight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) and promoted to brevet colonel.[12]
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In early January 1902, Willcocks received orders to go to South Africa, and issued a statement to say how welcome he found this order, as he had never before been unemployed.[13] He was graded as a colonel on the staff while employed on special service in South Africa.[14]
After serving only a couple of weeks in the late stages of theSecond Boer War, Willcocks was transferred to India in late February, to assume command of theBelgaum district.[15] He was promoted to the substantive rank of colonel on 29 March 1902,[16] on the day he took up command with the temporary rank ofbrigadier-general while so employed.[17] He was promotedmajor general and given abrigade in 1906,[18] was appointedCompanion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the1907 Birthday Honours,[19] and commanded theBazar Valley Field Force against the Zakka Khel clan of theAfridi in February and March 1908, was given command adivision in March 1908[20] and promotedlieutenant-general for distinguished service in the field following his command of theMohmand Field Force in July 1908.[21] In October 1910, he was appointed to the command of theNorthern Army.[22] In the1913 New Year Honours he was appointedKnight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI).[23] He was appointedKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1914.
In 1914 Willcocks was given command of theIndian Corps in France. He was appointedKnight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the1915 Birthday Honours,[24] and was promoted general in May 1915,[25] but resigned in September 1915 after friction withSir Douglas Haig, who commanded theFirst Army.
Willcocks was given the colonelcy of theLoyal Regiment (North Lancashire) from April 1916 until his death.[26][27]
In May 1917, Willcocks was appointedGovernor andGeneral Officer Commanding-in-Chief theImperial fortress ofBermuda (where a largeBermuda Garrison protected theRoyal Naval Dockyard and other strategic assets),[28] being sworn in by theChief Justice of Bermuda at the entrance to theCouncil Chambers inHamilton on 2 June 1917.[29]
Serving under Willcocks in Bermuda as General Staff Officer, 2nd Grade, was his son, Major James Lugard Willcocks, DSO, MC (1893–1963) of theBlack Watch.[30] His granddaughter (the daughter of James Lugard Willcocks and his wife, Muriel Kathleen Price, the daughter of the late Colonel Gordon Price, I.M.S.), Wendy Winifred Willcocks, was born at Bermuda on 15 November 1919.[31]
Thedepot ship at the Royal Naval Dockyard Bermuda at the time was the old troopshipHMS Malabar, which had been assigned to that role in 1897 and was renamed HMSTerror (the name of herpredecessor as depot ship) in 1901. She was placed on the sale list in 1914 and was sold in 1918. She was the first ship Willcocks saw at Bermuda when he arrived in 1917. Shortly after visiting her alongside the wharf at Front Street in the city of Hamilton, he wrote a letter for theRoyal Gazette newspaper (dated 3 September 1918 and published on the front page on 7 September 1918) in which he fondly recalled his passage to India aboard her when he was a subaltern at the start of his career as a military officer.[32] Willcocks also memorably was carried aloft in the first flight over Bermuda (by a Burgess-builtCurtiss N-9H Jenny floatplane (A2646) of the United States Navy from the formerUSS Elinor) on 22 May 1919 (strictly the second flight: US Navy Ensigns G. L. Richard and W. H. Cushing flew the seaplane fromMurray's Anchorage toHamilton Harbour, where they set down to collect Willcocks, who took Cushing's place in the two-seater). Willcocks dropped a message of goodwill to the people of Bermuda, which was Bermuda's first air mail.[33][34] Willcocks was also a passenger in the first descent by a submarine in local waters. He was the life patron of the Bermuda War Veterans Society.[35]
He served in these posts until 1922. He was appointedKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the1921 Birthday Honours.[36] He authored his memoirsThe Romance of Soldiering and Sport, which was published in 1925.[37] He later returned to India and died atBharatpur in 1926.
Willcocks married Winifred Way, the second daughter of ColonelGeorge Augustus Way, CB, BSC, on 29 July 1889, at Calcutta. James Lugard Willcocks, born 5 January 1893, in Delhi, was their only child.
Willcocks died at Moti Hahal Palace, Bharatpur, Rajputana, India, on 18 December 1926. News of his death was received at Bermuda on 21 December. A ball scheduled to take place that evening atGovernment House was postponed until 23 December.[38][39] TheLegislative council was sitting, but limited business to one matter other than sending a letter to the Governor asking that the council's sympathies be expressed to Lady Willcocks.[40] TheHouse of Assembly of Bermuda also sent a message to the Governor, on the motion of MajorThomas Melville Dill, MCP, asking that the profound regret of the Legislature and people of Bermuda and an expression of sympathy be sent to Lady Willcocks by theSecretary of State for the Colonies.[41] General Willcocks' final message to Bermuda was printed in the Royal Gazette on 29 December 1926.[42]
Camp, foot of Himalayas,
India,
21st November, 1926.
The Editor,
"Royal Gazette."
Very Happy Xmas and New Year to all in Bermuda-It was with genuine grief I read of thefearful hurricane, which lately passed over your beautiful islands and thegreat loss of life in His Majesty's Navy.
I wired to the War Veterans for their gathering on 11th November and I mean one day to again visit Bermuda and meet such old friends as may still remember me.
God bless you all,
JAMES WILLCOCKS,General.
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| Preceded by | GOC-in-C, Northern Army, India 1910–1914 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | GOC-in-C Bermuda 1917–1922 | Succeeded by |
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| Preceded by | Governor of Bermuda 1917–1922 | Succeeded by |
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