Introduction
Major-General Sir John Ponsonby KCB CMG DSO (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952) was a British Army officer who commanded 5th Division during World War I.
Military career
Born the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby and educated at Eton College, Ponsonby was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1888. He served in Uganda in 1898 and was seconded for service in the Second Boer War in South Africa in February 1902. He fought in World War I as Commander of the 2nd Guards Brigade from 1915 and then as General Officer Commanding 40th Division from 1917, leading his Division at the Battle of Cambrai. In July 1918 he went on to become General Officer Commanding 5th Division remaining in that role until the end of the War. After the War he became General Officer Commanding the Madras District of India. He retired in 1928.
He lived at Haile Hall near Beckermet in Cumbria.
Family
In 1935 he married Mary (Mollie) Robley; they had no children.