Introduction
Major-General Charles John Sackville-West, 4th Baron Sackville, KBE CB CMG (10 August 1870 – 8 May 1962) was a British Army general and peer who served throughout the First World War and reached the rank of major general. In 1919, he was British Military Representative on the Supreme War Council and from 1920 to 1924 he was military attaché in Paris. He inherited his title on 28 January 1928 on the death of his brother, Lionel Edward Sackville-West, 3rd Baron Sackville. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey.
Early life
Sackville-West was born in 1870, the second son of Colonel the Hon. W. E. Sackville-West and Georgina Dodwell.
Education
Sackville-West was educated at Winchester College, an independent school for boys in the English South Coast city of Winchester in Hampshire, followed by the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
Life and career
In 1889, Sackville-West joined the King's Royal Rifle Corps as a subaltern and participated in the 1891 expedition to Manipur and the 1892 expedition to Burma. By the mid-1890s, Sackville-West was serving as a staff officer in a number of posts, eventually being attached to the staff of General Sir Redvers Buller during the Second Boer War. Following the war, Sackville-West was appointed Aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Hildyard, Commanding the 1st Army Corps.
In 1906, Sackville-West was attached to the Staff College, Camberley and in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, he was at the War Office. However, the need for experienced officers in the field prompted his movement to the Indian Army Corps on the Western Front until December 1915, when he was given command of the 21st Infantry Brigade. He was also made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the same year.
On 30 July 1916, at the height of the Battle of the Somme, Sackville-West was wounded in an attack by a German bomber on his brigade headquarters. Evacuated to Britain, he had recovered by October, when he took over the 190th Infantry Brigade. Within days of this posting however Sackville-West was wounded in the jaw when a high-explosive shell detonated in the midst of his command group as he inspected the trenches in front of Hamel. Although wounded, dazed and partially buried, Sackville-West was able to reach the casualty clearing station unaided, and was again evacuated to Britain to recover.
Returning to the Western Front for the third time in March 1917, Sackville-West commanded the 182nd Infantry Brigade until November when he was made a major general and attached to the General Staff. In 1918-9, as an ally of the CIGS Henry Wilson, he served on the Supreme War Council and was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and a Companion of the Order of the Bath by 1921. Between 1920 and 1924 he was military attaché in Paris and from 1925 to his retirement in 1929 he served as Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey. In 1924 he married for a second time, to Mrs Anne Meredith Bigelow. In 1928, on the death of his elder brother Lionel Sackville-West, Charles inherited his uncle's title of Baron Sackville and sat in the House of Lords until his death in 1962.
Family
Sackville-West married Maude Cecilia Bell in 1897, with whom he had one son and one daughter. His son Edward inherited the title and later became a noted author.