Robert Porter (British Army officer)

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Major-General Sir Robert Porter KCB CMG (31 January 1858 – 27 February 1928) was a British Army officer and physician.[1][2]

Porter was born in County Donegal, Ireland, the son of Andrew Porter.[2] He was educated at Foyle College, Derry, and the University of Glasgow, from which he graduated Bachelor of Medicine (MB).[2] He was commissioned a surgeon in the Army Medical Department (later the Royal Army Medical Corps) on 5 February 1881.[3] He was promoted surgeon-major on 5 February 1893.[4] He served in the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War of 1895–1896 and the Second Boer War 1899–1902,[2] returning from South Africa on the SS Kinfauns Castle in December 1902.[5] He was promoted lieutenant-colonel while in South Africa on 4 February 1901,[6] and colonel on 14 January 1910.[7] He was placed on half-pay on 14 January 1914,[8] but was restored to the establishment on 5 August 1914,[9] the day after the outbreak of the First World War.

During the war, he was mentioned in despatches six times.[2] He was promoted to the temporary rank of surgeon-general on 2 November 1914,[10] and from 1915 to 1917 he served as director of medical services of the Second Army.[2][1] He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1916 Birthday Honours.[11] Belgium also appointed him Commandeur of the Ordre de la Couronne in 1916[12] and awarded him the Croix de Guerre in 1918,[13] as he had spent much of his wartime service in Belgium and had been responsible for dealing with the 1914–1915 civilian typhoid epidemic in the Second Army area.[14] He retired on 31 January 1918.[15] The rank of surgeon-general was redesignated major-general later in 1918.[16] He was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1919 Birthday Honours[17] and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1921 New Year Honours.[18]

Porter married Mary Phillipa Johnstone in 1903; they had three sons.[2] From August to December 1926, he led a party of schoolboys on a tour of Australia.[19] He died from pneumonia and pleurisy at his home at 27 The Avenue,[20] Beckenham, Kent, at the age of 70.[1]

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Obituary, The Times, 28 February 1928, p.21
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Biography, Who Was Who
  3. ^ "No. 24949". The London Gazette. 11 March 1881. p. 1151.
  4. ^ "No. 26374". The London Gazette. 21 February 1893. p. 946.
  5. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning Home". The Times. No. 36953. London. 17 December 1902. p. 7.
  6. ^ "No. 27300". The London Gazette. 29 March 1901. p. 2199.
  7. ^ "No. 28329". The London Gazette. 14 January 1910. p. 341.
  8. ^ "No. 28792". The London Gazette. 13 January 1914. p. 337.
  9. ^ "No. 28880". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 August 1914. p. 6780.
  10. ^ "No. 29137". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 April 1915. p. 3919.
  11. ^ "No. 29608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1916. p. 5554.
  12. ^ "No. 29486". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 February 1916. p. 2075.
  13. ^ "No. 30568". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 March 1918. p. 3097.
  14. ^ "Typhoid in the Ypres Zone", The Times, 29 January 1937, p.10
  15. ^ "No. 30504". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 January 1918. p. 1526.
  16. ^ "No. 30906". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 September 1918. p. 11141.
  17. ^ "No. 31377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 May 1919. p. 6978.
  18. ^ "No. 32178". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 4.
  19. ^ "Public School Tour to Australia", The Times, 27 May 1926, p.12
  20. ^ "Taylors (Cash Chemists) Trust", The Times, 7 March 1927, p.21

External links[edit]

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