Hon. William George Sydney Cadogan MVO

• Matriculated: Did not matriculate; honorary member of Magdalen’s Common Room 1912–14; not included in the Oxford University Roll of Service

• Born: 31 January 1879

• Died: 12 November 1914

• Regiment: 10th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars

• Grave/Memorial: Ypres Town Cemetery: E1.17

Family background

b. 31 January 1879 in Chelsea as the fifth (third surviving) son of Sir George Henry Cadogan, KG, PC (1840–1915), 5^th Earl of Cadogan, and his first wife, Lady Cadogan (née Lady Beatrix Jane Craven) (1844–1909) (m. 1865). At the time of the 1891 Census, Cadogan was living with his parents in Culford Hall, Suffolk (22 servants and a governess); at the time of the 1901 Census, his father, as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, lived in an official residence at Phoenix Park, Dublin.

 

 

“He was almost daily in Magdalen College, and he mixed in the whole life of the place and became universally popular. A splendid rider and devoted to hunting, a keen cricketer, an all-round sportsman, he was, if not a scholar, well read, and particularly fond of poetry, what may perhaps be called ‘the poetry of action’.”

 

Parents and antecedents

The 5^th Earl had been a notable Conservative politician and was MP for Bath (1873) before inheriting the title and moving to the House of Lords. He was Under-Secretary of State for War (1875–78), Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (1878–80), and Lord Privy Seal (1886–92), with responsibility for Irish business in the House of Lords. In 1891 he was made a Knight of the Garter. As Lord Lieutenant of Ireland with a seat in the Cabinet (1895–1902), he took a liberal but firm interest in Irish affairs. In 1900 he became the first Mayor of Chelsea, where he was Lord of the Manor, owned extensive property and had financed the rebuilding of Holy Trinity Church, Sloane St, London SW1. On his death he left £354,207 (approximately £14,168,000 in 2005).

Cadogan’s mother was the fourth daughter of William Craven (1809–66), the 2^nd Earl of Craven.

 

Siblings and their families

Brother of:

(1) Albert Edward George Henry (1866–78), later Viscount Chelsea (1873–78);

(2) Henry Arthur (1868–1908), later Viscount Chelsea (1878–1908); married (1892) the Hon. Mildred Cecilia Hariett Sturt (1869–1942); six children, one of whom, the Hon. Edith Mary Winifried Cadogan (1895–1969), married Arthur Mills, MP (1891–1952), later the 3^rd Baron Hillingdon, the younger brother of the Hon. Charles Thomas Mills;

(3) Gerald Oakley (1869–1933), later 6^th Earl of Cadogan (1915–33); married (1911) Lilian Eleanor Marie Coxon (c.1890 [Hong Kong]–1973), the daughter of a bill and bullion broker; three children;

(4) Lady Emily Julia (1871–1909), later Brownlow after her marriage (1893) to William Brownlow, 3^rd Baron Lurgan of Lurgan, Co. Armagh (1858–1937); one child;

(5) The Hon. Lewin Edward (1872–1917);

(6) Lady Sophie Beatrix Mary (1874–1937), later Scott after her marriage (1896) to Sir Samuel Scott MP, 6^th Baronet (1873–1943), land-owner; one child who died at birth;

(7) The Hon. Edward Cecil George (1880–1962);

(8) The Hon. (later Rt Hon. Sir) Alexander George Montagu (1884–1968); married (1912) Lady Theodosia Louisa Augusta Acheson (1882–1977); four children.

 

Education

From c.1886 to 1892, Cadogan was educated at the Revd W.H. Churchill’s School, Stonehouse, North Foreland, near Broadstairs, Kent (1884–1970; cf. G.A. Loyd, B.O. Moon, A.H.E. Ashley), and from 1892 to 1897 he was at Eton, where he played cricket for the College and, on one occasion, as an Oppidan against the Collegers in the Eton Wall Game. He was a keen hunter and deer-stalker and a member of the Turf and White’s Clubs, London. Although he never studied at Oxford, he features on Magdalen’s War Memorial by virtue of being made an honorary member of the College’s Common Room while he was serving there from 3 September 1912 to June 1914 as Equerry to the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) when the Prince was an undergraduate at Magdalen (see B. Pawle). His main job was to accompany the Prince on all occasions that were not academic, but he also had orders from King George to teach him to ride. According to Frances Donaldson, he “undertook this task with patience and skill”, and “soon the Prince, who had begun by complaining that riding was very dull and only necessary to please Papa, was hunting with the South Oxfordshire Hounds and appearing on the polo fields”. In August–September 1913, Cadogan accompanied the Prince on a nine-week tour through Germany and the western parts of Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic) with the purpose of improving the Prince’s command of German by visiting some of his relations who lived there (see A.H.E. Ashley). The tour involved a visit to Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin, and King Wilhelm and Queen Charlotte of Württemberg in Friedrichshafen, during which the Prince attended the deposed and exiled King Manuel II of Portugal (1889–1932) when he married his cousin Princess Augusta Victoria (1890–1966) in Sigmaringen on 3 September. After his return, on 14 September, the Prince wrote to Ashley from Scotland: “It is ripping to be home again & up here after that 9 weeks hell in Germany & I am out on the hill [deer stalking] or grouse shooting every day, which is glorious.” For his part in the tour, Cadogan was awarded the Cross of Honour of the Order of the Crown of Württemberg.

 

 

Military and war service

Cadogan was gazetted Lieutenant in the 10^th (Prince of Wales’s Own Royal) Hussars (“The Chainers” or “Shiners”) on 22 February 1899. On 5 November 1899 he sailed for South Africa and the Second Boer War, where he was promoted Lieutenant on 1 January 1900. On 23 August 1900, having returned to England, he left once again from Liverpool with reinforcements for South Africa on the SS Columbian (1890–1914) and disembarked at Cape Town on 3 December. The Regiment arrived at the front (Arundel) on 13 December and saw action the following day. On 31 December it advanced to Rensburg and on 14 January 1901 was involved in the heavy fighting around Colesburg. Cadogan subsequently took part in the following actions: the Relief of Kimberley (11–15 February1900), the Battle of Paardeberg (18–27 February 1900, the first significant British victory against the Boers), Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Houtnek (Thoba Mountain), the Vet and Zand Rivers (February–May 1900). He was stationed at Paardeberg in the Transvaal (October 1900–July 1901) and Cape Colony south of the Orange River (August 1901–May 1902). After the cessation of hostilities he was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four clasps and the King’s Medal with two clasps. He was promoted Captain in March 1904.

When a young man, Cadogan’s father (George Henry) had accompanied the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) on several tours, and as Hon. Equerry to the King, William George accompanied the next Prince of Wales (later George V) on his tour of India and Burma (October 1905–April 1906) (cf. W.J.H. Curwen), for which he was awarded the MVO (4^th Class) in 1906.

After Cadogan’s death, President Warren wrote:

He was almost daily in Magdalen College, and he mixed in the whole life of the place and became universally popular. A splendid rider and devoted to hunting, a keen cricketer, an all-round sportsman, he was, if not a scholar, well read, and particularly fond of poetry, what may perhaps be called ‘the poetry of action’.

 

 

Cadogan was promoted Major on 14 January 1914, and returned to the 10^th Hussars when it arrived back in England from South Africa in September 1914. It then became part of the 6^th Cavalry Brigade in the 3^rd Cavalry Division (formed at Ludgershall, north-west of Salisbury, on 1 September 1914 under the command of Major-General the Hon. Julian Byng). On 11 September 1914, Cadogan became a divisional staff officer (GSO 3) but continued to command ‘C’ Squadron. The Regiment marched from Tidworth, near Ludgershall, to Southampton on 6 October and disembarked at Ostend on 8 October. On 10 October it joined the rest of the Brigade at Loppem, three miles south of Bruges, and then marched south-westwards, reaching Ypres on 13 October. Here the Regiment was used to patrol along three sides of an extended square that straddled the Franco-Belgian border (Warneton–Zillebeke–Comines [Komen]–Beselare–Wervicq [Wervik]). Cadogan’s ‘C’ Squadron spent the next day further to the west, at Kemmel, and on 15 October it was sent north-eastwards, to Zandvoorde, where it saw action at the crossroads due east of Oosttaverne. ‘C’ Squadron spent 16 and 17 October at Zonnebeke, about three miles east of Ypres, and on 18 October, two of its troops picketed the Zonnebeke–Moorslede road. On the following day, the first day of the First Battle of Ypres, ‘C’ Squadron took part in the advance eastwards around Ledegem, about seven miles due east of Ypres, but had to withdraw after driving the Germans from the centre of the village – after which it spent the night at Poelcapelle (cf. G.M.R. Turbutt). On the next day it took up defensive positions at Westrozebeke, about seven miles north-west of Ledegem, but again had to retire because of a German night attack. At 04.30 hours on 21 October the Regiment marched to Ypres and thence eastwards to Hooge where, at 02.00 hours, it cleared bridges over the canal north of Hollebeke before unsuccessfully attacking the château to the south-east of the bridges. It then marched to Zandvoorde, where it arrived at 03.00 hours, and took over the defensive lines near Bikschoote from A. Graham Menzies’ Battalion of the Scots Guards for two days, during which it fought off night attacks by the Germans and experienced heavy shelling. While retiring to Klein Zillebeke on 23/24 October it incurred more casualties. At 05.00 hours on 25 October the Regiment returned to the trenches near Bikschoote where it was shelled and sniped at all the following day. The 27/28 October were spent out of the line, with ‘C’ Squadron at the railway crossing a quarter of a mile south of Verbranden-Molen. On 29 October, the start of two more weeks of fierce fighting around Ypres, during which Byng’s Division was deployed along the contours of the bulge in the front to the east of the beleaguered city that became known as the Ypres Salient, Cadogan’s Regiment moved north of Zandvoorde and spent 30 October in the line three-quarters of a mile south-west of Klein-Zillebeke, taking more casualties during the heavy German attack on that day (see E.D.F. Kelly, E.M.R. Stadler and A.W. Macarthur-Onslow). On 31 October the Regiment was transferred to General Haig’s I Corps, whose defensive positions around Ypres were being strengthened, and sent back to Hooge, just east of Ypres. Here, in support of the 7^th Division, it took part in heavy fighting and spent the following three days in the woods to the west of that village. After resting on 4/5 November, the Regiment returned to the trenches as dismounted infantry, where, on 6 November, it was heavily shelled once more. At 16.00 hours on 7 November, it was again in position at Zillebeke and then given two days of rest near Halte. By 10 November, which it spent in trenches south of Hooge, Cadogan was commanding the Regiment, and on the following day the expected major German assault began with an unprecedentedly intense artillery bombardment followed by an attack by the Prussian Guards Corps. Cadogan received a head wound and was advised by the Medical Officer to lie up, but he returned to the trenches on the morning of 12 November 1914 with his head a mass of bandages. Later that day he was hit in the groin by a piece of shrapnel and died almost immediately, aged 34. The Prince of Wales, by now an aide-de-camp to Field-Marshal Sir John French, visited the Regiment on 21 November 1914.

 

 

Cadogan’s body, like those of other fallen officers, was taken back into the centre of Ypres and buried in a temporary grave, but after the war he and 53 other British soldiers killed in action were buried along the far back walls in the right-hand corner of Ypres Town Cemetery. Forty-eight of these are the graves of officers and senior NCOs who were killed in November 1914 and include E.L. Gibbs and four members of the 10^th Hussars (Regimental Sergeant-Major Edward James King, Lieutenant Robert Flint Drake, Captain the Hon. Arthur Annesley, and Captain Clement Henry Peto). Cadogan’s remains are in Grave E1.17, which is inscribed: “Tell England, ye that pass this way, that he who rests here died content”, an inscription that is a reference to Simonides’ epitaph for the Spartans who died at the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) when they held a vastly superior force of Persians at bay, thus allowing the bulk of the Greek army to escape southwards. A memorial service for Cadogan was held on 18 November 1914 at Holy Trinity Church, Sloane St, London, SW1, a few hundred yards south of Harrods and Hyde Park. He left £1,450 12s.

 

Bibliography

For the books and archives referred to here in short form, refer to the Slow Dusk Bibliography and Archival Sources.

 

Printed sources:

[Anon.], ‘The Prince of Wales at Oxford’, The Times, no. 40,024 (8 October 1912), p. 7, col. G; reprinted in: Laurie Magnus, Herbert Warren of Magdalen: President and Friend 1853–1930 (London: John Murray, 1932), pp. 290–6.

[Anon.], ‘The Prince at Oxford’, The Times, no. 40,028 (12 October 1912), p. 7.

[Anon.], ‘Fallen Officers’, The Times, no. 40, 696 (14 November 1914), p. 6.

A photograph of Cadogan appeared in the Telegraph, no. 18,594 (14 November 1914), p. 12.

The President of Magdalen, ‘The Prince of Wales at Magdalen’, The Times, no. 40,700 (18 November 1914), p. 11.

[Thomas Herbert Warren], ‘Notes and News’ [obituary], The Oxford Magazine, 33, no. 6 (20 November 1914), pp. 83–4.

Clutterbuck, i (1916), p. 63.

Frances Donaldson, Edward VIII (1974) (London: Omega Books [Futura Publications Ltd], 1976), pp. 38–49.

John Wroughton, ‘A Student Prince in Germany’, History Today, 28, no. 1 (January 1978), 3–14.

Leinster-Mackay (1984), pp. 172, 297.

Hussey (1994), pp. 75–89.

Gardner (2003), pp. 212–27.

H.W.C. Davis (rev. H.C.G. Matthew), ‘Cadogan, George Henry, fifth Earl Cadogan (1840–1915)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 9 (2004), pp. 415–16.

 

Archival sources:

WO 95/589.

WO 95/1156.