Eric Thesiger

Born in London on 17 February 1874,^[1][2] Thesiger was the fourth son of General Frederic Thesiger, 2nd Baron Chelmsford and his wife Adria Fanny Heath, daughter of Major-General John Coussamker Heath.^[1][3] His older brothers were Frederic Thesiger, 1st Viscount Chelmsford, later Viceroy of India, and the diplomat Wilfred Gilbert Thesiger.^[1][3] Thesiger was educated at Winchester College and in 1884 he was nominated Page of Honour to the Queen, a post he fulfilled for the following six years.^[4] In 1893, he became a Staff Commissioner of Police.^[4]

Thesiger joined the Imperial Yeomanry as a private during the Second Boer War,^[5] and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 15th Battalion on 29 November 1900.^[6] On 1 November 1901 he was promoted to captain in the battalion, with the temporary rank of captain in the Army.^[7] He stayed in South Africa until the war ended in June 1902, left Port Elizabeth for Southampton on the SS Colombian the following month,^[8] and relinquished his commission in the Imperial Yeomanry on 3 September 1902, when he was granted the honorary rank of captain in the Army.^[9] In late 1902 he became a second lieutenant in the Surrey Yeomanry.^[10] He was a major when the Yeomanry were transferred into the Territorial Force in 1908.^[11]

He served during World War I, in various roles,^[a] returning in July 1917 to command C Squadron, Surrey Yeomanry,^[12] which at the time was serving as part of III Corps Cavalry Regiment. The regiment was then broken up and the yeomen retrained as infantry. In September Thesiger and C Sqn joined 10th (Service) Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) (Battersea), where he became second-in-command.^[13][14][15] Shortly afterwards he was transferred to a battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps,^[14] but rejoined 10th Queen's as its temporary commander after the German spring offensive.^[16] He was then appointed to command 10th (Service) Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment (Kent County) for the rest of the war. He relinquished his command and temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel on 13 May 1919.^[17]

During the war he had been wounded twice and mentioned in despatches twice.^[1][4][18] In June 1919 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO)^[1][19] and in August, he received the Territorial Decoration (TD).^[1][20] He was made an Officer of the Order of the Crown of Belgium and also awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre in October.^[1][21] On 2 November 1919 he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the Territorial Force Reserve.^[22]

He retired from the Territorial Army Reserve in 1929, having reached the age limit.^[23]

On 29 October 1904, he married firstly Pearl Marie Coupland, only daughter of John Coupland, and had by her a daughter, Desiree, and two sons, Osric Wilfred, who served in the Indian Army, and Cedric Paul, an architect.^[1] His wife died in 1922, and on 3 October 1929 Thesiger remarried Sydney Hilda Hutton-Croft, daughter of George Arthur Hutton-Croft and widow of Maj George Du Plat Taylor, but she died on 16 July 1930.^[1] He married thirdly Mary Pudsey, daughter of Reverend F. W. Pudsey, on 27 March 1953. His third wife also died the next year, and Thesiger survived her until 1961.