General Sir Hubert de la Poer Gough ( ; 12 August 1870 – 18 March 1963) was a senior officer in the British Army in World War I. A controversial figure, he was a favourite of the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) on the Western Front, Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, and the youngest of his Army commanders.
Gough was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before commissioning into the 16th Lancers in 1889. He served on the North-West Frontier of British India, before attending Staff College at Camberley. Before completing the course he was sent to serve in the Second Boer War, where he commanded a small Composite Regiment consisting of various units of Light Horse and Mounted Infantry, fighting with Redvers Buller's forces in Natal. During the later guerrilla war phase of the war he was briefly taken prisoner by the Boers in November 1901, but escaped.
After being invalided back to Britain with a wounded hand Gough reverted briefly to his substantive rank of captain and missed out of a staff posting as he had hoped in vain for a return to the war, then in its final months. However he soon resumed steady promotion and became a brigade-major, then an instructor at Staff College, then commanding officer of the 16th Lancers.
By 1914 he was an acting brigadier-general, and General Officer Commanding of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade at the Curragh in Ireland. During the Curragh Incident of March 1914 he was one of the leading officers who threatened to accept dismissal rather than deploy into Protestant Ulster. As one of the ringleaders he was summoned to London to explain himself, and along with his brother Johnny (a brigadier-general at Aldershot) he insisted on an assurance in writing from J.E.B. Seely (Secretary of State for War) and Sir John French (Chief of the Imperial General Staff) that the Army would not be used to coerce Protestant Ulster into a Home Rule Ireland. Seely and French were forced to resign for signing the document without Cabinet authority.
Family background and early life Gough's ancestors were clerics and clerks in Wiltshire, and the family settled in Ireland in the early 17th century, not as planters but in clerical positions.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 2–3 By the nineteenth century they were an Anglo-Irish family of landed gentry settled at Gurteen, County Waterford, Ireland. Gough described himself as "Irish by blood and upbringing".Beckett & Corvi 2006, p. 75
Gough was the eldest son of General Sir Charles J. S. Gough, VC, GCB, a nephew of General Sir Hugh H. Gough, VC, and a brother of Brigadier General Sir John Edmund Gough, VC. The Goughs are the only family to have won the Victoria Cross, the highest British award for bravery, three times. Hubert's mother was Harriette Anastasia de la Poer, a daughter of John William Poer, styled 17th Baron de la Poer, of Gurteen, County Waterford, formerly Member of Parliament for the County Waterford constituency.Mosley, Charles. Burke's Landed Gentry, 'Gough of Corsley House', 1972 Gough's mother was brought up as a Roman Catholic, although her mother was a Protestant.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 3–4
Gough was born in London on 12 August 1870.Sheffield & Todman 2004, pp. 73–74Beckett & Corvi 2006, p. 76 As an infant he went out to India with his family late in 1870, and his brother John was born there in 1871, but in 1877 the boys and their mother were sent back to England, while their father was on active service in the Second Afghan War; a younger brother and sister died of scarlet fever at this time. Gough's mother returned to India when he was ten, leaving the boys at a boarding school, and Gough did not meet his father again until he was sixteen.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 5
Gough was educated at Eton College. According to his autobiography Soldiering On, he was terrible at Latin, but good at sports such as football and rugby.
Early career
After leaving Eton, Gough gained entrance to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1888. He was gazetted into the 16th Lancers as a second lieutenant on 5 March 1889. Although not particularly wealthy compared to other cavalry officers – he had a parental allowance of £360 a year on top of his official salary of just over £121 – he distinguished himself as a rider, winning the Regimental Cup, and as a polo player. Many of his horses were provided for him by other officers.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 16
Gough was promoted to lieutenant on 23 July 1890, and his regiment sailed for Bombay in September 1890, travelling by train to Lucknow.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 17–18 During the winter of 1893–94 he briefly acted in command of a squadron while other officers were on leave.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 22–23 He was promoted captain on 22 December 1894 at the relatively early age of 24.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 24
He served with the Tirah Field Force 1897–98. He was posted to the Northwest Frontier, initially to the garrison holding the entrance to the Khyber Pass at Jamrud. His patron Colonel Neville Chamberlain managed to obtain for him a posting as assistant commissariat officer in Major-General Alfred Gaselee's brigade.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 29
Gough returned to England in June 1898, and sat the Staff College exam in August. He was hospitalised with malaria in the autumn, then married Margaret Louisa Nora Lewes (known as "Daisy") on 22 December 1898 (postponed from April). He married at an unusually early age for a serving officer.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 33
Boer War
Gough started at Staff College, Camberley on 9 January 1899 but did not complete the course. Instead he was ordered on special service to South Africa on 25 October 1899, steaming from Southampton on 28 October and reaching Cape Town on 15 November.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 39–40 He was deployed to Natal, and was initially ordered by Colonel Ian Hamilton to act as instructor to one of the Rifle Associations (locally raised units of volunteer mounted infantry or light cavalry).Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 41
Gough then served as ADC to Lord Dundonald, who was commanding mounted troops in Natal.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 43 In January 1900 he was promoted to brigade intelligence officer, a role which required a great deal of scouting.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 46 In mid-January he was sent to reconnoitre Potgieter's Drift, a crossing of the Tugela River, with a view to outflanking the Boer position at Colenso – which Buller had assaulted in December – from the west in an attempt to relieve Ladysmith. However, slow deployment gave away the British intentions and allowed the Boers time to prepare their defence. During the resulting Battle of Spion Kop (23–24 January) Gough met Winston Churchill, a celebrity after his recent escape from Boer captivity and now relaying messages whilst serving as an officer in the South African Light Horse.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 47–49
On 1 February Gough was appointed, as a local unpaid major, CO of a Composite Regiment (a squadron of Imperial Light Horse, a squadron of Natal Carbineers and a company of 60th Rifles Mounted Infantry).Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 50–54 He led his regiment to assist Buller's third attempt (5–7 February) to cross the Tugela, and in the fourth attempt (14–27 February). He led the first British troops into Ladysmith (28 February), in defiance of written orders from Dundonald that it was "too dangerous" to proceed, and there met his brother Johnnie who had been besieged inside the town. His meeting with George Stuart White was widely portrayed. In March 1900 the Composite Regiment was reorganised: Gough lost the Natal Carbineers and Imperial Light Horse Squadrons, but received in their place two companies of mounted infantry, one Scots and one Irish. He devoted a great deal of effort to training, both in riding and musketry.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 56 From May 1900 Gough's regiment saw active service as Buller pushed into the passes of the Drakenberg Mountains northwest of Ladysmith, eventually linking up with the main British forces under Lord Roberts, who had advanced from the west to capture Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The conventional phase of the war ended towards the end of 1900.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 59
During the period of guerrilla warfare which followed, Gough's Regiment was gradually reinforced to a strength of 600 men in four companies. Along with Smith-Dorrien and Allenby, he served under the overall command of Lieutenant-General French.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 60 Gough was marked for consideration for a brevet lieutenant-colonelcy in late April 1901, although this promotion was not to take effect until he became a substantive major in his own regiment.Farrar-Hockley 1975, p. 62: Sheffield writes that he actually held this brevet rank in 1901, which appears to be an error; Farrar-Hockley's more detailed account states that he was a local unpaid major Major-General Horace Smith-Dorrien wrote to Gough's father praising him and expressing a wish that he could be promoted straightaway.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 63–64 On 17 September 1901 he led the Composite Regiment, after inadequate reconnaissance, to attack what appeared a tempting target of Boers near Blood River Port, only to be taken prisoner with his entire force by larger Boer forces which had been out of sight. After he escaped, Kitchener (the commander-in-chief) expressed his "deepest sympathy", and he may have survived with his reputation largely intact because his overconfidence was in favourable contrast to the timidity which had contributed to other British defeats. To his credit, according to Gary Sheffield, Gough discussed the matter at length in his memoirs Soldiering On. Although preparations were made to restore the Composite Regiment to full strength, Gough was wounded in the right hand and arm in November, losing the tip of one finger. He was invalided home on the steamship Plassy in January 1902, and reverted to his substantive rank of captain.Farrar-Hockley 1975, p. 69 He was mentioned in dispatches four times (including the final despatch by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902).
Edwardian era After his return from South Africa Gough declined an offer of a place on the General Staff, hoping to return to active service in South Africa. He changed his mind after the Treaty of Vereeniging ended the war (31 May 1902), but there were no longer any vacancies at the War Office.Farrar-Hockley 1974, pp. 71–72
He returned as a regular captain in the 16th Lancers on 23 August 1902, but was back in a staff position the following month when he was appointed brigade major, 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot on 24 September 1902 with promotion to the substantive rank of major on 22 October 1902. His brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel took effect the following day (23 October 1902). His duties included re-equipping regular units as they returned from South Africa. He enjoyed a poor relationship with his superior, Brigadier-General Scobell, who recorded that he had "a tedious habit of questioning regulations ... He has not learned to control his temper."
Gough was appointed an instructor at Staff College on 1 January 1904 and served until 1906. He served under Henry Rawlinson as commandant, while the other instructors included his future colleagues Richard Haking, John Du Cane, Thompson Capper and Launcelot Kiggell. At Staff College he was the first instructor to win the college point-to-point.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 74
Gough was promoted brevet colonel on 11 June 1906 and substantive lieutenant-colonel on 18 July 1906. He was appointed CO of the 16th (Queen's) Lancers on 15 December 1907. When CO of his regiment Gough, based on his experience in South Africa, favoured cavalrymen using their initiative and riding in small groups, making maximum use of the ground as cover. Gough was still the youngest lieutenant-colonel in the Army. His superior at this point was Julian Byng, who recommended him for command of a brigade.Farrar-Hockley 1974, p. 78