Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton - Military Career

Military Career

Hamilton attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1870, the first year that entrance to the army was by examination rather than by purchasing a commission. In 1871 he joined the Suffolk regiment but shortly after transferred to the second battalion Gordon Highlanders stationed in India, taking part in the Afghan War.

In the First Boer War he was present at the battle of Majuba, where he was injured and then taken prisoner. He returned to England to recover, where he was treated as a hero and introduced to Queen Victoria. In 1882 he was made captain and took part in the Nile expedition of 1884-1885, becoming brevet major. In Burma 1886-1887 he became Brevet Lieutenant Colonel. In Bengal from 1890-1893 he became Colonel in 1891 together with a Distinguished Service Order. 1893-1895 part of Chitral Expedition as military secretary to Sir George Stuart White, commander in chief of forces in India. 1895-1898 Deputy Quarter Master General in India. 1897-1898 commanded the third brigade in the Tirah Campaign, where his left arm was injured by a shell.

In the Second Boer War he was attached to the Natal Field Force as acting adjutant general and commanded the infantry at the Battle of Elandslaagte. He took part in the Battle of Wagon Hill at Ladysmith and was frequently mentioned in despatches. He was knighted in 1902, was promoted major general, received a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath and became Chief of Staff to Lord Kitchener. The war correspondent Winston Churchill told of his campaign from Bloemfontein to Pretoria in Ian Hamilton's March (London, 1900, reprinted as the second half of The Boer War), having first met Hamilton in 1897 when they sailed on the same ship. Hamilton travelled 400 miles from Bloemfontein to Pretoria fighting 10 major battles with Boer forces (including the battle of Rooiwal) and fourteen minor ones, and was recommended twice for the Victoria Cross (which was considered inappropriate because of his rank).

From May 1901 to 1903 he was Military Secretary at the War Office and in 1903 to 1904 he was Quartermaster-General to the Forces. In 1904 to 1905, Hamilton was the military attaché of the Indian Army serving with the Japanese army in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese War. Amongst the several military attachés from Western countries, he was the first to arrive in Japan after the start of the war.

This military confrontation between a well-known European army and a less-familiar Asian army was the first time the tactics of entrenched positions for infantry were defended with machine guns and artillery. This was the first twentieth century war in which the technology of warfare became increasingly important, factors which came to dominate the evolution of warfare during World War I.

Hamilton wrote that cavalry was obsolete in such a conflict, though many cavalry forces were deployed in World War I by the British army. He became a supporter of non-traditional tactics such as night attacks, and the use of aircraft.

Hamilton went on to serve as General Officer Commanding Southern Command between 1905 and 1909 and as Adjutant-General to the Forces between 1909 and 1910.