Colin John Mackenzie
Encyclopedia
Major-General
Sir Colin John Mackenzie, KCB
(26 November 1861–7 July 1956) was a British
soldier and Chief of the General Staff
, the head of the Canadian Army
, from 1910 until 1913.
). His paternal grandfather, John Mackenzie
of Inverness
, a banker, was descended from the Mackenzies of Portmore
.
and at Sandhurst
, Major General Mackenzie was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment
of the British Army
, at the time the 16th Regiment of Foot in January, 1881, but soon transferred into the Seaforth Highlanders
.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives He took part in the Nile expedition of 1882, the Burma expedition of 1886 and the Hazara expedition
in 1888. He served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for the Quetta District
of India
from 1892 to 1896. He also took part in the Waziristan expedition of 1894 and the Nile expedition of 1898 before fighting in the Second Boer War
during which period he became Military Governor of Johannesburg
. He was appointed Assistant Quartermaster General for 5th Division in 1902, Assistant Adjutant General at Army Headquarters in 1905 and Commander of 6th Infantry Brigade
at Aldershot Command
in 1907.
From 1910 to 1913, he was Chief of the General Staff, Canada. His departure from that post was caused in part by a disagreement between Mackenzie and Sam Hughes
, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, as to (among other things) the merits of the Ross rifle
. Mackenzie subsequently regarded himself as vindicated by the Ross rifle
's unsuitability for combat conditions on the Western Front
.
On 3 March 1914, he became the first commander of the Highland Division Task Force. He served in World War I
as General Officer Commanding the Highland Territorial Division, as General Officer Commanding 9th (Scottish) Division, as General Officer Commanding 15th (Scottish) Division and as General Officer Commanding 3rd Division on the Western Front
all in 1914. He took over 3rd Division following the death in action of Major-General Hubert Hamilton
; however he only lasted for two weeks in this post before he was relieved of his command following the inconclusive result at the Battle of La Bassée
in October 1914.
He went on to be Director of Staff Duties at the War Office
in 1915 and General Officer Commanding 61st Division from 1916 and was engaged in the disastrous diversionary battle for the Somme offensive at Fromelles
on 19 July 1916. This operation led to the death of many Australian and British soldiers and achieved nothing. Casualties were: 5th Australian Division 5,533 casualties, including 1917 killed; 61st British Division,1,547 casualties,including 519 killed.
Mackenzie himself was wounded by an enemy sniper on 27 April 1918 while he was visiting the line of the 183rd Brigade south of St. Floris, being shot through the cheek and parotid gland
. The wound did not respond to treatment and he was evacuated sick to England on 31 May 1918.
Thereafter, Mackenzie was Inspector of Infantry in 1918 and Commander of the Dover Area 1919 until his retirement on 1 April 1920. Between 1924 and 1931, he was Colonel of the Seaforth Highlanders
.
.
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Sir Colin John Mackenzie, KCB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(26 November 1861–7 July 1956) was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
soldier and Chief of the General Staff
Chief of the General Staff (Canada)
The Chief of the General Staff was the most senior member of the Canadian Army from 1904 until 1964 when the appointment became Commander, Mobile Command with the unification of Canada's military forces. The position was renamed Chief of the Land Staff in 1993....
, the head of the Canadian Army
Canadian Forces Land Force Command
The Canadian Army , previously called Land Force Command, is responsible for army operations within the Canadian Forces. The current size of the Army is 19,500 regular soldiers and 16,000 reserve soldiers, for a total of around 35,500 soldiers...
, from 1910 until 1913.
Background
Mackenzie was the eldest son of Major-General Colin Mackenzie, of the Madras Staff Corps, by Victoria Henrietta Mackinnon (the eldest daughter of Charles Mackinnon of CorriechatachanCorriechatachan
thumb|right|350px|Corriechatachan ruins, July 2003Corriechatachan is a farmstead , lying at the foot of Beinn na Caillich, near Broadford, on the Isle of Skye. Until the 19th century, it was a tack farmed by a cadet branch of the Clan Mackinnon...
). His paternal grandfather, John Mackenzie
John Mackenzie (banker)
John Mackenzie was a Scottish banker and Provost of Inverness.-Origins:Mackenzie was the ninth son of Alexander Mackenzie of Portmore and Anne, the eldest daughter of Colin Mackenzie of Kilcoy.-Career:Mackenzie was for many years a successful agent in Inverness for the Bank of Scotland John...
of Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, a banker, was descended from the Mackenzies of Portmore
Clan MacKenzie
Clan Mackenzie is a Highland Scottish clan, traditionally associated with Kintail and lands in Ross-shire.-Origins:The Mackenzies, a powerful clan of Celtic stock, were not among the clans that originated from Norman ancestry. Descendants of the long defunct royal Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, they...
.
Military career
Educated at Edinburgh AcademyEdinburgh Academy
The Edinburgh Academy is an independent school which was opened in 1824. The original building, in Henderson Row on the northern fringe of the New Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, is now part of the Senior School...
and at Sandhurst
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...
, Major General Mackenzie was commissioned into the Bedfordshire Regiment
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of an infantry regiment of the line in the British Army originally formed in 1688...
of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
, at the time the 16th Regiment of Foot in January, 1881, but soon transferred into the Seaforth Highlanders
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...
.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives He took part in the Nile expedition of 1882, the Burma expedition of 1886 and the Hazara expedition
Hazara Expedition of 1888
The Hazara Expedition of 1888, also known as the Black Mountain Expedition or the First Hazara Expedition, was a military campaign by the British against the tribes of Kala Dhaka in the Hazara region of what is now Pakistan.On June 18, 1888 two British officers and four Gurkha soldiers were killed...
in 1888. He served as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for the Quetta District
Quetta District
Quetta is a district in the north-west of Balochistan province of Pakistan.It was part of Quetta Division until the year 2000 when divisions were abolished. The district is famous for its agriculture produce, most notably fruit orchards but also including apples and grapes. The Hanna Valley is an...
of India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
from 1892 to 1896. He also took part in the Waziristan expedition of 1894 and the Nile expedition of 1898 before fighting in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
during which period he became Military Governor of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
. He was appointed Assistant Quartermaster General for 5th Division in 1902, Assistant Adjutant General at Army Headquarters in 1905 and Commander of 6th Infantry Brigade
6th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)
- World War I :The brigade was part of 2nd Division. It was composed as follows;*1st Battalion, The King's *2nd Battalion, The South Staffordshire Regiment*13th Battalion , The Essex Regiment...
at Aldershot Command
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
in 1907.
From 1910 to 1913, he was Chief of the General Staff, Canada. His departure from that post was caused in part by a disagreement between Mackenzie and Sam Hughes
Sam Hughes
For other people of the same name see Sam Hughes Sir Samuel Hughes, KCB, PC was the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence during World War I...
, the Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, as to (among other things) the merits of the Ross rifle
Ross rifle
The Ross rifle was a straight-pull bolt-action 0.303 inch calibre rifle produced in Canada from 1903 until the middle of the First World War....
. Mackenzie subsequently regarded himself as vindicated by the Ross rifle
Ross rifle
The Ross rifle was a straight-pull bolt-action 0.303 inch calibre rifle produced in Canada from 1903 until the middle of the First World War....
's unsuitability for combat conditions on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
.
On 3 March 1914, he became the first commander of the Highland Division Task Force. He served in World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
as General Officer Commanding the Highland Territorial Division, as General Officer Commanding 9th (Scottish) Division, as General Officer Commanding 15th (Scottish) Division and as General Officer Commanding 3rd Division on the Western Front
Western Front
Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World Wars to describe the contested armed frontier between lands controlled by Germany to the east and the Allies to the west...
all in 1914. He took over 3rd Division following the death in action of Major-General Hubert Hamilton
Hubert Hamilton
Major General Hubert Ion Wetherall Hamilton CB, CVO, DSO was a senior British general who served with distinction throughout his career, seeing battle in the Mahdist War in Egypt and the Second Boer War in South Africa, before being given command of the British Third Division at the outbreak of...
; however he only lasted for two weeks in this post before he was relieved of his command following the inconclusive result at the Battle of La Bassée
Battle of La Bassée
The Battle of La Bassée was a battle between British and German forces in northern France in October 1914, and was part of the Race to the Sea....
in October 1914.
He went on to be Director of Staff Duties at the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
in 1915 and General Officer Commanding 61st Division from 1916 and was engaged in the disastrous diversionary battle for the Somme offensive at Fromelles
Battle of Fromelles
The Battle of Fromelles, sometimes known as the Action at Fromelles or the Battle of Fleurbaix , occurred in France between 19 July and 20 July 1916, during World War I...
on 19 July 1916. This operation led to the death of many Australian and British soldiers and achieved nothing. Casualties were: 5th Australian Division 5,533 casualties, including 1917 killed; 61st British Division,1,547 casualties,including 519 killed.
Mackenzie himself was wounded by an enemy sniper on 27 April 1918 while he was visiting the line of the 183rd Brigade south of St. Floris, being shot through the cheek and parotid gland
Parotid gland
The paired parotid glands are the largest of the salivary glands. They are each found wrapped around the mandibular ramus, and secrete saliva through Stensen's ducts into the oral cavity, to facilitate mastication and swallowing and to begin the digestion of starches.-Location:The parotid glands...
. The wound did not respond to treatment and he was evacuated sick to England on 31 May 1918.
Thereafter, Mackenzie was Inspector of Infantry in 1918 and Commander of the Dover Area 1919 until his retirement on 1 April 1920. Between 1924 and 1931, he was Colonel of the Seaforth Highlanders
Seaforth Highlanders
The Seaforth Highlanders was a historic regiment of the British Army associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The Seaforth Highlanders have varied in size from two battalions to seventeen battalions during the Great War...
.
Family
Mackenzie married Ethel Ross, the daughter of Hercules Grey Ross I.C.S. and Mary Henderson. They had one son, Colin Hercules MackenzieColin Hercules Mackenzie
Colin Hercules Mackenzie, CMG , scholar, soldier, industrialist and aesthete, was a Special Operations Executive spymaster who led Force 136 throughout the period of its existence during the Second World War.-Origins:...
.