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Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy
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Field Marshal Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, GCB, GCMG, MVO (11 September 1862 – 6 June 1935) was a British Army officer who served with distinction during World War I with the British Expeditionary Force in France, in the Battle of Gallipoli of the Dardanelles campaign, as commander of the Canadian Corps, and as commander of the British Third Army.
Known to friends as "Bungo", Lord Byng later became the twelfth Governor General of Canada. The Canadian Government's eventual response to his actions in the King-Byng Affair led to a marked redefinition of the role of Governor General in constitutional matters for Canada and for the other dominions of the British Empire.
was born on 11 September 1862, the seventh son and thirteenth and youngest child of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford, entitling him to the style "The Honourable".
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Field Marshal Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy, GCB, GCMG, MVO (11 September 1862 – 6 June 1935) was a British Army officer who served with distinction during World War I with the British Expeditionary Force in France, in the Battle of Gallipoli of the Dardanelles campaign, as commander of the Canadian Corps, and as commander of the British Third Army.
Known to friends as "Bungo", Lord Byng later became the twelfth Governor General of Canada. The Canadian Government's eventual response to his actions in the King-Byng Affair led to a marked redefinition of the role of Governor General in constitutional matters for Canada and for the other dominions of the British Empire.
Early life and career
Byng was born on 11 September 1862, the seventh son and thirteenth and youngest child of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford, entitling him to the style "The Honourable". He was born at the family seat of Wrotham Park, Barnet, Hertfordshire, England which had been built but never occupied by his great-great-grandson of Admiral John Byng, who had been controversially executed at the beginning of the Seven Years' War. Because the family was so large, his childhood was relatively frugal. He went to Eton to be educated when he was twelve in 1874, but did not enter the sixth form. His time at Eton was undistinguished, and he received poor reports. He once traded his Latin grammar book and his brother Lionel's best trousers to a hawker for a pair of ferrets and a pineapple. It was at Eton that Byng first received the nickname "Bungo" to distinguish him from his elder brothers "Byngo" and "Bango". Byng later claimed that he had been the school's worst "Scug" (undistinguished boy").
With three sons already in the army and another one already put down for the 7th Hussars, Byng's father did not think he could afford a regular army commission for their youngest son, and at the age of seventeen he was instead sent to the militia, and commissioned Second Lieutenant in the 2nd Middlesex Militia (The Edmonton Royal Rifle Regiment) on 12 December 1879.[ gives Byng's commissioning date as 27 August 1879.] He was promoted Lieutenant in 1881. During this period he developed a liking for the theatre and music halls, and by age twenty had taken an interest in the banjo. At a meeting of the Jockey Club in 1882 Byng's father was asked by his old friend the Prince of Wales what his sons were up to, and upon learning that Byng had as yet no permanent career offered a place for him in his own regiment, the 10th Royal Hussars. The Tenth was the most expensive regiment in the army and Earl Strafford could only afford to give Byng two hundred of the six hundred pounds he would need a year, but he could not refuse the Prince's offer. Byng was delighted as both his uncle, Lord Chesham and his cousin, Charles Cavendish, had served in the regiment. He transferred into the regiment as a Lieutenant on 27 January 1883 and in March joined them in Lucknow, India. Byng managed financially by buying polo ponies cheaply, training them (he was an excellent horseman), and selling them for a profit.
En route home to Britain in 1884, the 10th Hussars were diverted to Sudan to join the Suakin Expedition. Byng along with the rest of his regiment rode in the first line of the charge at the Battle of El Teb on 29 February 1884. Both the other officers in his squadron were killed. The charge was ultimately unsuccessful because of the unsteadiness of the Sudanese horses and the rebels were able to escape time and again. On 13 March his horse was killed under him at the Battle of Tamai. Most of the rebels in the area dispersed shortly after and on 29 March the regiment re-embarked for Britain. For his services in the Sudan, in July 1884 Byng was mentioned in despatches. Upon the regiment's return to Portsmouth on 22 April it was sent to Shorncliffe Barracks in Kent, where Byng was involved with training new recruits and horses. During the summer of 1884 he played a lot of polo and in the winter followed the regiment's drag hounds. In June 1885 the regiment was relocated to the South Cavalry Barracks at Aldershot.
While at Aldershot, the Prince of Wales' eldest son, Prince Albert Victor, joined the regiment, after which time the Prince of Wales and Prince George (later King George V) were frequent visitors. He struck up a friendship with both Albert Victor and George, but didn't socialise much outside the army. On 20 October 1886 he was appointed regimental adjutant Nine days later his father died, leaving him a watch and thirty-five hundred pounds. In 1887 the regiment moved to the barracks at Hounslow. After suspecting that contractors were selling him inferior meat, Byng spent several early mornings at Smithfield meat market to learn the meat trade. He proved his case and the contractors were changed. At this time Byng became acquainted with Lord Rowton who with the Guinness Trust was trying to improve housing for skilled workers in London. Byng accompanied Rowton around the poorest areas of London and eventually the latter set up Rowton Houses, where good-quality sleeping space was available for relatively little. After initial disciplinary problems with some of the residents, Rowton turned to Byng for help, who proposed that retired senior rankers from the army be hired. Afterwards it became a tradition for retired soldiers to be hired by Rowton Houses.
In 1888 the regiment again moved, this time to York. An innovation introduced at this time was that non-commissioned officers could wear civilian clothes when off-duty, hitherto a privilege of officers only. He kept the men occupied by raising a very successful cricket team (two losses in a season of twenty-one games) and a football team. He was promoted Captain in January 1889. By this time he had set himself to studying for entry to the Staff College, Camberley, and resigned as Adjutant to devote more time to his studies. In December 1890 Prince Albert Victor was sent to tour India, and Byng was offered the opportunity to go along as an equerry, but declined on account of his studies, which continued when the regiment moved to Ireland in 1891. He was detached for a time to the infantry and artillery for more experience. He eventually passed the entrance exam to the Staff College and secured a nomination in September 1892.
On 20 January 1892 he commanded the pallbearers (who were from his regiment) at the funeral of Prince Albert Victor, a significant display of trust shown by the dead prince's father, the future King Edward VII. A year later he entered the Staff College, Camberley. Among his fellow students were men he would be closely associated with over twenty years later; Rawlinson, Wilson, Snow and Haldane. While at Camberley Byng's class visited Alsace-Lorraine to see the battlefields of the Franco-Prussian War, and he himself was taken to the United States of America to help one of his lecturers compile a book on Stonewall Jackson. While at the Staff College Byng also served as the secretary of the students' hunt and maintained good terms with the local landowners. During 1894 he arranged to visit a friend commanding a cavalry regiment at Aldershot, and a fellow guest who journeyed there with him was a cadet at the nearby Royal Military College, Sandhurst named Winston Churchill.
In December 1894 Byng graduated from the Staff College and was appointed to command "A" squadron in the 10th Hussars in Ireland. The regiment remained there until June 1897 when it returned to Aldershot, when he left to become Adjutant of the 1st Cavalry Brigade, shortly after becoming Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG) of Aldershot Command and was promoted to the rank of Major. Shortly after becoming DAAG, at a local house party Byng met a young lady named Evelyn Moreton, who later described their early encounters:
Staff officer and commanding officer
In November 1899 Byng went to South Africa as Provost Marshal, but was instead immediately tasked to raise and command the South African Light Horse with the local rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. He served in the front line throughout the Second Boer War, ending up in command of a group of columns and returning to England in March 1902. He was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel in November 1900 and Brevet Colonel in February 1902 and mentioned in despatches five times. He married Evelyn Moreton in April 1902, was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order 4th Class (MVO) in May 1902, and was immediately sent back to India to command his regiment, the 10th Hussars, at Mhow. He was promoted substantive Lieutenant-Colonel in October 1902. Several miscarriages resulted in Marie being unable to bear children. In January 1904 Byng broke his right elbow so badly while playing polo that he feared he would have to leave the army, although after four months' treatment in England he was pronounced fit for duty.
General
In May 1904 he became the first commandant of the new Cavalry School at Netheravon. In May 1905 he was appointed commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade at Canterbury with the temporary rank of Brigadier-General, being promoted to the substantive rank of Colonel at the same time. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1906. In April 1907 he took over the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot.
Byng was promoted Major-General in April 1909 and placed on half pay. During this period he edited the Cavalry Journal and became first Boy Scout district commissioner for North Essex. He bought a house, Newtown Hall, in Dunmow, Essex, the first home he had ever owned. He took command of the East Anglian Division of the Territorial Force in October 1910 and in October 1912 he became commander of British troops in Egypt.
World War I
When the First World War broke out, Byng was recalled to Britain to command the 3rd Cavalry Division. He went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and handled his men well at the First Battle of Ypres. In March 1915 he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) and in May 1915 he was given command of the Cavalry Corps as a Temporary Lieutenant-General. Three months later he went to Gallipoli to command IX Corps and supervised the successful British withdrawal from the ill-fated campaign, for which he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1916.
In February 1916, after spending some time commanding the Suez Canal defences, Byng returned to the Western Front in command of XVII Corps. Three months later he took over the Canadian Corps and was promoted substantive Lieutenant-General for distinguished service. With his subordinate, Major-General Arthur Currie, he gained his greatest glory with the Canadian victory at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, an historic military victory for Canada that inspired nationalism at home.
Following this victory, Byng took command of the Third Army in June 1917 with the temporary rank of General, where he conducted the first surprise attack using tanks at Cambrai, considered a turning point in the war. For these services he was promoted to the substantive rank of General. He remained in command of the Third Army, the largest of Britain's armies, until the end of the war.
After the war he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1919 New Year Honours and raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Byng of Vimy and Thorpe-le-Soken, in Essex, on 7 October 1919. Although offered the Southern Command, he instead opted for retirement in November 1919 to Thorpe Hall, which his wife had bought at Thorpe-le-Soken in Essex while he was in Egypt in 1913.
Byng as Governor General
Lord Byng was appointed Governor General of Canada on 2 August 1921, having been appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in July 1921. He was very popular in Canada, and during his travels across the country throughout his term of office he was enthusiastically greeted by the men he had led in wartime. His appointment was far less controversial than that of his predecessor, the Duke of Devonshire. This was partly due to his popularity, but also because he was appointed following direct consultation with the Canadian government.
Lord Byng took to the office enthusiastically, further entrenching many of the traditions established by his predecessors. He also broke with tradition and was the first Governor General to appoint Canadian aides-de-camp. One of them was Georges Vanier, who later himself served as Governor General from 1959 to 1967.
He was always passionate about sport, and both he and his wife particularly loved ice hockey; Lord Byng rarely missed a game played by the Ottawa Senators. In 1925, Lady Byng presented the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy to the National Hockey League, which, to this day, recognises sportsmanship and excellence in play.
Lord and Lady Byng also travelled more than any of their predecessors, making extended trips to Western Canada and the North, taking the opportunity to meet with many Canadians. Lord Byng established the Governor General's Cup at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, and Lady Byng created a rock garden at Rideau Hall, which still delights visitors today.
The King-Byng Affair
The most notable issue during Lord Byng's term of office was the "King-Byng Affair", a constitutional crisis that occurred in 1926 when he refused a request by the Prime Minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, to dissolve parliament and call a general election. It was watched closely by both the Canadian and British governments, and led directly to the redefinition of the role of Governor General, the Balfour Declaration of 1926, and the Statute of Westminster 1931.
Life after Rideau Hall
Following his term as Governor General, Lord and Lady Byng returned to England, where he was created 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy in January 1928. He served as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from November 1928 to September 1931, instituting many reforms and reorganising the force. He introduced a system of promotion based on merit rather than length of service, improved discipline, retired inefficient senior officers, abolished the regularity of policemen's beats (which had allowed criminals to work out the system), introduced police boxes, greatly extended the use of police cars, and established a central radio control room. He was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in July 1932, finally retiring with his wife to Thorpe Hall, where he died suddenly of an abdominal blockage in 1935. Lady Byng returned to Canada during World War II to live with friends and died there in 1949.
Tributes
- Byng, Oklahoma: Because of his exploits during World War I, a post office and power plant, built approximately five miles north of Ada in 1917, were named in honor of Byng; the town that grew up around the school eventually became the small community of Byng.
Footnotes
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