19 Facts About Cyril Deverell

Cyril Deverell was commissioned into the Prince of Wales's West Yorkshire Regiment on 6 March 1895.

Cyril Deverell served in the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War in 1896 and was then promoted to lieutenant on 3 August 1898.

Cyril Deverell was appointed adjutant of his regiment on 9 February 1904 before being promoted to captain on 23 February 1904.

Cyril Deverell served in the First World War initially as brigade major for 85th Brigade, in which role he joined the British Expeditionary Force and saw action at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915 before being promoted to brevet major on 3 June 1915.

Cyril Deverell's brigade held a position on the 21st Division's right flank during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge and attacked the Switch Line to the east of High Wood.

Cyril Deverell was promoted to the temporary rank of major-general in August 1916 upon being given command of the 3rd Division after its commander, Major-General Sir Aylmer Haldane, took over VI Corps.

Cyril Deverell led the division at Arras in the spring of 1917, then participated in the latter stages of the Battle of Passchendaele in the final weeks of the year.

Cyril Deverell returned to the Somme in 1918, before fighting alongside the Portuguese at the Battle of the Lys.

Cyril Deverell was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1918 and awarded the Croix de guerre in 1919.

Cyril Deverell remained in command of the 3rd Division until 1 January 1919, when, having been promoted to substantive major general, he took over command of the 53rd Infantry Division.

Cyril Deverell became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Western Command on 11 April 1931 and then, having been promoted to general on 21 April 1933, he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Command on 8 May 1933.

Cyril Deverell was appointed aide-de-camp general to the King on 10 February 1934, and promoted to field marshal on 15 May 1936, before assuming the position of Chief of the Imperial General Staff that same day.

Cyril Deverell was colonel of the Prince of Wales's West Yorkshire Regiment from 21 March 1934, taking over from Major General Sir William Fry.

In May 1937 Leslie Hore-Belisha, the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, sought to implement a new policy of limiting expenditure on the Army, particularly on the development of tanks, and when Cyril Deverell failed to show enthusiasm for that policy in the context of an increasing threat from Nazi Germany, Hore-Belisha wrote to him advising him that he had been removed from office.

Cyril Deverell wrote a reply to the Secretary of State, strongly objecting to the adverse comments that had been made on his own performance, and retired from the British Army on 6 December 1937.

On leaving the British Army Cyril Deverell became Deputy Lieutenant of Southampton.

Cyril Deverell's interests included local politics, he served on a borough council, and chaired the local defence committee during the Second World War.

Cyril Deverell lived at Court Lodge in Lymington, where he died on 12 May 1947 at the age of 72.

In 1902 Cyril Deverell married Hilda Grant-Dalton; they had a son and a daughter.