Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer
Field Marshal Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, KStJ (13 March 1857 – 16 July 1932) was a senior British Army officer of the First World War. After commanding V Corps at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, he took command of the Second Army in May 1915 and in June 1917 won an overwhelming victory over the German Army at the Battle of Messines, which started with the simultaneous explosion of a series of mines placed by the Royal Engineers' tunnelling companies beneath German lines, which created 19 large craters and was described as the loudest explosion in human history. He later served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and then as Governor of Malta before becoming High Commissioner of the British Mandate for Palestine in 1925 and retiring in 1928.
The Right Honourable The Viscount Plumer | |
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Portrait by Alexander Bassano, 1899 | |
| Born | 13 March 1857 Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 16 July 1932 (aged 75) Knightsbridge, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Buried | Westminster Abbey |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/ | British Army |
| Years of service | 1876–1919 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Unit | 65th (2nd Yorkshire, North Riding) Regiment of Foot York and Lancaster Regiment |
| Commands held | British Army of the Rhine Second Army Northern Command 5th Division 7th Division 10th Division 4th Brigade |
| Battles/wars | Mahdist War Second Matabele War Second Boer War First World War |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Mentioned in Despatches |
| Other work | High Commissioner of Palestine |