Frederick_Hugh_Cunliffe
Frederick Hugh Cunliffe
British general
Frederick Hugh Gordon Cunliffe, CB, CMG (1861-1955) was a British Brigadier who was one of the main British commanders at the Kamerun campaign and earned a key victory at the Siege of Mora.
Frederick Hugh Cunliffe | |
|---|---|
Cunliffe during World War I | |
| Born | (1861-09-06)6 September 1861 |
| Died | 13 June 1955(1955-06-13) (aged 93) London, UK |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Years of service | 1879 – 1919 |
| Rank | _OF-6.svg){kind=small} Brigadier |
| Commands held | Nigeria Regiment |
| Battles/wars | Hazara Expedition of 1891 Chitral Expedition Second Boer War World War I |
| Spouse(s) |
Ella Sophie Gaussen
(m. 1895–1950) |
| Children | 1 |
Early life and family
Frederick was born on 6 September 1861 as the son of Major General George Gordon Cunliffe and Pauline Lumsdaine. He married Ella Sophie Gaussen in 1895 and had Cecile Gertrude Cunliffe.
Military service
Cunliffe began his military service by studying at the United Services College, Westward Ho! and entered service initially on the 1st Warwickshire Militia before serving in the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers in 1887.[1]
His first instance of military combat was in the Hazara Expedition of 1891 and like all members of the expedition, gained the India General Service Medal, Clasp Hazara 1891.[2] He later also participated in the Chitral Expedition and the Second Boer War in dispatches.
World War I
When World War I broke out, Cunliffe was Commandant of the Nigeria Regiment and was assigned to the Kamerun campaign and around 1915, in order to take the German fortresses at Garua, he commenced the Second Battle of Garua which ended in a British victory and pushed further to give pressure to Central Kamerun and would again, engage the Germans at the Battle of Ngaundere which also ended in a British victory.[3]
Later on, he was the prime British commander on the later half of the Siege of Mora, arriving on 23 August to reinforce the siege.[4] Due to his strong efforts in defeating the Germans, managed to make Captain Ernst von Raben surrender with the terms of offering Raben a safe passage back home along with providing him £2000 to pay his Askaris.[5] Due to his victory at Mora, Cunliffe received the Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1916. Cunliffe was then assigned as Brigadier of the HQ unit from 1917 to 1919. After the end of the war, he was Commandeur of the Legion of Honour and the Officer of the Order of St. Maurice and St. Lazarus.
Later years
Cunliffe died on 13 June 1955 in London aged 93.
- Joslin, Litherland and Simpkin. British Battles and Medals. p. 123. Published Spink, London. 1988.
- James B. Bryce; Holland Thomson; William M.F. Petrie (1920). The Book of History: The Causes of the War. The Events of 1914-1915. Vol. 16. Grolier Society. p. 416. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
- Edmund Dane (1919). British Campaigns in Africa and the Pacific, 1914-1918. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
- Byron Farwell (1986). The Great War in Africa. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. p. 77. ISBN 0-393-30564-3.
