Sir Charles Orr's Memoirs Volume 1

Webb Gillman

This photograph shows Webb Gillman as the rank of Lieutenant c1896. He was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in July 1889. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 July 1892, and to captain (supernumerary to the establishment) on 9 October 1899. He served in the Second Boer War 1899–1900, where he took part in the Relief of Kimberley, and the following battles of Paardeberg (late February 1900), Poplar Grove, and Driefontein (March 1900). In late 1901 he was in Southern Nigeria, where he was attached as a staff officer to the columns taking part in the Aro-Anglo war (November 1901 to March 1902), for which he was mentioned in despatches by the officer in command as an "invaluable officer, cool and full of energy". He was also appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) for services during the war. In May 1902 he received a regular appointment as captain of the 119 Battery of the Field Artillery. He later spent time in Southern Nigeria in 1902.
He served in the First World War as a General Staff Officer in 13th Division and then as a brigadier with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force sent to Gallipoli in 1915. He was then a major general with the British Salonika Force from 1916 to 1917 before becoming commander of 17th Indian Division in August 1917. He became Chief of General Staff for the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force later on in 1917.
After the war he became Commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich in 1920, Inspector of Artillery at the War Office in 1924 and Master-General of the Ordnance in 1927. In 1927 he spent three months in Singapore assessing the defence capability of the Naval Base there. Finally he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Eastern Command in 1931; he died in office in 1933.
The picture below - courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery shows him in 1919 at the rank of General.

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