Louis Bols

British Army general

Sir Louis Bols

Born| (1867-11-23)23 November 1867
Cape Town, Cape Colony[citation needed]
Died| 13 September 1930(1930-09-13) (aged 62)
Allegiance| United Kingdom
Service / branch| British Army
Years of service| 1887–1920
Rank| Lieutenant General
Unit| Devonshire Regiment
Commands| 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division
24th Division
84th Infantry Brigade
Dorsetshire Regiment
Battles / wars| Chitral Expedition
Second Boer War
First World War
Awards| Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath[1]
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches (6)
Relations| Major General Eric Bols (son)
Other work| Governor of Bermuda (1927–30)

Lieutenant General Sir Louis Jean Bols, KCB, KCMG, DSO (23 November 1867 – 13 September 1930) was a British Army general, who served as chief of staff of Edmund Allenby's Third Army on the Western Front and in the Sinai and Palestine campaign during the First World War. From 1927 until his death he served as the Governor of Bermuda.

## Early life

[edit]

Bols was born in Cape Town[citation needed] to Louis Guillaume Michael Joseph Bols of Belgium and Mary Wilhelmina Davidson. He was educated at Lancing College in England and Bishop's College School in Canada.[2]

## Military career

[edit]

Governor and General Officer Commanding of Bermuda Lieutenant-General Sir Louis Bols takes salute at Prospect Camp in 1930

After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Bols was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Devonshire Regiment on 5 February 1887,[3] and was promoted to lieutenant on 22 September 1889. In 1891–92 he served in Burma, including operations in the Kachin Hills, and received the operational medal with clasp. In 1895 he served with the Chitral Relief Force under Sir Robert Low as adjutant and quartermaster at the British Military Depot. Promotion to captain followed on 18 January 1897, and he served as adjutant of the 2nd Battalion of his regiment from 17 February 1899.[4]

Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, his battalion was sent to South Africa, where he served as adjutant of the battalion throughout the war. He was present at the Battle of Colenso (15 December 1899), Battle of Vaal Krantz (5–7 February 1900), Battle of the Tugela Heights (14–27 February 1900) and the Relief of Ladysmith (1 March 1900), and later in operations in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony.[5] For his services in the war, he was twice mentioned in dispatches, received the Queen's South Africa Medal, and was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). After peace was declared in May 1902, Bols left South Africa on board the SS Bavarian and arrived in the United Kingdom the following month.[6]

Bols, who in October 1906 was promoted to major,[7] transferred from the Devonshires to the Dorsetshire Regiment as a lieutenant colonel in February 1914 and took command of the 2nd Battalion of his new regiment,[8] five months before the start of the First World War.[9] At the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 Bols, having been promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general in February,[10] held the command of the 84th Infantry Brigade, part of the 28th Division.

In October that year he was promoted again, now to temporary major general,[11] and served as major general, general staff (MGGS) of the Third Army of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), commanded by briefly by General Sir Charles Monro before he was replaced by General Sir Edmund Allenby. Bols was to serve with Allenby, both on the Western Front in 1916 and in 1917, and later in 1917–18 in Palestine.[12]

From January to June 1920 Bols, who had been promoted in January 1917 to substantive major general,[13] served as the Chief Administrator of Palestine, and signed over power to Herbert Samuel, the first British High Commissioner of Palestine, who confirmed in an often-quoted document: "Received from Major-General Sir Louis J. Bols K.C.B.—One Palestine, complete."[2]

Bols went on to become General Officer Commanding 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division in September 1920.[14] From 1927 to his death he was Governor and General Officer Commanding of the army garrison of the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda. He also served as colonel of the Devonshire Regiment from 1921 to his death.[15]

Bols died in his 63rd year on 13 September 1930 in a nursing home in the city of Bath, Somerset, while on leave from Bermuda.[16]

## Personal life

[edit]

Bols married Augusta Blanche Strickland and had two sons, Major-General Eric Bols, and Major Kenneth Bols (killed in action in Italy in the Second World War).[17]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "No. 31093". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 51.
2. ^ a b Owen, C. V. (2004). "Bols, Sir Louis Jean (1867–1930)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31947. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. ^ "No. 25670". The London Gazette. 4 February 1887. p. 599.
4. ^ "No. 27066". The London Gazette. 28 March 1899. p. 2081.
5. ^ Hart´s Army list, 1903
6. ^ "The Army in South Africa – the Coronation contingent". The Times. No. 36791\. London. 11 June 1902. p. 14.
7. ^ "No. 27958". The London Gazette. 16 October 1906. p. 6942.
8. ^ "No. 28803". The London Gazette. 20 February 1914. p. 1372.
9. ^ "Lieutenant Athelstan Key Durancé George". Sussex People. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
10. ^ "No. 29107". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 March 1915. p. 2820.
11. ^ "No. 29426". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1915. p. 119.
12. ^ 'Allenby: Soldier & Statesman', by Archibald Wavell (Pub. White Lion, 1974).
13. ^ "No. 29886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1916. p. 15.
14. ^ "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 1 June 2020.
15. ^ "The Devonshire Regiment at the archive of regiments.org". Archived from the original on 13 January 2008. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
16. ^ "Lieutenant-General Sir Louis Bols". British Empire. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
17. ^ "Entry for the war grave of Maj. K. W. Bols". War Graves Commission register. Retrieved 18 May 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Louis Jean Bols bio at firstworldwar.com
* Bols, LJ[permanent dead link‍] at angloboerwar.com

Military offices

Preceded by

John Capper

|  GOC 24th Division
May–September 1917  | Succeeded by

Arthur Daly

Political offices
Preceded by

Sir Harry Watson

|  Chief Administrator of Palestine
January–July 1920  | Succeeded by

Sir Herbert Samuel
As High Commissioner of Palestine

Military offices
Preceded by

Sir Charles Hull

|  GOC 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division
1920–1924  | Succeeded by

Sir Edward Northey

Political offices
Preceded by

Sir Joseph John Asser

|  Governor of Bermuda
1927–1930  | Succeeded by

Sir Thomas Cubitt

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* Germany

Other|

* IdRef