Cameron Shute

{{Short description|British Army general (1866–1936)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = General | name = Sir Cameron Shute | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|KCMG}} | image = CameronShute.jpg | caption = | birth_date = 15 March 1866 | death_date = 25 January 1936 (aged 69) | burial_label = | burial_place = | birth_place = Dorking, Surrey, England | death_place = London, England | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom | branch = 26px British Army | service_years = 1885–1931 | rank = General | unit = First World War | commands = 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) 59th Brigade 63rd (Royal Naval) Division 32nd Division 19th (Western) Division V Corps 4th Division Northern Command | battles = | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Legion of Honour | relations = | other_work = }} General '''Sir Cameron Deane Shute''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|KCB|KCMG}} (15 March 1866 – 25 January 1936), was a senior British Army officer during the First World War.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Gen. Sir Cameron Shute – Leader and Trainer of Troops |work=The Times |date=27 January 1936 |page= 17}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Cameron Deane Shute was born on 15 March 1866 in Dorking, Surrey, the son of Colonel Deane Christian Shute of the British Indian Army, and his wife, Elizabeth Isabella Brownlow.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Marriages |journal=The Gentleman's Magazine |date=November 1850 |page=542 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X6zHlIGkQy8C&q=Elizabeth+Isabella+Shute&pg=PA542|publisher=F. Jefferies |language=en}}</ref> He was educated at Marlborough College and abroad.<ref name="times"/> He was the nephew of General Sir Charles Cameron Shute (1816–1904). Francis Browne, 4th Baron Kilmaine married his sister Alice Emily Shute.<ref name="burke">{{cite book |title= Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry |editor= Mosley, Charles |editor-link=Charles Mosley (genealogist) |edition=107 |year= 2003 |page= 2155 |ref=Burke |isbn=0-9711966-2-1}}</ref>

==Early military career== After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Shute was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Welsh Regiment (later the Welch Regiment) in August 1885.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/SHUTE.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25506|page=4084|date=28 August 1885}}</ref>

He attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1893 to 1894<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fK4aAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA118|title=Hart's Annual Army List, Militia List, and Imperial Yeomanry List|year=1899|page=118|publisher=J. Murray}}</ref> and was again seconded for staff service in August 1898.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27002|page=5323|date=6 September 1898}}</ref> He transferred to the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) in September 1895, receiving a promotion to captain in his new regiment,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26666|page=5356|date=27 September 1895}}</ref> and participated in the Nile Expedition of 1898.<ref name=lh/> He was deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) in Malta from 1899 and, a major from June 1904 onwards,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27682|page=3554|date=3 June 1904}}</ref> a general staff officer (GSO) at Scottish Coast Defences from 1905.<ref name=lh/>

In March 1910 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28358|page=2681|date=19 April 1910}}</ref> and appointed commanding officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, and, after being promoted to full colonel in June 1913,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28819|page=3003|date=7 April 1914}}</ref> he then became a GSO at Aldershot Training Centre from 1914.<ref name=lh/>

==First World War== He served in the First World War, becoming a GSO1 in August 1914,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28914|page=7593|date=25 September 1914}}</ref> and later in France and Belgium, becoming commander of the 59th Infantry Brigade,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29230|page=6923|date=13 July 1915|supp=y}}</ref> 20th (Light) Division, in France during the Guillemont actions in 1915.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/guillemont.html |title=Battlefields |access-date=22 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423185924/http://www.ww1battlefields.co.uk/somme/guillemont.html |archive-date=23 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Upon being made a temporary major general in October 1916<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29826|page=11125|date=14 November 1916|supp=y}}</ref> he went on to be general officer commanding (GOC) of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, the same year in which he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29608|page=5555|date=2 June 1916|supp=y}}</ref>

As GOC of the Royal Naval Division, Shute had an intense dislike of the division's unconventional "nautical" traditions and made numerous unpopular attempts to stamp them out. He was particularly critical of the poor management of the latrines which could have led to an outbreak of dysentery.<ref>Gordon Corrigan ''Mud, Blood and Poppycock'' ({{ISBN|0304359556}}) pp. 87–88.</ref> Following a particularly critical inspection of the trenches by Shute, an officer of the division, Sub-Lieutenant A. P. Herbert, who later became a famous humorous writer, legal satirist and member of Parliament, wrote a popular poem that summed up the feelings of the men of the division:<ref>Martin Gilbert, ''The Somme'', Henry Holt, 2006, p. 218.</ref>

{{quote |The General inspecting the trenches Exclaimed with a horrified shout 'I refuse to command a division Which leaves its excreta about.'

But nobody took any notice No one was prepared to refute, That the presence of shit was congenial Compared to the presence of Shute.

And certain responsible critics Made haste to reply to his words Observing that his staff advisors Consisted entirely of turds.

For shit may be shot at odd corners And paper supplied there to suit, But a shit would be shot without mourners If somebody shot that shit Shute. ||}}

Although soldier songs hostile to superior officers were not rare, it is unusual to have a song aimed at a named officer.

He later became GOC of the 32nd Division in 1917 and of the 19th (Western) Division at the Battle of Messines (Flanders, Belgium) in 1917.<ref name=lh/> In June 1917 he was promoted to the substantive rank of major general "for distinguished service in the Field".<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30111|supp=y|page=5463|date=1 June 1917}}</ref>

In April 1918 he took command of V Corps in the place of the sacked Lieutenant General Sir Edward Fanshawe<ref name=lh/> and was promoted to temporary lieutenant general as a result of his new appointment.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30707|page=6209|date=24 May 1918|supp=y}}</ref> In this role, he played a vital part in the so-called Hundred Days Offensive, the series of Allied victories that broke the German Army and brought about the Armistice with Germany which finally ended the war.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.longlongtrail.co.uk/army/other-aspects-of-order-of-battle/the-british-corps-headquarters-in-france-and-flanders/the-british-v-corps-in-france-and-flanders/|title= The British V Corps in France and Flanders|publisher=The Long, Long Trail|access-date =11 April 2026}}</ref>

==Post-war years== After the war his CB was upgraded to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31092|page=1|date=31 December 1918|supp=y}}</ref> and in January 1919 he was awarded the French Legion of Honour.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31150|page=1445|date=28 January 1919|supp=y}}</ref> Having reverted to his permanent rank of major general in April 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31320|page=5468|date=29 April 1919|supp=y}}</ref> and relinquished command of V Corps,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31428|page=8312|date=1 July 1919|supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31787|page=2046|date=17 February 1920|supp=y}}</ref> he became GOC of the 4th Division, a post he held from November 1919 <ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31643|page=13875|date=14 November 1919|supp=y}}</ref> to November 1923.<ref name=lh/>

After being made a substantive lieutenant general in April 1926, and succeeding General Sir Francis Davies as lieutenant of the Tower of London,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33155|page=2861|date=27 April 1926}}</ref> he was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in 1927. Promoted to full general in March 1931,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33695|page=1451|date=3 March 1931}}</ref> he retired from the army later on 15 May.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33716|page=3144|date=15 May 1931}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Edward Fanshawe}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC V Corps|years=1918–1919}} {{s-aft|after=Post disbanded}} |- {{s-bef|before=Cuthbert Lucas}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 4th Division|years=1919–1923}} {{s-aft|after=Reginald Stephens}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir Charles Harington}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C Northern Command|years=1927–1931}} {{s-aft|after=Sir John Gathorne-Hardy}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Victor Couper}} {{s-ttl|title=Colonel Commandant of the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) | years=1929–1936}} {{s-aft|after=Sir John Burnett-Stuart}} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shute, Cameron}} Category:1866 births Category:1936 deaths Category:British Army generals Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Welch Regiment officers Category:Rifle Brigade officers Category:British Army personnel of the Mahdist War Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:Military personnel from Surrey Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Category:British recipients of the Legion of Honour Category:People from Dorking Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley

Cameron Shute

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