{{Short description|British Army general (1869–1942)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Use British English|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Major-General |name= Sir Cecil Pereira |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|CMG}} |image= |image_size= |alt= |caption= |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|1869|07|24|df=yes}} |birth_place= |death_date= {{death date and age|1942|10|26|1869|07|24|df=yes}} |death_place= |burial_place= |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= British Army |service_years= 1890–1923 |rank= Major-General |unit= Coldstream Guards |commands= 56th (London) Infantry Division<br/>2nd Division<br/>1st Guards Brigade<br/>85th Brigade<br/>2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards |battles= Second Boer War<br/>First World War |awards= Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath<br/>Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George<br/>Commander of the Order of the Brilliant Star of Zanzibar<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27092|date=23 June 1899|page=3940}}</ref><br/>Commander of the Order of the Crown (Belgium)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30631|date=15 April 1918|page=4522|supp=y}}</ref><br/>Croix de guerre (France)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31514|date=21 August 1919|page=10608|supp=y}}</ref> |relations= |other_work= }} Major-General Sir '''Cecil Edward Pereira''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|CMG}} (24 July 1869 – 26 October 1942) was a British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Division during the First World War.
==Military career== Educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston, and later at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Pereira was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in January 1890.<ref name=lane>[http://www.owlpen.com/Lane_Fox_of_Bramham_Yorkshire.pdf Lane Fox of Bramham] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928233353/http://www.owlpen.com/Lane_Fox_of_Bramham_Yorkshire.pdf |date=2011-09-28 }}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26018|page=476|date=28 January 1890}}</ref> He was promoted to lieutenant in July 1893<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26430|page=4522|date=8 August 1893}}</ref> and was seconded for service under the Foreign Office in January 1898,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26934|page=578|date=1 February 1898}}</ref> and served in Uganda from 1898 and was promoted to captain in April 1899.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27068|page=2228|date=4 April 1899}}</ref>
He was seconded for service in the Second Boer War in South Africa in March 1900, and attached to the Rhodesian Field Force.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The War - The Rhodesian Field Force|date=16 March 1900 |page=6 |issue=36091| }}</ref>
Promoted in November 1905 to major,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27860|page=8738|date=5 December 1905}}</ref> in April 1908 he was made a deputy assistant adjutant general.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28130|page=3037|date=21 April 1908}}</ref>
He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in November 1913<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28790|page=185|date=6 January 1914}}</ref> and then served in the First World War and was appointed commanding officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards in 1914. In February 1915 he was promoted to brevet colonel<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29074|page=1691|date=16 February 1915|supp=y}}</ref> and in May was granted the temporary rank of brigadier general when he was placed in command of the 85th Infantry Brigade,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29185|page=5492|date=4 June 1915|supp=y}}</ref> which he led at the Battle of Loos in September–October that year. This was followed by his taking command of the 1st Guards Brigade in January 1916,<ref>[http://www.ordersofbattle.com/PersonData.aspx?PerX=3831&Tab=App&Titl=Sir%20Cecil%20Pereira Orders of Battle]</ref> before being promoted to temporary major general in December 1916<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29915|page=914|date=23 January 1917|supp=y}}</ref> and being made general officer commanding (GOC) of the 2nd Division.<ref name=commands>[http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf Army Commands] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |date=5 July 2015}}</ref> His substantive rank was advanced from brevet colonel to colonel in November 1917,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30403|page=12463|date=27 November 1917|supp=y}}</ref> while his major general's rank became permanent in June 1918.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30716|page=6455|date=31 May 1918|supp=y}}</ref>
After the war he became General Officer Commanding 56th (London) Infantry Division from 1919 until his retirement from the army in June 1923.<ref name=commands/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32836|page=4348|date=22 June 1923}}</ref>
During the Second World War Pereira commanded the Local Defence Volunteers in London.<ref>[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1940/jul/03/defence-forces Defence Forces] Hansard, 3 July 1940</ref>
==Family== Pereira had two brothers, George Pereira, a soldier and explorer,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/browse-our-collections/authority/agent/identifier/agent-2343|title=Pereira, Cecil Edward|publisher=Horniman|accessdate=2 November 2015}}</ref> and Edward Pereira, a priest, schoolmaster and cricketer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.william1.co.uk/bl24.htm|title=Blois 24|publisher=Conqueror 100|accessdate=2 November 2015}}</ref>
He was married by his brother at Brompton Oratory on 28 January 1903 to Helen Mary Josephine (Nellie) Lane Fox, daughter of George Lane-Fox;<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Court Circular |date=29 January 1903 |page=7 |issue=36990}}</ref> they had three sons and two daughters.<ref name=lane/> They settled after 1924 at Caversham Place, near Reading, a house designed for him by Clough Williams-Ellis.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.getreading.co.uk/lifestyle/nostalgia/pick-past-caversham-plac-caversham-7352117|title=Pick of the Past: Caversham Place and Caversham Park Village|date=1 July 2014|publisher=Get Reading|accessdate=25 October 2019}}</ref>
==Correspondence== His letters were edited by his grandson, E.A. Pereira & others, as ''Catholic General: The Private Wartime Correspondence of Maj-Gen Sir Cecil Edward Pereira, 1914–19'' (Helion, 2020).
==References== {{reflist}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite book|first1=Frank|last1=Davies|first2=Graham|last2=Maddocks|title=Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire|publisher=Pen and Sword Books|year=2014|orig-year=1995|isbn=978-1-78346-237-7}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=William Walker}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 2nd Division|years=1916–1919}} {{s-aft|after=Richard Butler}} |- {{s-bef|before=Charles Hull}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 56th (1st London) Division|years=1919–1923}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Geoffrey Feilding}} {{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pereira, Cecil}} Category:1869 births Category:1942 deaths Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Coldstream Guards officers Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:Commanders of the Order of the Crown (Belgium) Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:English people of Portuguese descent Category:British Home Guard officers Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:People educated at The Oratory School Category:British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Category:British Army major generals Category:British expatriates in British Uganda Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst