{{Short description|British Army general}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{EngvarB|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = General | name = Sir Cecil Romer | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB|KBE|CMG}} | image = Cecilromer.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1869|11|14|df=yes}} | birth_place = Kensington, London<ref name="1871census">''1871 England Census''</ref> | death_date = {{death date and age|1962|10|01|1869|11|14|df=yes}} | death_place = Maidstone, Kent | burial_place = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army | service_years = 1890–1935 | rank = General | unit = | commands = Southern Command<br/>Western Command<br/>1st Division<br/>59th (2nd North Midland) Division | battles = Second Boer War<br/>First World War | awards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath<br/>Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire<br/>Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George<br/>Mentioned in Despatches<br/>Legion of Honour (France) | relations = | other_work = }} General '''Sir Cecil Francis Romer''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|KBE|CMG}} (14 November 1869 – 1 October 1962) was a British Army general who reached high command during the 1920s.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Cecil Romer – Hard Fighting in France|work=The Times |date=3 October 1962 |page= 13}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Romer was born in Kensington, London, the son of Lord Justice Robert Romer and Betty Lemon, daughter of Mark Lemon, editor of ''Punch''. His elder brother was Mark Romer, Baron Romer. He was educated at Eton College.<ref name="times"/> His sister, Helen Mary, married Lord Chancellor Frederic Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham.<ref>G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant</ref>
==Military career== [[File:The German Spring Offensive, March-july 1918 Q300.jpg|thumb|left|King George V and General Sir Henry Horne inspecting men of the 2/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment, 59th Division, at Gauchin, 30 March 1918. They are accompanied by Brigadier General T. G. Cope and Major General Cecil Romer, GOC 59th Division.]]
Romer was commissioned into the Royal Dublin Fusiliers as a second lieutenant on 1 March 1890,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27051|page=869|date=10 February 1899}}</ref> promoted lieutenant on 23 August 1893, and captain on 19 October 1898. He served in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902, was wounded in early 1900,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The War - Casualties|date=29 March 1900 |page=8 |issue=36102}}</ref> and received the brevet rank of major on 29 November 1900.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/ROMER.shtml Sir Cecil Francis Romer] Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives</ref> Following the war he was seconded as an adjutant of volunteers in February 1902,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27425 |page=2505 |date=15 April 1902}}</ref> but only a few months later he was on 19 June 1902 appointed brigade major to the 13th Brigade, in Dublin.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27454|page=4512| date=15 July 1902}}</ref> He went on to become a General Staff Officer in 1904.<ref name=lh/>
thumb|right|Eighteen Old Etonian generals revisit Eton, May 1919. Major General Romer is stood in the middle row, third from the left.
During the First World War, Romer, promoted to temporary colonel in November 1914,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28961|page=8884|date=3 November 1914}}</ref> fought on the Western Front.<ref name=lh/> In February 1915 he was made a CB.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12780|page=357|date=5 March 1915|city=e}}</ref> In July he was promoted to temporary brigadier general and succeeded Major General Arthur Lynden-Bell as brigadier general, general staff of III Corps.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29267|page=8244|date=17 August 1915|supp=y}}</ref> In January 1916 he was advanced to brevet colonel and made an aide-de-camp (extra) to King George V.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12894|page=86|date=17 January 1916|city=e}}</ref> Promoted in April 1917 to temporary major general,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30074|page=4774|date=15 May 1917|supp=y}}</ref> he was general officer commanding (GOC) of the 59th (2nd North Midland) Division between then and 1918.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk/nicknames/romer.htm |title=University of Birmingham |access-date=20 October 2009 |archive-date=16 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090316045851/http://www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk/nicknames/romer.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Maj A.F. Becke,''History of the Great War: Order of Battle of Divisions, Part 2b: The 2nd-Line Territorial Force Divisions (57th–69th), with the Home-Service Divisions (71st–73rd) and 74th and 75th Divisions,'' London: HM Stationery Office, 1937/Uckfield: Naval & Military Press, 2007, {{ISBN|1-847347-39-8}}, p. 17.</ref>
Romer, promoted in January 1919 to substantive major general,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31097|page=87|date=31 December 1918|supp=y}}</ref> became GOC 1st Division at Aldershot in 1926.<ref name=lh/> He was then elevated to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command in 1928 and to General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command in March 1931.<ref name=lh/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33696|page=1534|date=6 March 1931}}</ref> In 1933, he was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces: he relinquished this appointment and retired from the army in March 1935.<ref name=lh/><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34138|page=1466|date=1 March 1935}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=31461}}
{{S-start}} {{S-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Arthur Sandbach}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 59th (2nd North Midland) Division|years=1917–1918}} {{s-aft|after=Robert Whigham}} |- {{s-bef|before=Archibald Montgomery}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 1st Division|years=1926–1928}} {{s-aft|after=John Duncan}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir Richard Butler}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C Western Command|years=1928–1931}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Cyril Deverell}} |- {{s-bef|before=Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd|rows=2}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C Southern Command|years=1931–1933}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Percy Radcliffe}} |- {{s-ttl|title=Adjutant General|years=1933–1935}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Harry Knox}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romer, Cecil}} Category:1869 births Category:1962 deaths Category:Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Category:People from Kensington Category:People educated at Eton College Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Royal Dublin Fusiliers officers Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:British Army generals