{{Short description|British Army general (1876–1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Major-General | name = Sir Eric Girdwood | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KBE|CB|CMG}} | image = Sir Eric Girdwood - Colonels of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles).jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|1876|10|14|df=yes}} | birth_place = Strandtown, Belfast, Ireland | death_date = {{death date and age|1963|05|24|1876|10|14|df=yes}} | death_place = Towcester, Northamptonshire, England | burial_place = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army | service_years = 1896–1935 | service_number = 24750 | rank = Major-General | unit = Cheshire Regiment<br>Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) | commands = Northern Ireland District<br/>Royal Military College, Sandhurst<br/>Bombay District<br/>British Military Forces in Iraq<br/>3rd Division<br/>9th Infantry Brigade<br/>74th (Yeomanry) Division<br/>156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade | battles = Second Boer War<br/>First World War | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire<br/>Companion of the Order of the Bath<br/>Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George<br/>Mentioned in dispatches | relations = | other_work = }} Major-General '''Sir Eric Stanley Girdwood''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|KBE|CB|CMG}} (14 October 1876 – 24 May 1963) was a British military officer who served as General Officer Commanding the Northern Ireland District from 1931 to 1935.
==Military career== [[File:The Official Visits To the Western Front, 1914-1918 Q9231 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|King George V with Major General Girdwood, GOC 74th (Yeomanry) Division, and Major General Thomas Lambert, GOC 32nd Division, during his visit to the Second Army, possibly La Brearde, 6 August 1918.]]
Educated at the Belfast Royal Academy,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.belfastroyalacademyoldboysassociation.com/#/past-presidents/4536940398 |title=Belfast Royal Academy Past Presidents |access-date=21 February 2010 |archive-date=19 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419235020/http://belfastroyalacademyoldboysassociation.com/#/past-presidents/4536940398 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Girdwood was commissioned into the 4th (Militia) Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment in March 1896.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=26717|page=1271|date=3 March 1896}}</ref> before transferring into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles), and the Regular Army, in May 1899.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/GIRDWOOD.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref>
He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment. They took part in the Ladysmith relief force, including the battles of Colenso (December 1899), Vaal Krantz (February 1900) and the Tugela Heights (February 1900). During this advance, he was promoted to lieutenant on 25 January 1900. He served in the Natal from March to June 1900.<ref>Hart´s Army list, 1903</ref>
Following the end of the war, he left South Africa for England in July 1902.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa – return of troops|date=24 July 1902 |page=11 |issue=36828}}</ref> He was promoted to captain in January 1908.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28107|page=893|date=7 February 1908}}</ref>
Girdwood also served in the First World War, having been appointed a brigade major with the Scottish Rifles Brigade in 1911.<ref name=lh/> He fought with his regiment at Gallipoli, and was in December 1915 appointed as an assistant quartermaster general, which carried with it the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel while so employed,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29468|page=1566|date=8 February 1916|supp=y}}</ref> He became commander of the 156th (Scottish Rifles) Brigade in Egypt and Palestine in July 1916,<ref name=lh/> when he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29696|page=7745|date=4 August 1916|supp=y}}</ref> He was made general officer commanding (GOC) of the 74th (Yeomanry) Division in Palestine and France later that year.<ref name=lh/> He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1918 Birthday Honours.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30717|page=6487|date=31 May 1918|supp=y}}</ref>
After the war Girdwood was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31370|page=6791|date=30 May 1919}}</ref> He became commander of the 9th Infantry Brigade and then GOC 3rd Division in 1919.<ref name=lh/> He was made commander of Military Forces in Iraq in 1924 and, after being made a substantive major general in June 1925,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33057|page=4030|date=16 June 1925}}</ref> GOC Bombay District of India in 1926.<ref name=lh/> He was appointed Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1927 and GOC Northern Ireland District in 1931; he retired in 1935.<ref name=lh/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Charles Corkran}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst|years=1927–1930}} {{s-aft|after=Reginald May}} |- {{s-bef|before=Arthur Wauchope}} {{s-ttl|title=General Officer Commanding the British Army in Northern Ireland|years=1931–1935}} {{s-aft|after=James Cooke-Collis}} {{end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Girdwood, Eric}} Category:1876 births Category:1963 deaths Category:British Army major generals Category:People educated at the Belfast Royal Academy Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Cameronians officers Category:Military personnel from Belfast Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Commandants of Sandhurst Category:British Militia officers Category:Cheshire Regiment officers