{{Short description|Royal Air Force Air Commodore (1879-1958)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox military person |name= Lionel Evelyn Oswald Charlton |image= Brig Gen L E O Charlton.jpg |caption= Brigadier-General L E O Charlton as [[Air Attaché]] in Washington |nickname= |birth_date= {{birth date|1879|07|07|df=yes}} |death_date= {{death date and age|1958|04|18|1879|07|07|df=yes}} |birth_place= [[Piccadilly]], London |death_place= [[Hexham]], Northumberland |allegiance= United Kingdom |branch= [[British Army]] (1897–1918)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–1928) |service_years= 1897–1928 |rank= [[Air Commodore]] |unit= |commands= [[No. 3 Group RAF]] (1924)<br/>[[No. 7 Group RAF]] (1922)<br/>V Brigade RAF (1917–1918)<br/>[[No. VIII Squadron RAF|No. 8 Squadron RFC]] (1915) |battles= [[Second Boer War]]<br/>[[First World War]] |awards= [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George]]<br/>[[Distinguished Service Order]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (3)<br/>[[Legion of Honour|Officer of the Legion of Honour]] (France) |relations= |other_work= }}
[[Air Commodore]] '''Lionel Evelyn Oswald Charlton''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|CMG|DSO}} (7 July 1879 – 18 April 1958) was a British infantry officer who served in the [[Second Boer War]]. During the [[First World War]], Charlton held several command and staff posts in the [[Royal Flying Corps]], finishing the war as a [[Brigadier general (United Kingdom)|brigadier general]]. Transferring to the [[Royal Air Force]] on its creation, Charlton served in several [[air officer]] posts until his retirement from the air force in 1928. Most notably, Charlton resigned his position as the RAF's Chief Staff Officer in Kurdistan as he objected to the bombing of Kurdish villages.
==Early life== Lionel Charlton was born on 7 July 1879 at [[Piccadilly]] in [[London]]. He was educated at [[Brighton College]] and was commissioned a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Lancashire Fusiliers]] on 28 September 1898, followed by promotion to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 1 September 1899.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27165|page=1077| date=16 February 1900|}}</ref>
He served with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment in the [[Second Boer War]] 1899–1901, including as part of the [[Relief of Ladysmith|Ladysmith Relief Force]], and was severely wounded at the [[battle of Spion Kop]], for which he received the [[Distinguished Service Order]] (DSO).<ref>Hart's Army list, 1901</ref> He was promoted [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 5 October 1901.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27370 |date=1 November 1901 |page=7047}}</ref> During the latter part of the war he served with the 3rd Battalion [[Imperial Yeomanry]], and returned home with the other officers and men of this battalion in the ''SS Kinfauns Castle'' leaving [[Cape Town]] in early August 1902, after the war had ended.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa - Return of Troops|date=14 August 1902 |page=8 |issue=36846}}</ref> Following their return, he relinquished his commission with the Imperial Yeomanry in September 1902,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27479|page=6275|date=3 October 1902}}</ref> and returned to the Lancashire Fusiliers.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27491 |page=7014 |date=4 November 1902}}</ref> He did not stay long, however, as later the same year he was seconded to serve with the [[Gold Coast Regiment]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27512 |date=2 January 1903 |page=6 }}</ref><ref>Hart′s army list, 1903</ref>
==First World War== Shortly before the First World War he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, becoming one of its first brigadier generals in February 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30012|page=3404|date=10 April 1917}}</ref>
Charlton was initially as a flight commander on [[No. 3 Squadron RAF|No. 3 Squadron]] and later as the first Officer Commanding of [[No. 8 Squadron RAF|No. 8 Squadron]].<ref name="air_of_auth">{{cite web |url=http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Charlton.htm |title=Air Commodore L E O Charlton |accessdate=3 November 2007 |author=Barass, Malcolm |date=6 June 2007 |work=Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation}}</ref> On 15 April 1915, when No. 8 Squadron was grouped with [[No. XIII Squadron RAF|No. 13 Squadron]] to form RFC's new [[Fifth Wing, RFC|5th Wing]], Charlton temporarily took command until he travelled to France.<ref name="8_sqn_history">{{cite web |url=http://www.8squadron.co.uk/history_1915-1920.php |title=Early Days – World War I – 1915–1920 |accessdate=3 November 2007 |date=4 September 2006 |work=No. 8 Squadron Web Site |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611023956/http://www.8squadron.co.uk/history_1915-1920.php |archive-date=11 June 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Iraq== On 2 February 1923, Air Commodore Charlton took up the post of Chief Staff Officer at the headquarters of the RAF's [[RAF Iraq Command|Iraq Command]]. It was at this time that the RAF employed the bombing of [[Kurdistan]]i villages with the intent of pacifying tribal opposition. Charlton opposed this policy and he went on to openly criticize such bombing actions. Within a year of his arrival, Charlton resigned from his post in Iraq. In the same month he arrived, Charlton visited the local hospital in [[Diwaniya]], and was shocked by seeing the wounds of Kurds injured in RAF bombing raids present, later writing in his memoirs that "indiscriminate bombing of a populace... with the liability of killing women and children, was the nearest thing to wanton slaughter."<ref>[[Sven Lindqvist]], "A History of Bombing" (''Nu dog du: bombernas århundrade''), 1999, relevant quotation at [http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/culture/lawrence.htm]</ref>
On his return to Great Britain, Charlton expected to be summoned to see the [[Chief of the Air Staff (United Kingdom)|Chief of the Air Staff]], [[Hugh Trenchard, 1st Viscount Trenchard|Hugh Trenchard]]. The summons never came.
When the summons did not come, Charlton requested an interview with Trenchard. Trenchard asked Charlton why he had requested the interview and the following exchange took place:
Charlton: "About my reasons for resigning." Trenchard: "Look here, Charlton. You resigned, and I accept your resignation. There's nothing more to be said." Charlton: "Won't there be an official enquiry, then?" Trenchard: "An inquiry into what? Your conscience? Certainly not."
Although Charlton was barred from further postings in Iraq, he went on to serve as [[Air Officer Commanding]] [[No. 3 Group RAF|No 3 Group]]. Charlton requested early retirement, which he was granted.
==Later life== In retirement, he became an author of adventure fiction for children. At this time, he also wrote ''Charlton, an autobiography'', published by Penguin Books (no. 163, 1938); this work was rather candid and was written in the third person singular. In 1938, he published ''The Air Defence of Britain'', a reasoned analysis and prediction of the impending [[Second World War]], correctly emphasizing the crucial importance which bombing civilian populations would have. Charlton was homosexual and lived with an old RAF friend, Tom Wichelo; he belonged to a circle including [[Edward Morgan Forster]], [[Joe Ackerley]], [[Raymond Mortimer]] and [[John Gielgud]].<ref>Tamagne, Florence. ''History of Homosexuality in Europe, 1919–1939''. Algora Publishing, 2004, p. 203</ref>
==Legacy== In recent years, the memory of Charlton was taken up by opponents of the present war in Iraq, and specifically by British opponents of their country's involvement in that war, who hold him up as an example to be emulated by present-day officers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.richardneville.com.au/Satire/Satire200307.html|publisher=Richard Neville|title=Merciless Savagery From The Sky|accessdate=14 February 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204142522/http://www.richardneville.com.au/Satire/Satire200307.html|archivedate=4 February 2014}}</ref>
Commentator [[Mike Marqusee]] in ''[[The Guardian]]'' expressed the opinion that Charlton should have had a monument erected in his honour at London, rather than his fellow RAF commander [[Arthur Harris|Arthur "Bomber" Harris]] who conducted the bombings of Iraq without compunction and went on to bomb the German cities in [[World War II]].<ref>Mike Marqusee, "Imperial whitewash – feelgood versions of British history are blinding us to the ways in which we are even now repeating it" ''The Guardian'', 31 July 2006 [https://web.archive.org/web/20121016000842/http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/jul/31/whitewashingtheempire]</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==External links== *[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Charlton.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Cdre Charlton] *[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47193 Dictionary of National Biography – Charlton, Lionel Evelyn Oswald] (requires login) *[http://airminded.org/biographies/l-e-o-charlton/ Airminded – Air Power and British Society 1908 – 1939 – L E O Charlton]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-new|reason=Squadron established}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Officer Commanding]] [[No. 8 Squadron RAF|No. 8 Squadron]] [[Royal Flying Corps|RFC]]|years=1915}} {{s-aft|after=[[Archibald MacLean]]}} |- {{s-new|reason=Wing established}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Officer Commanding]] [[No. 5 Wing RAF|Fifth Wing]] [[Royal Flying Corps|RFC]]<br><small>Temporary appointment</small>|years=1915}} {{s-aft|after=[[Geoffrey Salmond]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Sefton Brancker]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Director of Air Organization|years=February–October 1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[Guy Livingston (British Army officer)|Guy Livingston]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Charles Longcroft|C A H Longcroft]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Brigadier-General Commanding [[V Brigade RFC]]|years=1917-1918}} {{s-vac|unknown}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Thomas Higgins (RAF officer)|Thomas Higgins]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Air Officer Commanding]] [[No. 7 Group RAF|No. 7 Group]]|years=1922}} {{s-aft|after=[[Edward Masterman]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Tom Webb-Bowen]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Air Officer Commanding]] [[No. 3 Group RAF|No. 3 Group]]|years=March–December 1924}} {{s-aft|after=[[Robert Gordon (RAF officer)|Robert Gordon]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlton, Lionel}} [[Category:1879 births]] [[Category:1958 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]] [[Category:Lancashire Fusiliers officers]] [[Category:Royal Air Force generals of World War I]] [[Category:Military history of Iraq]] [[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:Gay military personnel]] [[Category:British LGBTQ military personnel]] [[Category:English gay writers]] [[Category:Officers of the Legion of Honour]] [[Category:20th-century English male writers]] [[Category:Military personnel from the City of Westminster]] [[Category:19th-century English LGBTQ people]] [[Category:20th-century English LGBTQ people]] [[Category:British recipients of the Legion of Honour]]