{{Short description|British Royal Artillery officer during the Second Boer War and World War I}} {{for|the film critic|Noël Burch}} {{Use British English|date=November 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = General | name = Sir Noel Birch | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|GBE|KCB|KCMG}} | image = Major-general James Frederick Noel Birch, Cb Art.IWMART1784.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = 1917 portrait by Francis Dodd | birth_name = James Frederick Noel Birch | nickname = 'Curly' | birth_date = {{birth date|1865|12|29|df=yes}} | birth_place = Llanrhaiadr, Denbighshire | death_date = {{death date and age|1939|02|03|1865|12|29|df=yes}} | death_place = Lambeth, London, England | burial_place= | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army | service_years = 1885–1927 | rank = General | unit = Royal Horse Artillery | commands = Master-General of the Ordnance<br/>Territorial Army<br/>7th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery<br/>30th Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry | battles = {{tree list}} * Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War * Second Boer War ** Siege of Kimberley ** Battle of Diamond Hill * First World War ** Western Front *** Great Retreat *** First Battle of the Aisne {{tree list/end}} | awards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire<br/>Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath<br/>Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George<ref>{{London Gazette|city=e|issue=13186|date=1 January 1918|page=9}}</ref> | other_work = }} General '''Sir James Frederick Noel Birch''' (29 December 1865 – 3 February 1939) was a British Royal Artillery officer during the Second Boer War and the First World War who served as Master-General of the Ordnance from 1923 to 1927. The Birch gun was named after him.
==Military career== Birch was the second son of Major Richard Birch and was born at Llanrhaiadr, Denbighshire and educated at Giggleswick School, Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After graduating from the latter, he was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Royal Horse Artillery in May 1885.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25469|page=2157|date=12 May 1885}}</ref>
In 1895 to 1896 he took part in the Ashanti expedition. In the Second Boer War in South Africa he served with the Royal Horse Artillery in the Cavalry Division under the command of Sir John French, taking part in the relief of Kimberley, the operations in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and being present at the Battle of Diamond Hill. He was promoted on 15 March 1900 from the supernumary rank of captain to captain<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25469|page=2157|date=12 May 1885}}</ref> and then to major, dated 19 June,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27177|page=2040|date=27 March 1900}}</ref> and served in Cape Colony the following year. In January 1902 he received the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel when he was given command of the 30th Battalion of the Imperial Yeomanry,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=27415 |page=1731 |date=11 March 1902}}</ref> which left Southampton for South Africa four months later.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The War – The reinforcements |date=9 May 1902 |page=10 |issue=36763}}</ref> The battalion arrived in early May, shortly after the conclusion of hostilities, and he left for home again with the battalion in December 1902,<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home|date=22 December 1902 |page=10 |issue=36957}}</ref> and relinquished command in early February 1903.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=27521|page=679|date=3 February 1903}}</ref>
Birch was in command of the Riding Establishment at Woolwich from 1905 to 1907. In January 1912 he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28579|page=975|date=9 February 1912}}</ref> and commanded the 7th Brigade, Royal Horse Artillery.
[[File:Sir Douglas Haig with Currie and Canadian Division commanders (less Loomis, 3rd. Canadian Division) and Morrison, December 1918 in Bonn, Germany (19704524890) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, C-in-C of the BEF, with Lieutenant General Arthur Currie (left), GOC of the Canadian Corps, and Currie's senior commanders in Germany, December 1918. Standing behind Currie is Birch.]]
Birch went with his brigade to France in August 1914, serving under the command of Major General Edmund Allenby, in the retreat from Mons and in the First Battle of the Aisne and Ypres-Armentières. After serving as a GSO1 in October 1914,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28968|page=9108|date=6 November 1914|supp=y}}</ref> he was, in January 1915, promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general and appointed brigadier general, general staff (BGGS) of the Cavalry Corps, taking over from Brigadier General George Barrow.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29090|page=2225|date=2 March 1915|supp=y}}</ref> He was made a brevet colonel the next month<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=12776|page=307|date=23 February 1915|city=e}}</ref> and appointed a personal aide-de-camp to King George V.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29074|page=1687|date=16 February 1915|supp=y}}</ref>
A few months later he became commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of the 7th Division, going in the same position in July to the I Corps, then commanded by Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig. In May 1916, the month before 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> Haig brought him to general headquarters as artillery adviser, a post he held until the end of the war. He was promoted to temporary major general in February 1916,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29495|page=2332|date=29 February 1916|supp=y}}</ref> which was made substantive in January 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29886|page=15|date=29 December 1916|supp=y}}</ref> He was promoted again, to substantive lieutenant-general, in January 1919<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31092|page=13|date=31 December 1918|supp=y}}</ref> and in October that year he was made a colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31801|page=2437|date=27 February 1920|supp=y}}</ref>
In February 1920, Birch became director of remounts at the War Office, taking over from Major General William Henry Birkbeck.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31776|page=1788|date=10 February 1920|supp=y}}</ref> In the following year he was appointed director general of the Territorial Army<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32226|pages=1255–1256|date=11 February 1921|supp=y}}</ref> and the development of cadet corps. In 1923 he became colonel commandant of the Royal Horse Artillery, and in the same year he was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance, a post he held until 1927. He was promoted general in October 1926<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33207|page=6295|date=1 October 1926}}</ref> and retired from the army in the following year to become a director of Vickers-Armstrong.
Birch married Florence Hyacynthe Chetwode (1876–1938), the third daughter of Sir George Chetwode and Alice Jane Bass and sister of Philip Chetwode, 1st Baron Chetwode.
Birch died on 3 February 1939 at Kings College Hospital, London aged 73.
==Publications== * ''Modern Riding'' (1909) * ''Modern Riding and Horse Education'' (1912)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Sir John Du Cane}} {{s-ttl|title=Master-General of the Ordnance|years=1923–1927}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Webb Gillman}} {{s-break}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Noel}} Category:1865 births Category:1939 deaths Category:British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:Royal Horse Artillery officers Category:British Army generals of World War I Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:People educated at Giggleswick School Category:Military personnel from Denbighshire Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Category:Imperial Yeomanry officers Category:British Army generals