# Thomas Marden > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Marden > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Thomas_Marden.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Marden > Source revision: 1357069202 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) [Major-General](/source/Major_general_(United_Kingdom)) **Sir Thomas Owen Marden** (15 September 1866 – 11 September 1951) was a [British Army](/source/British_Army) officer, active during the [Second Boer War](/source/Second_Boer_War) and [World War I](/source/World_War_I), where he commanded a battalion of the [Welsh Regiment](/source/Welch_Regiment), a brigade, and finally the [6th Division](/source/6th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)). Following the war, he commanded a British occupying force in Turkey during the [Chanak Crisis](/source/Chanak_Crisis) in the early 1920s. ## Early military career Born in [Bath, Somerset](/source/Bath,_Somerset), [England](/source/England), Marden attended [Berkhamsted School](/source/Berkhamsted_School) and the [Royal Military College at Sandhurst](/source/Royal_Military_College,_Sandhurst), from where he was [commissioned](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) as a [subaltern](/source/Subaltern_(military)), with the rank of [lieutenant](/source/Lieutenant_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)), into the [Cheshire Regiment](/source/Cheshire_Regiment) on 25 August 1886.[3] He saw service with his regiment in Burma from 1887 to 1889, during the colonial campaigns following the [Third Anglo-Burmese War](/source/Third_Anglo-Burmese_War), and was promoted to [captain](/source/Captain_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)) on 15 May 1896.[4] Following the outbreak of the [Second Boer War](/source/Second_Boer_War) in October 1899, he was posted on special duty as district commandant in [South Africa](/source/Union_of_South_Africa). Leaving London in February 1900, he was senior officer in command of reinforcements on board the SS *Cheshire* for the journey,[5] and arrived in [South Africa](/source/South_Africa) the following month. He was [mentioned in dispatches](/source/Mentioned_in_dispatches) for service during the war. He returned to England to attend the [Staff College, Camberley](/source/Staff_College,_Camberley), graduating in 1902 and posted to staff duties in India as a deputy assistant adjutant-general (DAAG). In 1904 he was posted to the directorate of training at the [War Office](/source/War_Office) in London,[6] moving to a staff posting in South Africa in 1910, taking over from Brevet Colonel [William Heneker](/source/William_Heneker).[7][8] Whilst on staff duties, in December 1905, he had been promoted to a [majority](/source/Major_(United_Kingdom)) in the Northumberland Fusiliers (later the [Royal Northumberland Fusiliers](/source/Royal_Northumberland_Fusiliers)),[9] and was appointed as a GSO2 at the [War Office](/source/War_Office) in July 1907.[10] In July 1908 he was transferred into the [Welch Regiment](/source/Welch_Regiment) as a major, supernumerary to establishment.[11] He was soon promoted to the substantive rank.[12] In April 1910 he succeeded [William Heneker](/source/William_Heneker) as a deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general.[13] In 1912 he was promoted to [lieutenant colonel](/source/Lieutenant_colonel_(United_Kingdom)), and left South Africa in order to take up command of the 1st Battalion, Welsh Regiment.[6] ## First World War At the outbreak of [World War I](/source/World_War_I), Marden's battalion was stationed in [India](/source/British_Raj); it was brought back to the United Kingdom and allocated to the [84th Infantry Brigade](/source/84th_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)) of the [28th Division](/source/28th_Division_(United_Kingdom)), which was to be sent to the Mediterranean.[14] Whilst passing through France, units of the division were used to support operations on the [Western Front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I)), and Marden was wounded by shrapnel whilst commanding his battalion at the [Second Battle of Ypres](/source/Second_Battle_of_Ypres) in April-May 1915.[6] Later in November 1915, he was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general[15] in order to take command of the [114th Infantry Brigade](/source/114th_Brigade_(United_Kingdom)), part of the [38th (Welsh) Division](/source/38th_(Welsh)_Infantry_Division), a [Kitchener's Army](/source/Kitchener's_Army) formation.[7] He was promoted to brevet colonel as a reward, "for Distinguished Service in the Field",[16] in June 1916. He commanded the brigade until mid-1917, during which time it fought at the [Battle of the Somme](/source/Battle_of_the_Somme) in mid-1916, where it took heavy losses, and on the first day of the [Battle of Passchendaele](/source/Battle_of_Passchendaele) a year later.[6] He was made a substantive colonel in December 1916.[17] In August 1917 he was again promoted, this time to the temporary rank of major general,[18][19] to become GOC of the [6th Division](/source/6th_Infantry_Division_(United_Kingdom)) in the place of Major General [Charles Ross](/source/Charles_Ross_(British_Army_officer,_born_1864)), which he commanded at the [Battle of Cambrai](/source/Battle_of_Cambrai_(1917)) in November and in the [Hundred Days Offensive](/source/Hundred_Days_Offensive) in the latter half of 1918.[20] Following the [Armistice with Germany](/source/Armistice_of_11_November_1918), he commanded a brigade in the occupying [British Army of the Rhine](/source/British_Army_of_the_Rhine) (BAOR).[6] For his services during the war, he was [mentioned in despatches](/source/Mentioned_in_despatches) eight times, and made a Companion of the [Order of the Bath](/source/Order_of_the_Bath) and a Companion of the [Order of St Michael and St George](/source/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George), as well as being made an officer of the French [Légion d'Honneur](/source/L%C3%A9gion_d'Honneur) and the Russian [Order of St. Vladimir](/source/Order_of_St._Vladimir) (fourth class, swords), and awarded the [Croix de Guerre](/source/Croix_de_Guerre) with palm.[7] His rank of major general, only temporary during the war, was made substantive in June 1919.[21] ## Later service In May 1920 Marden was appointed colonel of the Welch Regiment[22] and in July 1921 was given command of the British forces [occupying Constantinople](/source/Occupation_of_Istanbul).[23] During the [Chanak Crisis](/source/Chanak_Crisis) of 1922 he played a key role in negotiating a peaceful settlement between British and Turkish forces, for which he later received a knighthood.[6] He returned home in 1923 to become GOC of the [53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division](/source/53rd_(Welsh)_Infantry_Division), a [Territorial Army](/source/Army_Reserve_(United_Kingdom)) (TA) formation. He took command in June from Major General [Archibald Montgomery](/source/Archibald_Montgomery-Massingberd)[24] before retiring from the army in June 1927.[25] He held the ceremonial colonelcy of the Welch Regiment from 1920 to January 1941.[7][26] In 1920, he wrote a short history of 6th Division from 1914 to 1918,[20] and in 1932 wrote a history of the Welch Regiment during the same period.[6] He died at [Folkestone](/source/Folkestone), [Kent](/source/Kent), in 1951 aged eighty-four and was buried St Martin's churchyard at nearby [Cheriton](/source/Cheriton,_Kent). ## References 1. No. 29202. 22 June 1915. p. 6113. 1. No. 29275. 24 August 1915. p. 8504. 1. No. 25619. 24 August 1886. p. 4131. 1. No. 26767. 11 August 1896. p. 4574. 1. "The War – Embarcation of Troops". No. 36064. 13 February 1900. p. 11. 1. Obituary in the *Times*, p. 6, 12 September 1951. 1. "Marden, Major-General Sir Thomas Owen", in [*Who Was Who*](http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U240359). Online ed. London: A & C Black. 2007. 1. No. 28362. 3 May 1910. p. 3064. 1. No. 27866. 22 December 1905. p. 9174. 1. No. 28036. 2 July 1907. p. 4522. 1. No. 28156. 7 July 1908. p. 4941. 1. No. 28164. 4 August 1908. p. 5733. 1. No. 28362. 3 May 1910. p. 3064. 1. [The Welsh Regiment in 1914–18](http://www.1914-1918.net/welsh.htm) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150228160348/http://www.1914-1918.net/welsh.htm) 28 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine 1. No. 29373. 19 November 1915. pp. 11479–11480. 1. No. 12947. 5 June 1916. p. 989. 1. No. 30106. 1 June 1917. p. 5405. 1. No. 30325. 5 October 1917. p. 10352. 1. No. 30438. 18 December 1917. p. 13330. 1. Marden, Thomas Owen (1920). [*A short history of the 6th Division*](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/20115/20115-h/20115-h.htm) 1. No. 31395. 6 June 1919. p. 7421. 1. No. 31934. 8 June 1920. p. 6417. 1. No. 32549. 14 December 1921. p. 10219. 1. No. 32833. 12 June 1923. p. 4139. 1. No. 33281. 3 June 1927. p. 3630. 1. No. 35044. 14 January 1941. p. 340. ## External links |- |- --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Thomas Marden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Marden) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Marden?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.