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Edward Bulfin

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Sir Edward Bulfin
Born(1862-11-06)6 November 1862
Rathfarnham, Ireland
Died20 August 1939(1939-08-20) (aged 76)
Boscombe, Bournemouth, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1884–1926
RankGeneral
UnitRoyal Irish Fusiliers
Green Howards
CommandsXXI Corps
60th (2/2nd London) Division
28th Division
2nd Brigade
Essex Brigade
Battles / warsSecond Boer War
First World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Knight Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Holy See)

General Sir Edward Stanislaus Bulfin, KCB, CVO (6 November 1862 − 20 August 1939) was a British Army general during the First World War, where he established a reputation as an excellent commander at the brigade, divisional and corps levels. He was most noted for his actions during the First Battle of Ypres, when he organized impromptu forces to slow down the German assault. In 1917–18 he commanded the XXI Corps in the Sinai and Palestine campaign.

Early life

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Bulfin was born Woodtown Park, Rathfarnham, County Dublin, the second son of Patrick Bulfin and Teresa Clare Carroll.[1] His father was a son of Edward Bulfin from Derrinlough, King's County (now County Offaly), and was elected Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1870.[2] He was educated at Stonyhurst College, and then at Kensington Catholic Public School[1] Although he attended Trinity College, Dublin, he did not take a degree, choosing a military career instead.[1]

Military career

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From Dublin University he entered the Armagh Militia from where he was commissioned into the Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) in 1884,[3][4] following militia service with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.[5][6][7] He was dispatched to India on 31 December 1889, and first saw active service in Burma in that year.[8] He was promoted to captain on 30 January 1895.[9] In 1898, after returning to England, he was appointed Garrison Adjutant at Dover, and in November embarked for South Africa with his fellow Irishman General Sir William Butler, as Assistant Military Secretary.

When the Second Boer War broke out, in 1899 he was appointed brigade major to the 9th Brigade.[10] He saw action at several skirmishes in South Africa, and was promoted to a brevet major in November 1900. He was present at several battles including Belmont and Graspan, Modder River, Magersfontein, Rhenoster and Lindley. He returned to the regular rank of captain in his regiment on 12 December 1901,[11] and served in South Africa until the end of the war, when he left Cape Town on board the SS Walmer Castle in late June 1902,[12] arriving at Southampton the following month. On his return to England he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel in the South Africa honours list published on 26 June 1902,[13] and abandoned regimental soldiering in favour of a staff career.[14][5] From October 1902 to 1904, he served as deputy assistant adjutant-general with the 2nd Division, 1st Army Corps,[15] and on 28 November 1903 he received the substantive rank of major. From 1906 to 1910 he served as assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general for Cape Colony.[1] After returning to England, he was promoted to colonel and given command of the Essex Brigade, an unusual appointment as Bulfin had never commanded a battalion.[1][16] In July 1913, he was promoted again, to the temporary rank of brigadier general, and appointed to the prestigious command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade.[1][17][18]

From 1914 to 1939 he was Regimental Colonel of Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment).[19]

First World War

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On the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Bulfin and the 2nd Brigade were transported to the Western Front as part of the original British Expeditionary Force (BEF).[1] During the fighting around Ypres at the end of October 1914, he organized an impromptu force of six battalions (known as "Bulfin's force") and led a counterattack to stem the German advance.[1] This action won him considerable praise from the general officer commanding (GOC) of I Corps, Lieutenant General Sir Douglas Haig, as well as the commander of the BEF, Field Marshal Sir John French.[20]

In December, Bulfin, promoted to major general in October,[21] was made GOC of the newly formed 28th Division, and led this formation through the heavy German gas attacks at the Second Battle of Ypres, and also at the Battle of Loos in the latter part of the year.[1]

Bulfin fell ill in October 1915, and spent the first half of 1916 recuperating in England, thus avoiding a transfer to Salonika.[1] He returned to the Western Front in June 1916 to become GOC of the 60th Division during the Battle of the Somme, although the division did not play a significant role in the offensive.[20]

Salonika and Palestine

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Bulfin, third from right, with other generals on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem, 19 March 1918

In December 1916, the 60th Division was transferred to Salonika, although they remained for only six months and took part in no serious fighting.[1] Moving to Palestine in June 1917, Bulfin was promoted to lieutenant-general and given command of XXI Corps.[20] He proved a capable corps commander, leading his formation through Ottoman defenses at the Third Battle of Gaza, opening the way for the capture of Jerusalem.[1] He later commanded the corps in the overwhelming victory at the Battle of Megiddo in the waning days of the war.[1]

Post war

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After the armistice, Bulfin, promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant general on 1 January 1919,[22] remained in the army in a variety of staff positions, gaining a promotion to full general in May 1925[23][24] and finally retiring in 1926.[1] His first position was to remain in the Middle East and Egypt in particular. During the Egyptian revolution of 1919 he was known to be a very effective military leader in putting down the unrest especially through organising 'flying columns'.[25] In the summer of 1920 he was offered the job of Chief of Police and Head of Secret Intelligence in Ireland based on his loyalty to the Crown, his Irish origins and his swift handling of the nationalist unrest in Egypt in 1919. Bulfin refused the appointment on the grounds that as a Catholic and an Irishman it would be distasteful to him to do any work which was not of a purely military character.[26][27]

Bufin wrote the foreword to Philip Hugh Dalbiac's History of the 60th Division (2/2nd London Division).[28]

He died of heart failure at the age of 76 at his home in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, on 20 August 1939, shortly before the beginning of the Second World War.[1][29][30] He was buried "in an easily missed corner" at Wimborne Road Cemetery, Bournemouth, close to the graves of two of his sisters. On the unpretentious headstone, above his name and decorations, is inscribed 'Here sleepeth until the great reveille sounds'."[31]

Family

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Bulfin married Mary Frances Lonergan in 1898 (immediately prior to posting to South Africa), with whom he had two children.[1]

Arms

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Coat of arms of Edward Bulfin
Notes
Confirmed 19 June 1916 by George James Burtchaell, Deputy Ulster King of Arms.[32]
Crest
A demi-lion Or holding in the dexter paw a sword passing through a civic crown as in the arms and charged on the shoulder with a trefoil slipped Vert.
Torse
Of the colours.
Escutcheon
Bendy of six Or and Vert on a chief Ermine between two bees Proper a sword in bend sinister blade upwards also Proper passing through a civic crown of the second resting on the hilt.
Motto
Vincit Veritas

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Bourne, J. M. (2004). "Edward Bulfin". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32162. Retrieved 25 June 2017. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "Library of Ireland". Retrieved 25 June 2017.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "No. 25413". The London Gazette. 11 November 1884. p. 4838.
  4. ^ Powell 2018, p. 7.
  5. ^ a b "Centre for War Studies – University of Birmingham". www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 16 March 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  6. ^ "No. 25175". The London Gazette. 8 December 1882. p. 6251.
  7. ^ Powell 2018, p. 6.
  8. ^ Powell 2018, pp. 8–10.
  9. ^ Powell 2018, p. 10.
  10. ^ "No. 27160". The London Gazette. 2 February 1900. p. 694.
  11. ^ "No. 27423". The London Gazette. 8 April 1902. p. 2336.
  12. ^ "The Army in South Africa – Troops returning home". The Times. No. 36811. London. 4 July 1902. p. 9.
  13. ^ "No. 27448". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 June 1902. pp. 4191–4194.
  14. ^ "No. 27516". The London Gazette. 16 January 1903. p. 308.
  15. ^ "No. 27512". The London Gazette. 2 January 1903. p. 6.
  16. ^ Powell 2018, pp. 48–49.
  17. ^ Powell 2018, p. 50.
  18. ^ "No. 28735". The London Gazette. 8 July 1913. p. 4869.
  19. ^ "The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment)". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 10 February 2006. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  20. ^ a b c "First World War.com – Who's Who – Edward Bulfin". www.firstworldwar.com. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  21. ^ "No. 28961". The London Gazette. 3 November 1914. p. 8881.
  22. ^ "No. 31093". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 54.
  23. ^ "No. 33064". The London Gazette. 7 July 1925. p. 4530.
  24. ^ Powell 2018, p. 229.
  25. ^ Richmond, J.C.B. (23 November 2012). Egypt, 1798–1952: Her Advance Towards a Modern Identity. Routledge. p. 181. ISBN 978-0415811187.
  26. ^ Jeffery 1997, p. 108.
  27. ^ Powell 2018, p. 222.
  28. ^ Philip Hugh Dalbiac. History of the 60th Division (2/2nd London Division).
  29. ^ Davies & Maddocks 2014, p. 121.
  30. ^ Powell 2018, p. 232.
  31. ^ Powell 2018, p. 233.
  32. ^ "Grants and Confirmations of Arms Vol. L". National Library of Ireland. p. 111. Retrieved 26 June 2022.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Jones, Spencer (2015). Stemming the Tide: Officers and Leadership in the British Expeditionary Force 1914. Helion. ISBN 978-1910294727.
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Honorary titles
Preceded by Colonel of Alexandra Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment)
1914–1939 		Succeeded by
Military offices
New command GOC 28th Division
1914–1915 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 60th (2/2nd London) Division
1915–1917 		Succeeded by

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