Reginald Wingate

General Sir Francis Reginald Wingate, 1st Baronet GCB GCVO GBE KCMG DSO TD (25 June 1861–29 January 1953), usually known as Reginald Wingate, was a British general and administrator in Egypt and the Sudan.

Early life

Wingate was born at Port Glasgow, Renfrewshire (now Inverclyde), the seventh son of Andrew Wingate, a textile merchant of Glasgow, and Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Turner of Dublin. His father died when he was a year old, and the family, in straitened circumstances, moved to Jersey, where he was educated at St James's Collegiate School.

Military career

He entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery on 27 July 1880. [LondonGazette|issue=24870|startpage=4258|date=3 August 1880|accessdate=2007-11-07] He served in India and Aden from March 1881 to 1883, when he joined the 4th Battalion of the Egyptian Army [LondonGazette|issue=25300|startpage=6688|date=28 December 1883|accessdate=2008-01-07] on its reorganisation by Sir Evelyn Wood with the brevet rank of Major. In the Gordon Relief Expedition of 1884–1885 he was ADC and military secretary to Sir Evelyn. In 1883 he received the Order of the Osmanieh 4th Class from the Khedive. [LondonGazette|issue=25287|startpage=5381|date=13 November 1883|accessdate=2007-11-07] In June 1885 he was Mentioned in Despatches for service in operations in the Suakin and Upper Nile regions. [LondonGazette|issue=25505|supp=yes|startpage=4042|date=25 August 1885|accessdate=2007-11-07]

After holding an appointment in England for a brief period as ADC to Wood, who was now General Officer Commanding Eastern District, [LondonGazette|issue=25572|startpage=1469|date=26 March 1886|accessdate=2007-11-07] he rejoined the Egyptian Army in 1886 [LondonGazette|issue=25623|startpage=4327|date=7 September 1886|accessdate=2008-01-07] as assistant military secretary to Sir Francis Grenfell. In 1887 he received the Order of the Medjidieh 4th Class. [LondonGazette|issue=25697|startpage=2441|date=3 May 1887|accessdate=2007-11-07] He took part in the operations on the Sudan frontier in 1889, including the engagement at Toski — for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) [LondonGazette|issue=25991|startpage=5919|date=8 November 1889|accessdate=2007-11-07] — and in the further operations in 1891, being present at the capture of Tokar. His principal work was in the intelligence branch, [LondonGazette|issue=25971|startpage=4841|endpage=4842|date=6 September 1889|accessdate=2007-11-07] of which he became assistant adjutant-general in 1888 and director in 1892. A master of Arabic, his knowledge of the country, the examination of prisoners, refugees and others from the Sudan, and the study of documents captured from the Dervishes enabled him to publish in 1891 "Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan", an authoritative account of the rise of the Muhammad Ahmad and of subsequent events in the Sudan up to that date. In 1891 he was promoted to the 3rd Class of the Order of the Medjidieh. [LondonGazette|issue=26193|startpage=4437|date=18 August 1891|accessdate=2008-01-07] [LondonGazette|issue=26196|startpage=4614|date=28 August 1891|accessdate=2008-01-07] In 1894 he was governor of Suakin. He was appointed Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the 1895 Queen's Birthday Honours. [LondonGazette|issue=26633|startpage=3315|endpage=3316|date=11 June 1895|accessdate=2008-01-07] and was promoted to Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on 18 November 1896. [LondonGazette|issue=26795|startpage=6272|date=17 November 1896|accessdate=2008-01-07]

Largely through his assistance, Father Ohrwalder and two nuns escaped from Omdurman in 1891. Wingate also made the arrangements which led to the escape of Slatin Pasha in 1895. He translated into English Father Ohrwalder's narrative ("Ten Years in the Mahdi's Camp", 1892) and Slatin's book ("Fire and Sword in the Sudan", 1896).

As director of military intelligence he served in the campaigns of 1896–1898 which resulted in the reconquest of the Sudan, including the engagement at Firket, the battles of the Atbara and Omdurman and the expedition to Fashoda. He was again Mentioned in Despatches for this work. [LondonGazette|issue=26791|startpage=6004|endpage=6005|date=3 November 1896|accessdate=2007-11-07] He briefly (March–June 1897) went to Abyssinia as second in command of the Rennell Rodd mission, for which he was awarded the Star of Ethiopia 2nd Class. [LondonGazette|issue=26886|startpage=4812|date=27 August 1897|accessdate=2008-01-07] For his services he was promoted Brevet Colonel and made an extra ADC to Queen Victoria on 17 December 1897, [LondonGazette|issue=26946|startpage=1503|date=11 March 1898|accessdate=2008-01-07] received the thanks of Parliament, and was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) on 11 November 1898. [LondonGazette|issue=27023|startpage=6689|date=15 November 1898|accessdate=2008-01-07] On 8 September 1898 he was promoted to the regimental rank of Major. [LondonGazette|issue=27008|startpage=5651|date=27 September 1898|accessdate=2008-01-07] Wingate was in command of an expeditionary force which in November 1899 defeated the remnant of the Dervish host at the Umm Diwaykarat, Kordofan, the "khalifa" being among the slain. For this achievement he was promoted to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) on 13 March 1900 [LondonGazette|issue=27173|startpage=1709|date=13 March 1900|accessdate=2008-01-07] and awarded the Order of Osmanieh 2nd Class. [LondonGazette|issue=27163|supp=yes|startpage=908|date=9 February 1900|accessdate=2008-01-07]

Administrative career

In December 1899, on Lord Kitchener being summoned to South Africa, Sir Reginald Wingate succeeded him as Governor-General of the Sudan and "Sirdar" of the Egyptian Army, being promoted to Local Major-General on 22 December 1899. [LondonGazette|issue=27171|startpage=1526|date=6 March 1900|accessdate=2008-01-07] His administration of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, between 1899 and 1916, was successful, with the country regaining a degree of prosperity and its infrastructure being rebuilt and expanded. In 1901 he was promoted to the Order of the Medjidieh 1st Class [LondonGazette|issue=27263|startpage=81|date=4 January 1901|accessdate=2008-01-07] and in 1905 to the Order of the Osmanieh 1st Class. [LondonGazette|issue=27817|startpage=4901|date=14 July 1905|accessdate=2008-01-07] In 1903 he was promoted substantive Major-General and in 1908 Lieutenant-General. He was also created a "pasha" and in 1905 received the honorary degree of DCL from the University of Oxford. In 1909, at the request of the British government, Wingate undertook a special mission to Somaliland to report on the military situation in connection with the proposed evacuation of the interior of the protectorate. He was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) on 17 January 1912, [LondonGazette|issue=28580|startpage=1047|endpage=1048|date=13 February 1912|accessdate=2008-01-07] Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1914 King's Birthday Honours, [LondonGazette|issue=28842|supp=yes|startpage=4876|date=13 February 1912|accessdate=2008-01-07] and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1918 New Year Honours. [LondonGazette|issue=30460|supp=yes|startpage=365|date=4 January 1918|accessdate=2008-01-07] He was made Honorary Colonel of the 7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment on 16 December 1914, [LondonGazette|issue=29007|startpage=10703|date=15 December 1914|accessdate=2008-01-07] and a Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery on 17 May 1917. [LondonGazette|issue=30106|startpage=5407|date=1 June 1917|accessdate=2008-01-07] In 1915 he was awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Nile [LondonGazette|issue=29368|startpage=11320|date=16 November 1915|accessdate=2008-01-07] and in 1917 the Grand Cordon of the Order of Mohammed Ali. [LondonGazette|issue=30030|supp=yes|startpage=3826|date=20 April 1917|accessdate=2008-01-07] He was promoted General between 1912 and 1914. From 1916 to 1919 he was also commander of military operations in the Hedjaz. [LondonGazette|issue=31655|supp=yes|startpage=14290|date=21 November 1919|accessdate=2008-01-07]

In 1917, Wingate succeeded Sir Henry McMahon as High Commissioner in Egypt, a post he held until 1919. He was not a successful administrator in the very different political climate in that country, and was made a scapegoat for the riots incited by Saad Zaghlul and his party that plagued Egypt. Angry at his treatment, Wingate refused to actually resign, even after he was officially replaced by Lord Allenby, and threatened to embarrass the British Government. He was made a knight of the Venerable Order of St John in 1919. [LondonGazette|issue=31380|startpage=7064|date=3 June 1919|accessdate=2008-01-07] He was refused a peerage or another appointment, although he was created a baronet in the 1920 King's Birthday Honours, [LondonGazette|issue=31931|supp=yes|startpage=6314|date=4 June 1920|accessdate=2008-01-07] gazetted as Baronet Wingate of Dunbar, in the County of Haddington, and of Port Sudan. [LondonGazette|issue=32035|startpage=8860|date=31 August 1920|accessdate=2008-01-07] He never held another public or military office, retiring from the Army on 1 February 1922, [LondonGazette|issue=32595|supp=yes|startpage=907|date=31 January 1922|accessdate=2008-01-07] but became a director of a number of companies. He continued to hold his honorary positions in the army, as Colonel Commandant, Royal Artillery and Honorary Colonel of the 6th/7th battalion Manchester Regiment (which he retained until 27 September 1949. [LondonGazette|issue=38852|supp=yes|startpage=1095|date=3 March 1950|accessdate=2008-01-07] ), for these services he was awarded the Efficiency Decoration in 1935. [LondonGazette|issue=34156|supp=yes|startpage=2898|date=3 May 1935|accessdate=2008-01-07] He was also appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of East Lothian. [LondonGazette|issue=33549|supp=yes|startpage=7073|date=5 November 1929|accessdate=2008-01-07] For many years he was the senior general of the British Army.

Wingate married Catherine Rundle (later Dame Catherine Wingate) on 18 June 1888.

Footnotes

References

*cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/36977|title=‘Wingate, Sir Francis Reginald, first baronet (1861–1953)’|first=M W|last=Daly|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|month=September|year=2004 (online edition, January 2008)|format=subscription required|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/36977|accessdate=2008-01-07
*1911

Further reading

*cite book |author=Daly, Martin W. |title=The Sirdar: Sir Reginald Wingate and the British Empire in the Middle East |publisher=American Philosophical Society |location=Philadelphia |year=1997 |pages= |isbn=0-87169-222-8 |oclc= |doi=|url = http://books.google.com/books?id=eToLAAAAIAAJ&dq=0871692228&output=html Biography, online in full

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=3swNAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:Francis+inauthor:Wingate&as_brr=1#PPR13,M1 "Mahdiism and the Egyptian Sudan: Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Mahdiism and of Subsequent events in the Sudan Up to the Present Time" by Francis Reginald Wingate]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=Rd8TAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:Francis+inauthor:Wingate&as_brr=1#PPR1,M1 "Ten Years' Captivity in the Mahdi's Camp, 1882-1892" by Fr. Ohrwalder, translated by Wingate]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=Y-MTAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1&dq=inauthor:Francis+inauthor:Wingate&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1 "Fire and Sword in the Sudan" by Slatin, translated by Wingate]