Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy

Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy
Bungo
Born	1862-09-11 Wrotham Park, Barnet, London, England
Died	1935-06-06 Thorpe Hall, Thorpe-le-Soken, England
Occupation	Army officer; Governor General of Canada; Police commissioner
Father	George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford
Mother	Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish
Partner	Marie Evelyn Moreton

Julian Hedworth George Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy ((1862-09-11)11 September 1862 – 6 June 1935(1935-06-06) (aged 72)) was a British army officer, commander of the Canadian Corps during the First World War, Governor General of Canada from 1921 to 1926, and subsequently Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Early life and military career

Byng was born on 11 September 1862 at Wrotham Park, Barnet, England, the youngest of thirteen children of George Stevens Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford and Harriet Elizabeth Cavendish, daughter of Charles Compton Cavendish. His family carried a distinguished military lineage — his great-great-great uncle Admiral John Byng had served in the Seven Years' War and his grandfather General Sir John Byng had fought in the Napoleonic Wars. Despite the family's aristocratic standing, Byng's father lacked the means to purchase a regular army commission for him.

He attended Eton College from around 1874 but was not a distinguished student. On 12 December 1879, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Middlesex Militia, later the 7th Battalion, King's Royal Rifle Corps. In 1882 the Prince of Wales offered him a commission in the 10th Hussars then stationed in India, and Byng joined the regiment at Lucknow in early 1883. To supplement his modest military pay he purchased and trained polo ponies for resale.

In December 1883 the 10th Hussars were diverted to eastern Sudan. At the Battle of Tamai on 13 March 1884, Byng had his horse shot from under him and was mentioned in dispatches. He was subsequently posted to Aldershot, appointed adjutant on 20 October 1886, and promoted captain on 4 January 1890. After attending the Staff College in 1893–94, he was promoted major in 1898.

Boer War

Ordered to South Africa in November 1899, Byng commanded the South African Light Horse, an irregular cavalry regiment of colonials. He was mentioned in dispatches five times, receiving promotion to brevet lieutenant-colonel in November 1900, brevet colonel in February 1902, and full lieutenant-colonel on 11 October 1902. In March 1902 he married Marie Evelyn Moreton, daughter of Richard Charles Moreton, who had served as assistant marshal of ceremonies to Queen Victoria. Evelyn had spent part of her childhood in Ottawa when her father was controller to Lord Lorne.

Interwar commands

Between 1904 and 1910 Byng's responsibilities expanded considerably. He established a cavalry school at Netheravon in 1904 and in 1905 was promoted to full colonel and temporary brigadier-general, commanding the 2nd Cavalry Brigade. He led the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot from 1907 to 1909, and was promoted major-general on 1 April 1909. On 9 October 1910 he took charge of the East Anglian Division of the Territorial Force, overseeing more than 17,000 part-time volunteers. The Byngs made their home in Great Dunmow, Essex, where Byng became the Boy Scout movement's first commissioner for north Essex. In September 1912 he and Evelyn travelled to Cairo, and on 30 October 1912 he assumed command of British forces in Egypt, responsible for a garrison of some 5,000 men guarding the Suez Canal.

First World War

Western Front and Gallipoli

When war broke out in August 1914, Byng was recalled to England to command the 3rd Cavalry Division, which saw action in Belgium at the First Battle of Ypres in the autumn of 1914. In May 1915 he was promoted temporary lieutenant-general and given corps command. Dispatched to the Gallipoli campaign in August 1915, he arrived at Suvla Bay on 24 August, quickly concluded the British position was untenable, and directed his staff to prepare evacuation plans. The December withdrawal was executed without loss of men, animals, or equipment. He received a KCB in March 1916 and briefly commanded the 17th Corps at Vimy Ridge before his next major appointment.

Canadian Corps

In late May 1916, Byng replaced Edwin Alderson as commander of the Canadian Corps. Unfamiliar with Canadians, he wrote to a colleague: "Why am I sent to the Canadians? I don't know a Canadian." He quickly asserted control over political interference in appointments: when Minister of Militia Sam Hughes ordered him to name Garnet Burk Hughes to command the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division after the death of Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer in June 1916, Byng refused and appointed Brigadier-General Louis James Lipsett instead, writing that to appoint political protégés to lead such soldiers was "little short of criminal." His corps became affectionately known as the "Byng Boys."

In January 1917, Byng received orders to capture Vimy Ridge, which had withstood repeated French assaults. He devised a meticulous plan featuring full-scale battlefield replicas behind the lines, coordinated artillery barrages, and strict unit timetables. A preparatory bombardment beginning 20 March 1917 expended more than a million rounds over nearly three weeks. On 9 April 1917 at 5:30 a.m., all four Canadian divisions attacked simultaneously. By 14 April the northern tip of the ridge had fallen. The corps captured 54 German heavy guns, 124 machine guns, 104 trench mortars, and some 4,000 prisoners, but at a cost of 10,602 casualties, including 3,598 killed.

3rd Army and Cambrai

In June 1917, Byng was promoted to full general and given command of the British 3rd Army, succeeding Arthur Currie as Canadian Corps commander. That autumn the 3rd Army executed the Battle of Cambrai, a novel operation that dispensed with preliminary bombardment and employed massed tanks to breach wire defences before infantry and cavalry advanced. Although German forces recaptured much of the ground within weeks, Byng's integrated use of infantry, tanks, and aircraft established a template for offensive operations in the Second World War. He was promoted to full general on 23 November 1917.

During the German spring 1918 offensive and the subsequent Hundred Days Offensive, the 3rd Army was continuously engaged. By the armistice on 11 November 1918 the army had sustained more than 115,000 casualties.

Governor General of Canada

Byng was appointed Governor General of Canada in June 1921, succeeding the Duke of Devonshire. On 2 August 1921, he received his commission and a GCMG from King George V. Julian and Evelyn arrived at Quebec City on 10 August 1921 and were welcomed by Prime Minister Arthur Meighen and Quebec premier Louis-Alexandre Taschereau. Breaking with precedent, Byng assembled a household that included Canadian members, among them Major Georges Vanier of the Royal 22nd Regiment.

The Byngs proved exceptionally popular with ordinary Canadians. Ottawa's social elite initially harboured reservations — the Byngs were less senior in rank than their ducal predecessors — but Julian and Evelyn broadened guest lists and held frequent informal gatherings for parliamentarians of all parties. They undertook four extended tours of western Canada, the Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. In July 1923, despite federal warnings of potential violence, they visited Sydney, Nova Scotia, during steelworker and coalminer strikes, refusing a police escort and meeting with union leaders James Bryson McLachlan and Daniel Livingstone. In 1925, Evelyn donated the Lady Byng Trophy to the National Hockey League for its most gentlemanly player, an award still presented annually.

The King–Byng Affair

The general election of 29 October 1925 returned Meighen's Conservatives with 116 seats, the Liberals under William Lyon Mackenzie King with 99, and Progressives with 24 — denying anyone a majority. King, having lost his own seat, requested permission to face the House of Commons rather than surrendering power, and Byng consented on condition that King not seek dissolution before first allowing Meighen an opportunity to govern if needed. King agreed.

In the spring of 1926, a major customs scandal implicating former minister Jacques Bureau came to light. On 26 June 1926, facing a censure vote he expected to lose, King requested dissolution of Parliament. Byng refused, reminding King of the undertaking he had given. King resigned, and Byng invited Meighen to attempt to form a government. Meighen's administration was short-lived: on 2 July a Liberal procedural motion passed by one vote, and Byng then granted Meighen dissolution. In the ensuing election of 14 September 1926, the Liberals prevailed. The constitutional historian Eugene Forsey later concluded, in his definitive 1943 study, that Byng had acted correctly, and historian H. Blair Neatby wrote in 2005 that "in constitutional terms, Byng was right and King was wrong."

Lord and Lady Byng delayed their departure until after the election. On 27 September 1926, the governor general laid the Altar of Remembrance stone in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower, Ottawa. The Byngs then departed from Quebec City; King sent only two junior ministers to see them off.

Later life

Elevated to viscount in October 1926, Byng briefly assisted at Canada's High Commission in London on emigration policy before, in July 1928, reluctantly accepting appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police after several refusals. On 26 July 1930, while Georges Vanier was visiting Thorpe Hall, Byng suffered a heart attack. He resigned the commissionership in October 1931. In April 1932 he and Evelyn visited Canada once more, arriving in Victoria after transiting the Panama Canal and touring extensively. In October 1932 he was promoted to field marshal, an honour he valued above all others.

Death

Early in 1935, during a visit to California, Byng suffered a slight stroke. After returning to England in late May, he developed abdominal pain; his heart was judged too weak to withstand surgery. Viscount Byng of Vimy died on 6 June 1935 at Thorpe Hall, Thorpe-le-Soken, Essex. He was buried at Beaumont-cum-Moze, England. Memorial services were held in Ottawa and Montreal, and churches across Canada held prayer services in his memory.

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography