Charles Woollcombe


Sir Charles Louis Woollcombe was a British Army General during World War I.

Early life and education

Woollcombe was born in Devon, the eldest son of Rev. Louis Woollcombe, Rector of Petrockstowe, and Augusta Rundell Brown. He was educated at Marlborough College. After begin a career as an accountant, he decided to enter the military and in 1876 entered Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was a member of the football teams at Marlborough and Sandhurst.

Military career

Woollcombe originally served with the 1st Devon Militia, before obtaining a Regular commission in the 46th Regiment of Foot in 1876. In 1877, he transferred to the 25th Regiment of Foot, which was retitled as the King's Own Scottish Borderers in 1887. He took part in the Peshawar Valley expedition and the Khyber Line Force in Afghanistan between 1878 and 1880 and in the Chin Lushai expedition in Burma between 1889 and 1890.
He was Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for Musketry in Bengal from 1890 and then Brigade Major for the Chitral Relief Force in Buram in 1895. He then served on the North West Frontier in India becoming Assistant Adjutant General of the Mohmand Field Force in 1897. He then took part in the Tirah expedition from 1897 to 1898 and then became Assistant Adjutant General in India in 1899.
He served in the Second Boer War in South Africa and then became Assistant Adjutant General for Musketry in India between 1901 and 1906.
He became Commander of the Allahabad Brigade in India in 1906, commander of the Garhwal Brigade in India in 1907 and General Officer Commanding the Highland Division in 1911.
He served in the First World War as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Eastern Command from 1914 to 1915 when he became GOC of the 2nd Army, Central Force. Then in 1916 he became GOC IV Corps. Finally in 1918 he returned to his post as GOC-in-Chief at Eastern Command: he retired in 1920.

Personal life

In 1886, he married Agnes Meade Murray, youngest daughter of General Sir John Irvine Murray. They had two sons, Malcolm Louis and 2nd Lt. Charles Stephenson, and a daughter, Joan. The younger son was killed in action while serving with his father's regiment, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, at the Battle of La Bassée on 12 October 1914.
He died at his home, Chat Moss, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex.