Thomas Stanton Lambert

6/20/24, 11:46 PM Thomas Stanton Lambert - Wikipedia
Thomas Stanton Lambert

Major-General Thomas Stanton Lambert, CB CMG
Thomas Stanton Lambert
(1870/71 – 20 June 1921) was a British Army officer of the
Born 1870 or 1871
First World War era. He joined the East Lancashire Regiment
in 1891 and held a succession of regimental and staff positions Died 20 June 1921
in the pre-war period. Lambert took part in the Retreat from (aged 50)
Mons and afterwards commanded his regiment's 1st battalion Athlone, Ireland
at the First Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of the Buried Brookwood Military
Aisne. He later commanded the regiment's 2nd battalion and, Cemetery
temporarily, the 24th Infantry Brigade. He was placed in Allegiance United
command of the 69th Infantry Brigade in March 1916 and Kingdom
from May 1918 commanded the 32nd Division. Lambert was
Service/ British Army
mentioned in despatches five times for his work during the war
branch
and was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael
and St George and as a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Years of 1892–1921 †
service
Lambert retained command of the 32nd Division for a time Rank Major-general
after the war before reverting to brigade command. He was (temporary rank)
posted to Ireland just before the Irish War of Independence to Colonel
command the 13th Infantry Brigade. On 20 June 1921 (substantive rank)
Lambert's car was ambushed by the Irish Republican Army,
while he was travelling from a tennis match with a fellow Unit East Lancashire
officer and their wives. The party escaped but Lambert was Regiment
wounded in the neck and died later that night. Commands 1st Battalion, East
held Lancashire
Early life and career Regiment (1914–
15)
Thomas Stanton Lambert was brought up in Bradford-on-
2nd Battalion, East
Avon, Wiltshire.[1][2] He was the son of the Reverend R. U. Lancashire
Lambert and attended Charterhouse School in Surrey until Regiment (1915–
1889.[3][4] Lambert attended the Royal Military College, 16)
Sandhurst, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in
69th Infantry
the East Lancashire Regiment on 17 June 1891.[5] Lambert was
Brigade (1916–18)
promoted to lieutenant on 18 October 1892 and to captain on
32nd Division
24 May 1900.[6][7] Lambert was married to Geraldine Rachel
(1918–19)
Lambert.[4] They had at least two sons: Edward Thomas
Lambert, born on 19 June 1901 and William Harold Lambert, 13th Infantry
born 29 May 1905; both sons also attended Charterhouse.[3] Brigade (1919–21)
Lambert made a donation to the Lord Mayor of London's fund Battles/wars First World War
for the relief of the Indian famine of 1899–1900.[8] Irish War of
Independence
Lambert served as adjutant of his regiment between 26
January 1902 and 23 December 1904.[9][10] He attended the Awards Companion of the
Staff College, Camberley, from 23 January 1905 and returned Order of the Bath
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stanton_Lambert 1/5
to his regiment on 4 June 1907.[11][12]

On 2 August 1907 he Companion of the
was appointed a staff officer and on 15 February 1911 became a Order of St Michael
deputy assistant adjutant general at the War Office.[13][14] and St George
Lambert was promoted to major on 13 September 1911 and Mentioned in
returned to his regiment on 13 April 1914.[15][16] Despatches five
times
First World War
After the First World War broke out in August 1914, Lambert
served on the Western Front with the 1st battalion of his
regiment. He was present during the Great Retreat from Mons
and took photographs of his men with a personal camera.[17]
He commanded the battalion at the First Battle of the Marne
and the First Battle of the Aisne in September.[1]
Lambert was again appointed deputy assistant adjutant general

on 9 April 1915, serving in that post until 14 June.[18][19] He
King George V with Major-General then returned to his regiment to command its second
Eric Girdwood, GOC 74th
battalion.[20] Between 24 June and 16 July 1915 Lambert held
(Yeomanry) Division, and Major-
temporary command of the 24th Brigade and was granted the
General T. S. Lambert, GOC 32nd
Division, during his visit to the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel.[21][22] On 7 November
Second Army, possibly La Brearde, 1915 Lambert was appointed an assistant adjutant general,
6 August 1918. General Sir Herbert serving in that role until 1 January 1916.[23][24]
Plumer, GOC-in-Chief Second Army,
can be seen in the background. On 9 March 1916, Lambert was appointed to the temporary
rank of brigadier-general and placed in command of the 69th
Brigade.[25] He was promoted to the substantive rank of
lieutenant-colonel on 28 May 1916 and to the brevet rank of colonel on 1 January 1917.[26][27]
Lambert was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in the 1918 New
Year Honours.[28] He was promoted to the temporary rank of major-general on 31 May 1918, when
he was appointed to command the 32nd Division.[20][29] Lambert was appointed a Companion of
the Order of the Bath "for valuable services rendered in connection with Military Operations in
Italy" in the June 1918 Birthday Honours.[30] During the course of the war Lambert was mentioned
in despatches five times.[4]
Irish War of Independence

Lambert had formally left the East Lancashire Regiment in January 1919, as he had been
confirmed in his appointment to command the 32nd Division.[31] On 15 March he relinquished
command of the division and became commander of a brigade, with the temporary rank of
brigadier-general.[32] He relinquished command of the brigade on 25 September 1919, though he
retained the temporary rank of brigadier-general.[33] He was promoted to the substantive rank of
colonel on 13 October 1919 and the same month was granted command of the 13th Infantry
Brigade which was stationed in Athlone, Ireland as part of the 5th Infantry Division.[34][2]
Lambert's temporary rank became that of colonel-commandant on 1 January 1921 as the army
transitioned away from brigadier-generals.[35]
Assassination & Reprisals
In January 1919, the First Dáil, which was dominated by members of the Irish republican Sinn Fein
political party, convened at Mansion House in Dublin and declared Ireland independent from both
the United Kingdom and the British Empire. This resulted in what is now called the Irish War of
Independence, which was fought from 1919 to 1922.
In early 1921, the First Dáil's paramilitary wing, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), learned that
Col.-Com. Lambert often travelled by motorcar to play tennis with other British Army officers at
Midges House, near Coosan. Meanwhile, IRA Director of Intelligence and legendary guerilla
warfare strategist Michael Collins had been determined to secure the release of Irish Volunteers
General Seán Mac Eoin ever since the latter been captured by the British in March 1921. Collins
knew that, if a British officer of the same rank were also captured, General Mac Eoin could be
released as part of a prisoner exchange. For this reason, Lambert was selected for abduction and
orders were accordingly dispatched to the IRA flying column based in Tubberclare, which was part
of the Athlone Brigade.[36][2]
Lambert's car was ambushed on the way back from a tennis match on 20 June 1921. There were
five occupants: Lambert, Colonel Challoner and Kate Elsie Arthur, Challoner's niece in the back
seats and Mrs. Lambert, who was driving, and Challoner's wife in the front seats.[1][36][2] A party of
14 IRA men, commanded by Captain John J. Elliott, lay in wait near Moydrum with rifles, pistols
and shotguns; Lambert's car approached around 7.30 pm.[36][37] Mrs. Lambert spotted the
ambush and accelerated to break through it as no road block had been put in place.[38] A warning
shot was fired over the motorcar and, when it was ignored, it was followed by two more shots
directed at the car's occupants. Col.-Com. Lambert was hit in the neck and Mrs Challoner slightly
wounded, but the party escaped to safety.[2] Lambert died at 9 pm that night at the Church of
Ireland Military Hospital in Athlone, aged 50.[2] He was buried at the Brookwood Military
Cemetery in Surrey. His grave is in the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.[2][4]
On 21 June 1921, a group of Black and Tans burned down many homes in Knockcroghery (see
Burning of Knockcroghery), in reprisal for the attack on Colonel Commandant Lambert the day
before.[39]
After the ambush the British carried out an intensive search for the responsible IRA men. The
Black and Tans knew that most IRA members in the area were farmers and so focussed on
farmhouses. In the early hours of 2 July a group of masked men in "trench coats and tweed caps"
burnt five farmhouses in Coosan district and one at Mount Temple in retaliation for the
assassination of Col.-Com. Lambert. The following day the IRA retaliated by burning down
Moydrum Castle, the home of Anglo-Irish landlord Albert Handcock, 5th Baron Castlemaine.[38]
Lambert was posthumously granted permission to wear the insignia of a commander of the Italian
Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus on 2 March 1923.[40] He is remembered by a plaque in the
Royal Memorial Chapel at Sandhurst.[41] His personal papers are held in the archives of the
Imperial War Museums.[42]
References
1. "Col. Lambert Killed". Western Morning News. 21 June 1921.
2. O'Halpin, Eunan; Corrain, Daithi O. (20 October 2020). The Dead of the Irish Revolution (http
s://books.google.com/books?id=bmkDEAAAQBAJ). Yale University Press. p. 487. ISBN 978-0-
300-12382-1.
3. Charterhouse Register, 1872–1910 (https://books.google.com/books?id=2NbOAAAAMAAJ).

Chiswick Press. 1922. pp. 90, 159.
4. "Brigadier General Thomas Stanton Lambert" (https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dea
d/casualty-details/4017127/THOMAS%20STANTON%20LAMBERT/). Commonwealth War
Graves Commission. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
5. "No. 26172" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/26172/page/3170). The London
Gazette. 16 June 1891. p. 3170.
Gazette. 27 December 1892. p. 7641.
Gazette. 10 August 1900. p. 4946.
8. "The Famine in India" (https://www.newspapers.com/image/409752629). The Standard.
Newspapers.com. 13 March 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
Gazette. 4 February 1902. p. 717.
Gazette. 10 January 1905. p. 219.
12. "No. 28031" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/28031/supplement/4174). The
London Gazette (Supplement). 18 June 1907. p. 4174.
Gazette. 9 August 1907. p. 5449.
Gazette. 3 October 1911. p. 7197.
Gazette. 17 April 1914. p. 3231.
17. Neal, Toby (21 April 1917). "Wounded soldier who took risky shots at the heart of battle" (http
s://www.shropshirestar.com/news/nostalgia/2017/04/14/wounded-soldier-who-took-risky-shots-
at-the-heart-of-battle/). Shropshire Star. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
London Gazette (Supplement). 14 May 1915. p. 4754.
London Gazette (Supplement). 18 June 1915. p. 5947.
20. "Private Papers of Brigadier General T S Lambert" (https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/obj
ect/1030004726). Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
London Gazette (Supplement). 20 July 1915. p. 7174.
London Gazette (Supplement). 3 September 1915. p. 8813.
London Gazette (Supplement). 3 December 1915. p. 12169.
London Gazette (Supplement). 4 April 1916. p. 3679.
London Gazette (Supplement). 26 October 1915. p. 10617.
27. "No. 29886" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29886/supplement/16). The London

Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 1916. p. 16.
28. "No. 13186" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13186/page/10). The Edinburgh
London Gazette (Supplement). 25 February 1921. p. 1681.
London Gazette (Supplement). 10 October 1919. p. 12632.
London Gazette (Supplement). 28 November 1919. p. 14790.
36. Tomkins, Phil (16 June 2013). Twice A Hero: From the Trenches of the Great War to the
Ditches of the Irish Midlands 1915–1922 (https://books.google.com/books?id=_1iaAwAAQBA
J). Memoirs Publishing. p. 158. ISBN 978-1-909020-97-9.
37. "Another Officer Killed" (https://www.newspapers.com/image/258812934). The Guardian.
Newspapers.com. 21 June 1921. p. 9. Retrieved 19 June 2021.
38. "The burning of Moydrum Castle" (https://www.westmeathindependent.ie/2009/10/21/the-burni
ng-of-moydrum-castle/). Westmeath Independent. 21 October 2009. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
39. O'Halpin, Eunan & Ó Corráin, Daithí (2020), The Dead of the Irish Revolution. Yale University
Press, pg. 487.
Gazette. 2 March 1923. p. 1493.
41. "Colonel Commandant Thomas Stanton Lambert CB, CMG – War Memorials Online" (https://w
ww.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/265564/). War Memorials Online. Retrieved 18 June
2021.
42. Mitchell, Stuart Bruce Taylor (2013), An Inter-Disciplinary Study of Learning in the 32nd
Division on the Western Front, 1916–1918 (https://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/5283/1/Mitchel
l14PhD.pdf?gathStatIcon=true) (PDF) (PhD thesis), University of Birmingham, p. 76
Further reading
Records of inquest on Lambert's death (https://www.cairogang.com/soldiers-killed/lambert/inqu
est/inquest.html)
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6/20/24, 11:46 PM Thomas Stanton Lambert - Wikipedia

to his regiment on 4 June 1907.[11][12]

Lambert was again appointed deputy assistant adjutant general

Irish War of Independence

Assassination & Reprisals

3. Charterhouse Register, 1872–1910 (https://books.google.com/books?id=2NbOAAAAMAAJ).

27. "No. 29886" (https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29886/supplement/16). The London

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_Stanton_Lambert&oldid=1230088241"

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