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KEMBALL, GEORGE VERO, Lieut.-Colonel, was born in Oct. 1859, son of the late Major-General John Shaw Kemball, of Fairseat, Wrotham. He was educated at Harrow, and entered the Royal Artillery, as Lieutenant, 18 Dec. 1878. He served in Afghanistan, 1878-79 (Medal); became Captain 7 Sept. 1886 ; took part in the operations in Chitral, 1895, serving on the Staff, with the Relief Force. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 15 Nov. 1895]; was given the Brevet of Major 22 Jan. 1896, and received the Medal with clasp. He was promoted to Major 10 Sept. 1896, and served on he North-West Frontier of India in 1897, in the Tochi Expedition, on the Staff; was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 11 Feb. 18981, and received a clasp, In 1900 he served in West Africa, in Northern Nigeria, with the Kaduna Expedition (Medal and clasp). He was in command of the operations against the Forces of Bida and Kontagora; was mentioned n Despatches [London Gazette, 18 April, 1902]; received \u00a0the Medal and clasp, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 25 April, 1902]: ” George Vero Kemball, Lieut.-Colonel (Brigadier-General), Inspector General, West African Field Force. In recognition of services during the operations in West Africa (Kontagora and Bida Expeditions).” He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel 23 July, 1901. He commanded the Kano-Sokoto Expedition, 1903 (C.B. and clasp) ; was Director at the War Office, 1909-13, and commanded a brigade in India, 1914; was promoted to MajorGeneral 8 April, 1914. Major-General Sir G. V. Kemball served in the Great War, 1915-16, in Mesopotamia, as Major-General, General Staff of the Expeditionary Force, and in command of the 28th Frontier Force Brigade. He was present at the actions and capture of Kurna, Battles of Kut and Ctesiphon, 1915, Battles of Sheik-Saad, the Wadi, Um-el-Hannah (2), Dujailah and Sannaiyat, 1916. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following is an extract from a letter: “As regards \nMesopotamia, it may be of interest to add : The 28th Frontier Force Brigade, \nconsisting of the 2nd Leicestershire Regt. and 51st Sikhs, 53rd Sikhs and 56th \nRifles (Frontier Force), lost, in the three months’ fighting on the Tigris in \nthe vain attempt to relieve Kut, well over 100 per cent. in killed and wounded. \nWith a nominal establishment of some 3,100 of all ranks, the casualties from the \nenemy’s fire, between 6 Jan. and 22 April, 1916, were over 3,800. The \nestablishment of British officers was 75, and the casualties 121, of whom 39 \nwere killed. At one time during that period less than half a dozen of the \nRegimental Staff and medical officers who had served in the Brigade remained \nuntouched.”
\nHe was mentioned twice in Despatches; was wounded at Sannaiyat, and created a \nK.C..M.G., June, 1916 ; commanded a division, India, 1917-19.
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\nRef: THE VC and DSO, the Standard Art Book, Co., Ltd., London, 1924, p. 258
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\nKemball’s uncle –
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\nKEMBALL, Sir ARNOLD BURROWES (1830 – 1908), general, colonel commandant, royal \nartillery, born in Bombay on 18 Nov. 1830 of of five sons of Surgeon-general \nVero Shaw Kemball, of the Bombay medical staff, by his wife Marianne, daughter \nof Major-General Shaw, formerly of the Black Watch. Kemball’s brothers did good \nservice in the Bombay presidency; George and Alick in the Bombay cavalry, Vero \nSeymour in the Bombay Artillery, Charles Gordon in the civil service, rising to \nbe a judge of the supreme court, and John in the 26th Bombay infantry. Passing \nthrough the Military College at Addiscombe, Arnold received his commission as a \nsecond lieutenant in the Bombay artillery on 11 Dec.1837. He served in the first \nAfghan war with a troop of Bombay horse artillery, and was present at the \nstorming and capture of Ghazni on 28 July 1839 and at the subsequent occupation \nof Kabul. On the march back to Bombay he took part in the capture of the \nfortress of Khelat. For this campaign he received the modal. After his return \nto the Bombay presidency he passed in the native languages, and was appointed \nassistant political agent in the Persian Gulf, in the neighbourhood of which he \nremained from 1842 until the close of his military career in 1878. Kemball, who \nwas promoted captain in 1851, took part in the Persian war of 1856-7, and was \nspecially mentioned in the despatches of Sir James Outram (q. v.], who had \napplied for his services. Lord Canning, the governor-general of India, in \ngeneral orders of 18 June 1857 especially commended his share in the brilliant \nexpedition against Ahwaz. For the Persian campaign Kemball received a brevet \nmajority, the C.B., and the Indian general service medal, with clasp for Persia. \nAt the close of the war Kemball resumed his political duties in the Persian \nGulf, and two years later was appointed consul general at Baghdad. In 1860 he \nbecame lieut.-colonel, and in 1863 attained the rank of colonel in the royal \nartillery. In 1866, on the ex!
\ntension of the order of the Star of India, he became one of the first knights \ncommander, and in 1873 he was attached to the suite of the Shah of Persia during \nthat monarch’s visit to England.
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\nIn 1875 Kemball was nominated British delegate on the international commission \nfor delimiting the Turco-Persian frontier, and on the outbreak of the war \nbetween Turkey and Servia, he was appointed military commissioner with the \nTurkish army in the field. He was present at all the operations in the vicinity \nof Nisch and Alexinatz, and at the close of the campaign was nominated president \nof the international commission to delimit the frontiers between Turkey and \nServia. His intimate knowledge of the Turkish language, added to his \nimperturbable calmness under fire, endeared him to the Turkish soldiery. In the \nspring of the following year, on the outbreak of the war with Russia, he was \ntransferred in his former capacity to the Turkish army in Asia. The Turkish \ntroops continued to show the fullest confidence in his judgement and gallantry, \nand fully appreciated his kindness to the wounded. Wherever the fight was \nhottest he was on observation (The Times, 20 July 1878). The Russians !
\nwere well aware of the veneration in which Kemball was held by the Turks, and \nlike the Servians in the preceding campaign were under the mistaken impression, \nthat he was in command of the Turkish forces. After the battle of Zewin Duz on \n16 June 1877 a determined effort was made to capture him. Cossack pursuers were \nonly thrown off after an exciting chase of more than twenty miles, and Kemball \nby a daring swim across the Araxes river found shelter in a Turkish camp. He \nfirmly protested against Kurdish atrocities, and at his insistence the Ottoman \ncommander-in-chief took steps to suppress them.
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\nAt the close of the Russo-Turkish war Kemball was made K.C.B. and was promoted \nlieut-general. The Sultan also bestowed on him the medal for the campaign. \nRecalled to England, Kemball. was designated to be military adviser to Lord \nBeaconsfield’s special mission to the Berlin congress, but his uncompromising \nobjection to the cession of Batum to Russia led to the withdrawal of this offer, \nand he was not afterwards employed. At the close of the Russo-Turkish war he was \nentertained by the officers of the royal artillery at Woolwich.
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\nKemball took a keen interest in the construction of the then projected railway \nfrom Constantinople to the Persian Gulf, and was more or less intimately bound \nup with the Euphrates Valley railway scheme (see Journal of the Royal United \nService Institution, June 1878). After his retirement from active service he was \nprominently associated with Sir William Mackinnon (q. v. Suppl. ] and others in \nthe development of East Africa, and was one of the founders in 1888 and first \nchairman of the Imperial East African Company. To his prescience is mainly due \nthe construction of the Uganda railway and the sovereignty of Great Britain over \nthe East African Protectorate (see The Times, 20 Sept. 1892).
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\nKemball, who attained the rank of full general in Feb. 1880, died at his London \nresidence, 62 Lowndes Square, Knightsbridge, on 21 Sept. 1908, and was buried in \nKensal Green cemetery. He married in 1868 his cousin, Anna Frances, third \ndaughter of Alexander Nesbitt Shaw of the Bombay civil service. His only \ndaughter, Wynford Rose, married in 1902 Bentley Lyonel, third Baron Tollemache. \nA tablet to his memory has been erected in St. George’s garrison church, \nWoolwich, by his widow. A cartoon by ” Ape ‘ was reproduced in ‘Vanity Fair in \n1878.
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\nDictionary of National Biography
\nSupplement Jan 1901 – Dec 1911
\nOxford University press, London 1912\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lieutenant Colonel Arnold Henry Grant Kemball was born on January 4th 1861 in Belgaum, India, the son of Major General John Shaw and Dora Kemball. After completing his formal education at Sandhurst in 1880, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant … Continue reading