Torquhil Matheson

General Sir Torquhil George Matheson, 5th Baronet, (4 February 1871 − 13 November 1963) was a Scottish officer who commanded three different divisions of the British Army in some of the heaviest fighting of the First World War. He had previously served in the militia and with the Coldstream Guards in the Second Boer War. For his service, he was knighted in 1921 and in 1944 he inherited the Matheson baronetcy from his brother Roderick. Early life and family Torquhil Matheson was born on 4 February 1871, the youngest child of Sir Alexander Matheson, 1st Baronet, and was educated at Eton College. He inherited the baronetcy in 1944 when his four older brothers (including the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Baronets) predeceased him and three nephews (the 3rd Baronet's only sons) were all killed in action in the First World War. In 1900 Matheson married Ella Louisa Linton. They divorced in 1923. He then married Lady Elizabeth Mary Gertrude Lucia Sophia Keppel, the youngest child of Arnold Keppel, 8th Earl of Albemarle. They had two sons: Major Sir Torquhil Alexander Matheson of Matheson, 6th Bt. (15 August 1925 – 9 April 1993) Major Sir Fergus John Matheson of Matheson, 7th Bt. (22 February 1927 – 2017) Military career Matheson joined the Hertfordshire Militia before being commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Bedfordshire Regiment on 15 December 1888. On 2 June 1894, Matheson transferred from the Bedfordshires, in which he was then a lieutenant, to the Coldstream Guards as a second lieutenant again, and was promoted lieutenant in that regiment on 1 December 1897. He served in the Second Boer War, as adjutant of the 1st Battalion from 1899 until May 1902. The battalion took part in the battles of Belmont (23 November 1899), Enslin, Modder River (28 November 1899) and Magersfontein (11 December 1899), and he was mentioned in despatches, and promoted to captain on 20 April 1901. Following the end of the war, Matheson left Cape Town in the SS Carisbrook Castle in September 1902, arriving at Southampton early the following month. He was appointed Regimental Adjutant to the Coldstream Guards on 1 January 1903.