William Hacket Pain

Brigadier-General Sir George William Hacket Pain, KBE, CB (5 February 1855 – 14 February 1924) was a British Army officer and Royal Irish Constabulary commissioner. He played a key part in setting up the Ulster Volunteers as a unionist militia during the Home Rule crisis of 1912, and was believed to have organised gun-running. At the outbreak of the First World War he served in command of a Brigade of the Ulster Division and commanding British forces in the north of Ireland. He served briefly as a Unionist Member of Parliament. Early career Hacket Pain joined the British Army in 1875, initially serving part-time in the Royal Wiltshire Militia, and in October of that year as a Lieutenant of Militia he passed the qualifying examination of the Civil Service Commissioners. He received his first commission in regular army on 20 November 1875, as a lieutenant in the 102nd Foot, and then joined the 2nd Regiment of Foot (Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)) on 18 December 1875. Promotion to captain followed on 15 February 1886. Sudan From 1888, Hacket Pain served in the Sudan during the Mahdist War as a captain in the West Surreys. He took part in the action at Fort Gamaizah (near Suakin), and served with the Nile Frontier Force in 1889 winning the Order of Medjidie Third Class. In February 1891 he was present at the capture of Tokar, in command of a battalion of Egyptian infantry; his horse was shot from under him. At the end of the war, he was awarded the Order of Osmanieh Third Class, which he was given a Royal Licence to wear on his British uniform. Colonial Africa On 15 May 1894 Captain Hacket Pain became a major, transferring from the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment to the Worcestershire Regiment. He accompanied the expedition to Dongola in 1896, taking part in the operations of 7 June (in which his horse was again shot) and 19 September; on 3 November 1896 he was mentioned in despatches.