Philip Howell
Philip Howell, was a senior British Army staff officer during the First World War. He was, successively, Brigadier General, General Staff to the Cavalry Corps and then to X Corps. In October 1915 he was posted as BGGS to the British Salonika Army before appointment as BGGS and second-in-command to II Corps, then forming part of the Fifth Army at the Battle of Somme in 1916.
Howell was killed in action at Authuille by shrapnel on 7 October 1916, after making a personal reconnaissance of the frontline near Thiepval during the later Somme offensives. Howell had been in action on the front line since the outbreak of the war, serving with the British Expeditionary Force, and commanding the 4th Queen's Own Hussars through the retreat from Mons, the Battle of Le Cateau, the Marne offensive, Hill 60, and the First Battle of Ypres. He was mentioned in despatches six times, and made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1915 for "meritorious service".
Howell came from a military family. After education at Lancing College and passing out from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst with honours, he joined the elite Queen's Own Corps of Guides as a subaltern in 1900. Aged 25, he was made brigade major by Major General Douglas Haig, when Haig was Inspector-General of Cavalry, India. This was the start of a lifelong friendship between Haig and Howell. Howell's interests were more extensive than soldiering, and he travelled throughout the Balkan region, becoming a correspondent for The Times and an expert on the local politics of the Near East. This experience and a formidable intellect led to his becoming a senior instructor at the Staff College, Camberley. He had himself attended the Staff College, Quetta, in India in 1903–04.
It was expected, even amongst the highest military circles, that had Howell not been killed in action he would have reached the highest command in the British Army. This was certainly the view of many of his contemporaries and peers. At the age of 37, he was gazetted as brigadier general in September 1915 and, rather than holding "temporary" rank, was the youngest fully promoted general officer in the British Army during the First World War. Of military significance was his direct role in the strategic planning of the later conclusive actions of the Somme Offensive; the successful battles of Thiepval Ridge and Ancre Heights. These used more sophisticated planned attacks using techniques such as synchronised barrages, the use of a limited number of tanks and proper briefing of field commanders. Lieutenant General Sir Claud Jacob, is quoted as saying that much of what his II Corps achieved during the Somme was owed to Howell's efforts, and in fact he had left much of the daily command to Howell, who was a man of exceptional capability.
Early life
Philip Howell was born in England on 7 December 1877, the second son of Lieutenant Colonel Horace Howell, late the Punjab Frontier Force, and Ella Howell, from Shepshed, Leicestershire. Between the age of six and ten Howell, and his family, joined his father in India and Kashmir, living in places such as Kohat, Murree, and Dera Ismail Khan. He returned to England for schooling in 1887, at Miss Gilzean's school in Clifton, and for two years as a day-boy at Shrewsbury House Preparatory School, Surbiton Following this he went to Lancing College from January 1891, joining the fourth form under R.D. Budworth and attended until December 1896. His mother had died prematurely from a long illness in August 1889. Shortly after, his father had retired to Brighton, after a long service in the Indian Army.Sandhurst and early military career
Howell attended the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, passing out with honours, and was commissioned second lieutenant on the unattached list of the Indian Army on 4 August 1897. He then served as a subaltern in his father's former regiment, the 5th Punjab Cavalry, in India, from 1898 to 1900. He was promoted lieutenant on 4 November 1899, and transferred in June 1900 to the Queen's Own Corps of Guides – an elite cavalry unit of the Punjab Frontier Force which at the time operated entirely in the North-West Frontier. Howell blended well with this environment. He was a natural with the native troops, taking the trouble to know their language and culture, and respected by them for his professionalism as a soldier. He equally gained the confidence of the local Pathan tribesmen, of whom he had a natural curiosity and talent for dialogue. He had an inherent instinct for exploring different views and cultures, born out of an engaging charm, as well as an instinct for both understanding and treating all on an equal footing – but still able to retain his own authority. These unusual qualities remained with him throughout his career. In 1902 the Corps of Guides won the Cavalry Reconnaissance Competition, in which Howell was the patrol commander.During his time as a cavalry subaltern, Howell developed through regimental life a deep love of polo, although a contemporary was later to write that his interest in training and love for his polo ponies exceeded his skill on the playing field. The same officer, Major General Llewelyn Alberic Emilius Price-Davies, VC also described him as a fine horseman who could "tent peg or pickup a handkerchief off the ground on a big horse barebacked at the gallop". He had a lifelong love of animals, and "adored mischief in animals, as he did children".
In December 1903 Howell's military professionalism was recognised when Major General Douglas Haig, who had just been appointed Inspector-General of Cavalry, India spotted some manoeuvres performed by Howell during an exercise. Haig selected Howell, then twenty-five years old, as his brigade major during further field exercises held in India and up to 1905. This was the start of a lifelong friendship and correspondence between Howell and Haig. Ever loyal, Howell never deflected from his support for Haig in his enterprise during the First World War, whom he perceived to be the best man for the job and infinitely better suited to lead than most of the contemporary generals of the time. However, although one of Haig's champions he was also able to criticise.
Pre-war career
Howell had also begun to use his leave for travel, extensively in the Balkan region since 1903. He became a special correspondent for The Times, sending in contributions to Charles Moberly Bell, the editor. In its obituary of 14 October 1914, The Spectator mentions Howell's correspondence with The Times during the Macedonian Uprising of 1903, in which his letters "brushed" with those of Prime Minister Arthur Balfour on the "balance of criminality", and describes these as "admirably written and illuminating". This set the form for later Balkan and Near East exploits, and he became a leading expert on the military and political affairs of the region.Howell was promoted to captain in August 1906, and was given the job of Intelligence Officer for the North West Frontier region, where his intuitive knowledge of local Pathan politics played their part. On his own initiative he set up a network of "spies" in the local villages extending across to Turkestan and Kashgar, as resembling characters from Rudyard Kipling's contemporary novel,"Kim".
In 1909, Howell was brigade major to Major General Sir Malcolm Grover in India. Between 1909 and 1911 Howell served as a GSO3 staff officer to the Inspector-General of Cavalry, British Army at the War Office in London, with frequent intermittent visits to the Balkans, as special correspondent with The Times. The latter brought him into contact with notable figures and other journalists in the region, including James Bourchier and Compton Mackenzie.
Shortly before this, in 1908, Howell first met his future wife, Rosalind Upcher Buxton, at her family home at Fritton Hall, Lowestoft, Norfolk. She was a member of the notable slave trade abolitionist Buxton family, and had travelled extensively in Turkey and the Levant. The mutual interest in Near Eastern affairs and culture drew them together, and led to marriage on 11 September 1911.
In December 1911, Howell was appointed by Major General William Robertson as a senior instructor at the Staff College, Camberley with the additional title of "Professor of Military Studies". He was promoted to temporary major while employed in this role.
In the Christmas vacation of 1912, Howell was sent to Thrace, both by The Times and the War Office as " military observer" attached to the Bulgarian Army of General Savov during the First Balkan War. His observations, which included an early favourable assessment of the capabilities of the Bulgarian Army, were turned into a series of military lectures for the Staff College, and published as a book, "Campaign in Thrace – 1912".
On 14 May 1913 Howell was promoted major in the 4th Hussars, as second-in-command, then based at The Curragh in Ireland. It was during the Curragh Incident of March 1914, propagated by the forthcoming Home Rule Bill and some confusion amongst high command, that Howell's writing skills and diplomatic abilities came to the fore. The question was posed to officers serving in Ireland whether they would resign their commissions if asked to march on Ulster – where Carson proposed resisting the Home Rule Bill. Almost all the officers offered to resign their commissions, creating an internal crisis. Howell drafted a letter to the Army Council, on behalf of the officers, and its brigade commander, Hubert Gough. The content of the letter helped defuse the issue. His efforts were further extended by his writing a personal letter to The Times in which he denounced the fact that soldiers had been asked to choose between their own political conscience and their duty to serve, in an impossible ultimatum. He posed the question that there had been a deliberate effort by the politicians to pass off the decision on to the Army. The letter was signed "A Soldier Serving in Ireland". Both these efforts contributed in some small way to common sense being applied and the order being rescinded.