Walter Robert Butler Doran

Brigadier General Walter Robert Butler Doran, CB, DSO (15 December 1861 – 6 February 1945) was a highly decorated and senior British Army officer who served with distinction in the Second Boer War commanding an infantry battalion, and was a brigade commander during the First World War.

Walter Robert Butler Doran
Born15 December 1861
Lahore, Bengal, India
Died6 February 1945 (aged 83)
Down House, Redlynch, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army/Infantry
RankBrigadier General
UnitRoyal Irish Rifles
Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)
General Staff (various posts)
Commands held2nd Battalion Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment
17th Infantry Brigade
Battles/warsAnglo-Egyptian War 1882
Sudan Expedition, 1884-85
Second Boer War
First World War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Military Order of Savoy
Mentioned in Dispatches.

Military career

William Doran was recorded as being at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on 3 April 1881.[1] He was commissioned as a subaltern in Her Majesty's Royal Irish Rifles on 10 May 1882.[2] He deployed with his regiment to Egypt and took part in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 and later the Sudan Expedition of 1884-85. In late November 1899 he took part in the operations leading to the defeat of the Khalifa, and for his services in the Sudan he received the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel on 14 March 1900.[3]

South African service

Staff Duties

Colonel Doran served as General Staff Officer, 1st Grade, in 5th Division, part of the Irish Command. During his time on this staff he was awarded the Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the Birthday Honours List of 1910.[4][5]

Regimental command

From 8 April 1912 to 4 August 1914 he commanded the 2nd Battalion the Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians).

First World War service

Doran took command of 17th Infantry Brigade, which included his previous regiment as part of its order of battle. The brigade deployed to France as part of the 6th Infantry Division and the BEF. His brother Beauchamp Doran was also a Brigadier General, commanding the 8th Infantry Brigade at the same time.

He was awarded the Military Order of Savoy on 12 September 1919 by the then Kingdom of Italy.[6]

Later life

Doran retired as a Honorary Brigadier on 4 March 1919.[7] The Dorans had "Down House" built in Redlynch, near Salisbury, which still stands although reduced in size. Brigadier Doran died at Down House on 6 February 1945.[8]

Family

Doran married Elsie Teichmann in 1911 and they had one child.[9] Their son John Desmond Beauchamp Doran (known as Desmond) would go on to join the Secret Intelligence Service[10] and later the Intelligence Corps in World War 2; he would die in 1946 in Palestine during a Zionist terrorist attack on his house in Tel Aviv/Jaffa.[11][12] Elsie Doran died at Down House in 1966.[13]

Notes
  1. The National Archives, 1881 Census for England and Wales
  2. "Anglo Boer War". www.angloboerwar.com. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  3. "No. 27173". The London Gazette. 13 March 1900. p. 1710.
  4. The 1910 Birthday Honours for the British Empire, announced on 24 June 1910
  5. Goddard, Edward Hungerford (1947). "The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine". 51: 121. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. "The London Gazette" (PDF). 12 Sep 1919: 10744. Retrieved 3 June 2017. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. The Half Yearly Army List. London: HMSO. January 1941. p. 1317.
  8. England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1916-2007
  9. "The VC and DSO Index". The Military Archive. II: 265–266.
  10. Jeffery, Keith (2010). MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949. A&C Black. p. 689. ISBN 9780747591832.
  11. "Jewish Agency Receives Warning That Its London Offices Will Be Blown Up". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
  12. UK Commonwealth War Graves 1914-1921 and 1939-1947
  13. England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1916-2007

References
  • Obituary of Brigadier-General Walter Robert Butler Doran, C.B. 1945.
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