Frederick Hammersley (British Army officer)

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Frederick Hammersley CB
Born 1858
Died 1924
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch Flag of the British Army.svg British Army
Rank Major-General
Commands held 11th (Northern) Division
Battles/wars Nile Expedition
Second Boer War
First World War
Awards Companion of the Order of the Bath

Major-General Frederick Hammersley CB (1858 – 1924) was a senior British Army officer.

Hammersley was the son of Frederick Hammersley and Sarah Keating. He joined the army in 1876, being commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers.[1] He first saw service in the Nile Expedition of 1884-5 in the Sudan. On 15 June 1885 he was promoted to the rank of major.[2] He fought at the Battle of Khartoum in 1898, before being deployed to South Africa in 1899 to fight in the Second Boer War. On 20 October 1899 he was severely wounded at the Battle of Talana Hill.

Between 1906 and 1911, Hammersley commanded the 3rd Brigade, Aldershot Command, but was relieved of his position due to repeatedly showing signs of shell shock.[3] Despite this, upon the outbreak of the First World War, he was put in command of the newly formed 11th (Northern) Division, part of Kitchener's volunteer army. In this capacity, Hammersley commanded the Landing at Suvla Bay by his division during the Gallipoli Campaign. However, his ability to oversee such an operation has subsequently been called into question, and the Dardanelles Commission openly criticised his command. The orders given by General Hammersley were deemed to be confused and the work of his staff defective.[4] On 23 August 1915, he was removed from the front-line in a state of collapse and was replaced by Major-General Edward Fanshawe.[5] He was invalided back to England, suffering from battle fatigue.

He married Edith Grant, and together they had two daughters. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1908 Birthday Honours.


  1. ^ The Edinburgh Gazette, 16 May 1899
  2. ^ The London Gazette, 8 December 1885
  3. ^ Col Michael Hickey, Gallipoli (John Murray Publishers Ltd, 1998), 263.
  4. ^ Paragraphs 108 and 109 of the Dardanelles Commission final report, 1919
  5. ^ Alan Moorehead, Gallipoli (Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reprint edition, 2002), 102.
Military offices
Preceded by
New position
General Officer Commanding the 11th (Northern) Division
August 1914 - August 1915
Succeeded by
Edward Fanshawe