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A Victorian/Edwardian Guards officer and devout Roman Catholic
with, for the period, a remarkable amount of extra-regimental
active service, Major-General Sir Cecil Edward Pereira KCB CMG
(1869-1942) was educated at the Oratory School, Birmingham and
commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1890. Subsequent service
with the Niger Company provided the eager young subaltern with the
welcome opportunity to join the MacDonald Expedition (1897-98)
which ventured into the relatively unknown Ugandan interior. The
result was an epic albeit almost forgotten late 19th century
exploration feat. Further active service in Rhodesia, Transvaal and
Cape Colony followed with the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War
(1899-1902). With the coming of the First World War Cecil
successively served on the Western Front as CO 2nd Battalion
Coldstream Guards (1914); GOC 85th Brigade (1915) and GOC 1st
Guards Brigade (1916). Promoted GOC 2nd Infantry Division in
December 1916, Cecil commanded this premier Regular Army formation
in the battles of Arras; Cambrai (1917); the German Spring
Offensive and Advance to Victory (1918). Appointed GOC 56th
(London) Division in 1919, he remained in command of this notable
Territorial formation until retirement in 1923. Great Britain under
threat of invasion in summer 1940, Cecil was called upon to
organise the London Local Defence Volunteers, a monumental task
that would be the final service to his country. Ably edited by
grandson Edward Pereira and military historians Spencer Jones and
Michael LoCicero, this detailed and fascinating mid-level BEF
commander's private wartime correspondence with his devoted wife
Helen and numerous contemporaries both civil and military is now
available for the first time to specialist and general readers
alike.
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