General Sir Herbert Vaughan Cox GCB., KCMG., CSI
British and Indian Armies
29th Brigade Indian Army (Gallipoli)
4th Division AIF
Military Secretary Indian Army
by Robert Simpson
Herbert Vaughan Cox was born on 12th July 1860 in Watford, Hertfordshire, England. He was the eldest child and son of Frederick Cox and Mary Theophila Hunt. Frederick and Mary had been married in 1859 at Axbridge, Somerset. Frederick was 28 years old and Mary was 20. They had six children from 1860 to 1878. Frederick was a minister and served in St. Andrews Watford and then was the Rector at Upper Chelsea. Herbert was christened on 6th August 1860 at Watford and they lived in a house on Church Road. He was educated at Charterhouse School, London and then entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. His only brother, Philip Francis Cox, studied at Oxford College and matriculated on 15th October 1887.
As a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion King’s Own Borderers (late 1/25th Foot) he was entitled to the Afghan War Medal, with no clasps, but not the bronze Star. No records state when he joined the regiment, but he must have been involved in the 2nd Afghan War at the later stages. He was first commissioned on 14th January 1880 as published in the London Gazette as Gentleman Cadet Herbert Vaughan Cox, from the Royal Military College, to be Second Lieutenant with 25th Foot. The 1881 census has him at the School of Musketry at Hythe St. Leonard in Kent. Herbert was a 2nd Lieutenant with the 1st Battalion 25th Regiment of Foot (the King’s Own Scottish Borderers) on the active list. The London Gazette of 22nd February 1884 has the following entry – Madras Staff Corps, to be Lieutenant – Lieutenant Herbert Vaughan Cox, from the King’s Own Borderers, dated 25th August 1882, but to rank from 1st July 1881. So he had transferred to the Madras Staff Corps and was with the 21st Madras Infantry who were involved in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885 and 1886. Some newspaper articles say he joined the Indian Army in 1883. Herbert then briefly served as adjutant of the South India Railway Volunteer Corps before being appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General for Musketry in Burma. He was appointed DAAG of Imperial Service Troops soon after that. Another entry on 17th March 1891 under the Madras Staff Corps has him in the list of Lieutenants to be Captains dated 14th January 1891. He became an inspector of the contingents supplied by the Indian Princely States in 1894 and served on the Mohmand and Tirah Expeditions of 1897-8.
On 12th June 1894 he married Violet Horsford at Clifton, Christchurch, Gloucestershire, England. Violet had been born in Handy, Ceylon. Her parents, Frederick O’Bryen Horsford and Cecilia Benvenuta Macready had married in the late 1860’s. Frederick was a general merchant and Cecilia was the daughter of William Charles Macready, who was a prominent English actor in the early to mid-1800’s. Cecilia’s half-brother was Sir Cecil Frederick Nevil Macready GCMG, KCB, PC (Ire) who saw service in Egypt, India, South Africa, in France for World War 1 and Ireland. (Sir Neville was the only offspring from William Macready’s second marriage.)
Violet gave birth to Cecil Herbert Vaughan Cox on 22nd April 1895 in Meerut India. He was baptised at Mussoorie, Christ Church, Bengal in the same year. By 1911 he was back in England at a boarding school in Malvern. During World War 1 he was a initially a Lieutenant (Temporary Captain) with the 6th Battalion Leicester Regiment, then he was on the Staff of the 4th Australian Division, an Acting Captain with the 1st Battalion Leicester Regiment and finally a Temporary Major with Staff DAA and QMG. He was entitled to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, and Victory Medal with emblem. He entered France on 28th July 1915. After the war his address was 9 Hereford Square London. He then went to India, still on service. He returned from Bombay and arrived in London on 20th April 1936. He retired with the rank of Brigadier in 1947. At some stage he moved to Germany after 1947 to act as British Liaison Officer to US forces, after marrying in September 1945. With his wife Jean, he arrived at Plymouth after being at London, on 19th March 1959. They intended to permanently reside in England in the future, but the time of this stay was only to be 2 months according to the record. But on 16th June 1960 he passed away in London. Jean passed away in 1966. They had no children.
In 1898 they were still in India and Herbert was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Indian Army. The London Gazette of 13th March 1900 has him in the list under Indian Staff Corps, Captains to be Majors, dated 14th January 1900.
They had a daughter, Mary Vivien Vaughan Cox, born on 20th January 1901 in Switzerland. In the 1911 census she was with her mother at Naval and Military Hotel, Harrington Road, South Kensington, London. On 4 July 1923 she married Rodney William Verelst (1898-1952), in Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Street London. Herbert was too unwell to attend the wedding and she was given away by her brother. Rodney served in the 11th Hussars, becoming a Major. They had two children. In 1948 they moved to Kenya with Violet Cox. Vivien died in South Africa on 17th August 1977.
Herbert returned to India in 1902 after being involved with the Boxer Rebellion in China. He was issued the silver China medal with no clasps in 1902 for service with the 21st Madras Pioneers, which was presented to him by Prince George on Thursday 3rd July 1902. The article, which was attached to the medal roll, also noted Herbert was also the late Deputy Inspector General of the Imperial Service Troops. In 1904 he was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in 69th Punjabis as listed in the London Gazette of 23rd September. He was promoted to Brevet Colonel, dated 9th June 1907, and also in 1907 he became the Assistant Quartermaster-General for Mobilisation. Nine months later he was appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General for India. He held this post for three years.
Hart’s Annual Army List of 1908 lists him as Herbert Vaughan Cox Commandant 69 Punjabis, of 28 years’ service, with his previous Regiment being King’s Own Borderer. He was a 2nd Lieutenant on 14th January 1880, a Lieutenant on 1 July 1881, a Captain on 14th January 1891, a Major on 14th January 1900 and a Lieutenant-Colonel on 1st June 1904. A further list records him as being a Colonel on 9th June 1907 and another entry for the 69th Punjabis, which were raised at Madura in 1765, lists him as Commandant from 15th November 1902. It also notes the Headquarters were at Bangalore and the uniform was scarlet with green facings.
Herbert was awarded the Delhi Durbar medal of 1911 and was listed in the roll of Officers serving on Staff as Brigadier-General H V Cox CSI who was General officer commanding Rawalpindi Brigade, late Military Member, Coronation Durbar Committee. He was a senior military member of the Durbar Committee which had to organise the Royal visit to India in 1911. He was also listed in the London Gazette of 12th December 1911 to be Companion of the Said Most Excellent Order of the Star of India for his role in the Durbar.
He was listed in the Indian Army Quarterly list for 1st January 1912 as a British Officer of the Indian Army with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and in the remarks column it has “Mily.” Member, Coronation Durbar Committee. His next posts were commander of the 4th Infantry Brigade at Rawalpindi and then the 2nd (Nowshera) Infantry Brigade.
In the 1911 census Violet was staying at the Naval and Military Hotel in Kensington, London with Mary. Cecil was a boarder at a school at 2 The College Grounds, Malvern. In the 1912 Birthday Honours Herbert was appointed Companion of the Order of Bath.
He commanded the 29th Indian (Ghurkha) Brigade in Egypt, Arabia and Gallipoli after the First World War broke out. Major-General Cox was commanding the Left Assaulting Column whose objective was to work up Aghyl Dere and prolong the line of the right assaulting column by storming Hill 971 (Koja Chemen Tepe) which was the summit of the whole range of hills. He had the 29th Indian Infantry Brigade, 4th Australian Infantry Brigade, the Indian Mountain Battery (less one section) and one company of New Zealand Engineers. The attack started well during the night of 6th August 1915 with objectives being taken. The next morning however brought strong fighting and with the Turks having commanding positions, they were able to bring murderous fire on the attacking troops. Suffering high losses they had to retire to their original positions. Sir Herbert was in charge of the No. 2 Column the next day which stormed the heights of Hill Q. But at the top of the hill instead of stopping, they continued and unfortunately were hit by a salvo of heavy shells from their own guns. The Turks, seizing on this, attacked them in force and pushed them off the hill. The Turkish division kept charging, but this was their downfall, as the allied guns and machine-guns decimated them. The positions they consolidated were then held. He was wounded at Gallipoli. In October 1915 he was appointed KCMG for distinguished services in the field. Sir Herbert was promoted to Lieutenant-General by Sir William Birdwood and given command of the 4th Australian Division. C. E. W. Bean mentions him in the book Anzac to Amiens as a “brave, dour leader” and an outstanding British leader, “the dour, capable Anglo-Indian H. V. Cox”. Sir Ian Hamilton’s dispatch also mentioned him for his leading during the attack.
On 4th July 1916, The King approved the appointment of Major-General Sir Herbert Vaughan Cox, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.S.I., Indian Army, to be Colonel of the 69th Punjabis. Sir Herbert commanded the 4th Australian Division in Egypt and France from 2nd February 1916 to 20th December 1916. He trained them until they went to the Canal and then at the end of May 1916, to France. The Division was used in August 1916 to push the front line toward Mouquet Farm to control the ridge between Pozieres and Thiepval. Under his control the 4th Division reached the outskirts of the farm after a week of constant attacking. But the toll had been high upon the Division, due to incessant German shelling, with over 4500 casualties. After being replaced, they returned for another attempt but could only succeed in half-surrounding it at the cost of over 2400 casualties before they were replaced. He was Mentioned in Despatches twice which were recorded in the London Gazette of 25th September 1916 on page 93, while on Staff of the Australian and New Zealand Forces; and of 4th January 1917 page 194 while being Indian Army Staff. His 1915 Star, British War and Victory medals were all issued by the Government of India. With the Australian Government insisting that senior ranks in the AIF be Australian officers, Sir Herbert returned to England in early 1917 as Military Secretary with the India Office, with the rank of Lieutenant-General; a position which he held until retirement. During World War I, Sir Herbert proposed bypassing the War Office, which was implacably opposed to Indianization, by proposing it directly to LIoyd George’s War Cabinet, which approved it on 3rd August 1917. This was just in time for Edwin Montagu, the then Secretary of State for India, to announce it on 20th August 1917. Indianization refers to the policy of allowing Indians into the King’s Commissioned ranks of the Indian Army. He was appointed to the Esher Committee to look into Indian Army administration and organisation in 1919. Also in 1919 he and his wife attended the marriage of Frank Colin Craig and Nancy Birdwood, a daughter of Sir William Birdwood. Captain Eric Onslow was the best man.
He was promoted to General in 1920 and retired in 1921 as General Sir Herbert Cox GCB, KCMG. Following his retirement he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in the 1921 Birthday Honours.
Sir Herbert passed away on 8th October 1923 in Surrey England and was buried on the 11th at Frimley, St. Peter, Surrey. His address was listed as Woodhayes, Camberley. His administration with his will was done on 6th November to Lady Violet Vaughan-Cox widow and the effects total was over 5000 pounds. His death and obituaries were published in various newspapers around Australia, with comments like he was looking after the men’s comfort and took a wonderful interest in the men. He was also mentioned in the Illustrated London News with a picture and the note, “an Indian Army leader, the late General Sir H. V. Cox”.
St. Peter’s Church, Frimley Green Road, Frimley.
His grave.
Violet moved to Kenya in 1948, where she passed away on 16th August 1952 at Naivasha, Kenya. An entry in the London Gazette shows she was formerly of Woodhayes, Camberley, Surrey and was a widow. Lloyds Bank and a solicitor were listed as persons of whom notices of claims were to be given and the bank and Brigadier Cecil Herbert Vaughan Cox DSO MC were listed as personal representatives.
A collection of typewritten copies of diary extracts and copies of letters of congratulation covering Cox’s active service as Brigade and Divisional Commander from 1915 to 1916 are at the Australian War Memorial. In his letters home he discusses the Australian soldier about his fighting ability and his fondness for sports and gambling. The letters show a more reflective and personal opinion while the diary entries give his locations and activities.
His awards and medal entitlements are: –
G.C.B. (Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath)
K.C.M.G. (Knight Commander of The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael & St. George)
C.S.I. (Companion of The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India)
Second Afghan War Medal 1878-80 (2nd Lieut)
Indian General Service Medal (1854-95) clasps Burma 1885-87 (MID) & Burma 1887-89 (Lt)
India Medal 1895-1902 clasps Punjab Frontier 1897-98 (MID) & Tirah 1897-98 (Capt)
Third China War Medal 1900 (Mjr)
1914-15 Star (Brig-Gen)
British War Medal (Maj. Gen. Sir H. V. Cox)
Victory Medal with MID (Maj. Gen. Sir H. V. Cox)
1902 Coronation (unnamed)
Delhi Durbar 1911 (unnamed)
Serbian Order of White Eagle 2nd Class, with swords
“As Military Secretary at the India Office, Cox figures prominently in chapter 5 of my forthcoming book Indianization, the Officer Corps, and the Indian Army, 1817-1917: The Forgotten Debate, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019.” by Chandar S. Sundaram, Ph.D., (McGill), historian/educator/writer/editor, Victoria BC Canada.
With thanks to Chandar and his great granddaughter (who lives in England) Sally MacEachern for their input and corrections on his story.
ANZAC Biographies
On our website you will find the biographical details of ANZAC (as well as British) servicemen & women
whose medals or other memorabilia form part of the collection belonging to the
Maryborough Military & Colonial Museum,
Maryborough, Queensland, Australia.