Maj. Gen. Sir Reginald Salmond Curtis  



The Times, Thursday, Jan 12, 1922                OBITUARY

OBITUARY


Major General Sir R. S. Curtis

        Major-General Sir Reginald Salmond Curtis, K.C.M.G., C.B., D.S.O., late R.E., died yesterday at West Farleigh, Kent, aged 57.
    The eldest son of Major-General Curtis, R.A., he passed into Woolwich from Cheltonham College and received his first commission in 1883.   From 1890 to 1893 he served in the Egyptian Army, and was present at the capture of Tokar, in the Sudan campaign of 1891, being awarded the bronze star with clasp and the Fourth Class of The Medjidich.   In the Ashanti expedition of 1895-6 he served as Director of Telegraphs, and was mentioned in dispatches, receiving the star and a brevet majority.   Afterwards he was on special service under the Admiralty in the Falkland Islands.
    In the South African War Curtis was at first A.D.C. to the Engineer-in-Chief, and was afterwards Assistant Director (Acting Director) of Telegraphs, and served with the South African Constabulary.   He took part in the operations in the Orange Free State from February to May, 1900, including Paardeberg and the actions at Drelfontein, Vet River, and Zand River; in the operation in the Transvaal in May and June, 1900, including the actions near Johannesburg and Pretoria; in the operations east of Pretoria from July to October, 1900, including the action at Belfast; and in the operations in Cape Colony south of the Orange River.   For these services he was twice mentioned in dispatches, and received the D.S.O., his brevet of lieutenant-colonel, and both medals with seven clasps.   After the conclusion of the war he remained in South Africa as Chief Staff Officer, and later as Inspector-General of the South African Constabulary until 1908, when he was awarded the C.M.G.   He was also a member for four years of the Inter=Colonial Council of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony.   In 1912-13 he was Commandant of the Army Signal School.
    When the European War broke out Curtis was A.A.G. at the War Office, and received the C.B. in 1915.   He remained at the War Office till 1917, when he was appointed to command the Cromarty defences.   In the same year he was placed in charge of Administration, Aldershot Command.   He retired in 1920, being promoted Major-General and K.C.M.G. for his services.
    Sir Reginald Curtis married, in 1894, the Hon. Hilda Margaret, daughter of Viscount Barrington, and leaves three daughters.
  The Times, Monday, Jan 16, 1922                 OBITUARY

Major General Sir R. S. Curtis

        Major-General Sir G. K. Scott Moncrieff writes with reference to Major-General Sir Reginald S. Curtis, of whom an obituary notice appeared in The Times of Thursday:
    At the outbreak of war in 1914 he was A.A.G. at the War Office for the Royal Engineers, which at that time consisted of 1,831 officers and 24,172 other ranks.   At the Conclusion of the war the numbers were 17,711 officers and 322,739 other ranks.   This enormous increase was not merely a multiplication of existing organizations, but the creation of a vast number of new branches of the Engineers' arm, of a nature previously unforeseen, to suit the advance of science applied to war.   Besides the field and fortress and railway companies, with signaling units and field squadrons and bridging trains which had formerly been employed, there were electrical and mechanical companies, tunnelling companies for mining, water supply units, field survey battalions, and sound ranging and observation companies.   There were units for land drainage and for inundations. there were sections for field and anti-aircraft searchlights.   There were others for forestry, camouflage, meteorology, chemical warfare, and a large number of units for transportation by land and water, such as road and railway companies of many kinds and inland water transport.
    The raising and organizing of all these units,with their varying requirements and their special officers, was a gigantic task.   General Curtis had to work, day after day, in a dark and ill-ventilated room at the war office, and his strength, already weakened by years of valuable service in Africa, was strained beyond recovery.   But the units he raised were a notable contribution to the success of the operations, and though he had not the much-desired chance of serving in the field, his work was most valuable, and it seems right that his countrymen should know it.