STIRLING, SIR GEORGE MURRAY HOME,
Captain, Baronet, of Glorat, was born at 16, Bryanston Square, London, 4
September 1869, son of Sir Charles Elphinstone Fleming Stirling, 8th
Baronet, of Glorat (Nova Scotia Baronetcy, 1666), formerly Highland
Borderers Militia, JP and DL for Stirlingshire, and of Anne Georgina, eldest
daughter of James Murray. He was educated at Eton College, and the RMC,
Sandhurst; joined the 2nd Essex Regiment (56th Foot, The Pompadours) as
Second Lieutenant 9 November 1889; became Lieutenant 7 October 1892; served
in the Chitral Campaign, 1895 (Medal and clasp); in the Tirah Campaign,
1897-98 (as Transport Officer); operations against the Khani Khel
Chamkaiiis; operations in the
Bazar Valley 25-30 December 1897 (two clasps). He became Captain 29 January
1900. He served in the South African Campaign, 1899-1902; from January to
June 1900, as Adjutant, Burma Mounted Infantry. He took part in the
operations in the Orange Free State, March to May 1900, including the
actions of Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Houtnek (Thoba Mountain,) Vet River (5
and 6 May) and Zand River. Also in the operations in the Transvaal in May
and June 1900, including actions near Johannesburg, Pretoria and Diamond
Hill (11 and 12 June); operations in the Transvaal, west of Pretoria, 1
August to October 1900; operations in Orange River Colony, June to 31 July
1900; operations in Transvaal till wounded in September 1900; operations in
the Transvaal, January to April 1901. He served as Staff Captain, Mounted
Infantry Brigade, from 18 October 1900 to 18 February 1902, and was
afterwards attached to the Army Service Corps as Officer Commanding
Transport, Bloemfontein District, till June 1902, when he returned to
England. The following is an extract from C S Goldmann's 'With General
French and the Cavalry in South Africa', which gives a good account of the
engagement at Sanna's Post, for which Sir George Stirling afterwards
received the DSO: "Reduced to ten men (seven gunners, one sergeant, one
corporal and a bombardier), and himself the sole officer left with the
battery, Major Hornby had to call volunteers to rescue the guns. The appeal
was responded to by Captain Humphreys, who was close by, by Lieutenant
Stirling (2nd Essex), Burma Mounted Infantry, by Lieutenant Maxwell (18th
Bengal Lancers), attached to Roberts's Horse, and a number of privates
showed equal alacrity in lending help. Five of the men by themselves
working with a will arranged to drag the two guns on the left a distance of
50 yards to a point behind the Station buildings, and the two on the outside
were hauled by ten non-commissioned officers and gunners 100 yards to the
shelter of a camp close up the line; the limbers also had to be brought up
by manual effort. Singling out the middle gun, the Boers poured on it an
unmeasured fire till it seemed as if nothing could live under such a fury of
shell and bullet. The five dauntless men resumed the attempt at rescue by
hand, but their strength was exhausted, and they had to turn to the horses
that were standing in poor shelter behind a tin shed at the station. Four
of the animals were brought forward in pairs only to be shot down. Another
pair met the same fate. A gunner went out with each pair to hook in, while
the driver held the horses. It was observed that when the men emerged from
the shelter of the buildings, they bent their heads towards the direction
from which the bullets were coming, as if they were withstanding a storm of
hail. There had been 87 horses under the shelter of the shed; 85 were
killed or disabled, and upon the remaining two animals depended the fate of
the guns. Several bullets dropped hard by these two animals, throwing up
dust to their middles, but the whizzing of the lead scarcely seemed to
frighten them. They were with the utmost haste hitched up to the limber,
and Lieutenant Stirling proceeded to back them to the gun. The short space
of a single yard separated the trail from the limber hook; one instant more
and they would have plunged forward bearing the gun away into safety, but it
was not to be. A few Boer muzzles, with unerring aim, snatched away the
success that seemed so nearly assured and so richly deserved. Both horses
were shot through the eyes and dropped dead. Driver Glasock was wounded at
the same moment, and the last gun stood hopelessly derelict. All means of
rescue had been exhausted and the gun must be abandoned". Sir George
Stirling was wounded at Zandfontein. For his services in the South African
War he was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 8 February 1901];
received the Queen's South African Medal with four clasps, the King's Medal
with two clasps, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service
Order [London Gazette, 19 April 1901]: "Sir George Murray Home Stirling,
Captain, Essex Regiment. In recognition of services during the
operations in South Africa". Served Somaliland FF 1903-4, and commanded the
7th Somali Camel Corps from 12 November 1903 to June 1904, taking part in
operations in Somaliland and receiving the Medal and clasp. He succeeded to
the Baronetcy 10 September 1910; was appointed DAAG, Mhow Division, India,
13 January 1911, which appointment he vacated in November 1914, in order to
join his regiment in France. He had become Major on 12 February 1912.
After the outbreak of the European War he was appointed Provost-Marshal to
the oth Army Corps 29
December 1914 to 15 November 1915, and Temporary Lieutenant Colonel 16
November 1915, on getting command of the 2nd Essex Regiment. He was
Commandant, Lines of Communication, British Armies in France, from 3 October
1918, and Temporary Colonel from 1 October 1918. He was wounded, and thrice
mentioned in Despatches in 1915, 1917, and again in 1918, besides receiving
a Brevet Lieutenant Colonelcy 1 January 1918. Sir George Stirling was a
member of the King's Bodyguard of Scotland, and a JP and DL for
Stirlingshire. Sir George Stirling married, 4 November 1904, at St Andrews,
Fife, Mabel Elizabeth, second daughter of Colonel Sir Alexander Sprot,
Baronet, CMG, of Garnkirk and Stravithie, late of the Carabiniers (served in
Afghan, South African and European Wars). They had two sons: Charles
Alexander Sprot Home, born 3 April 1910; George Archibald
Mmigo, born 10 March 1915,
and two daughters, Elizabeth Gloriana and Jean Margaret.
