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Lot Essay
K.C.M.G. London Gazette 1.1.1919.
C.B. London Gazette 24.6.1910.
C.V.O. London Gazette 24.4.1909. For services as Military Attaché in Rome and Berne and during H.M.'s visit to Baia.
Mention in Despatches London Gazettes 12.9.1902 (Lango); 12.4.1918; 30.5.1918; 22.10.1918; 4.12.1918; 6.1.1919 and 5.6.1919.
Brigadier-General Sir (Denis John) Charles "Langa Langa" Delmé-Radcliffe, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.V.O., was commissioned into the Connaught Rangers in 1884 and served in India from 1884-1890, in Malta in '90, and Gibraltar to '93, whence he returned home to pass the Staff College. Returning to the Rock in 1894, he was Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Hopton until appointed D.A.A.G. North Western District in 1895. In 1898 he was attached to the Uganda Rifles, and in the same year participated in operations against the Sudanese soldiers who had refused to undertake an exploratory expedition and had thus mutinied. A hundred or so mutineers, however, escaped and, known as the 'Black Turks', later formed a blood brotherhood with Lango tribesmen, with the result that in 1901 Delmé-Radcliffe was appointed to the command of the Nile Military District with the role of eliminating the last of the Sudanese troublemakers.
In command of the Lango Field Force of six Europeans and 405 Native Officers, N.C.Os and Askaris from Uganda Rifles (4 K.A.R.), he pursued a punishing programme of night patrols through dense forest and nine foot high elephant grass at the height of the rainy season. These highly effective, and, to the Africans, incredible night marches caused all but seven of the 'Black Turks' to be killed or captured and earned Delmé-Radcliffe the native name of 'Langa Langa' or 'were-lion'. A total of 1485 prisoners were taken by the Field Force, together with 10,000 cattle, goats and sheep, 3,000 spears and 88 firearms. Operations concluded with a specially devised de-oathing ceremony whereby the Lango tribesmen were injected by Delme-Radcliffe's Medical Officer with a special emetic into the scar caused at the blood brotherhood ceremony. The resultant vomiting convinced the recipients that the evil spirit was departing.
From 1902 to 1904 he was the British Commissioner for Delimitation of the Anglo-German Uganda Boundary, west of the Victoria Nyanza for which he was created C.M.G. in 1905. The next year he was appointed Military Attaché at the Rome Embassy, and while serving in this capacity played a key role in the international relief effort following the earthquake at Messina which at a stroke accounted for 150,000 lives in Southern Italy on 28.12.1908. As the personal representative of the British Ambassador and therefore the British Government, he filled the important post of Liaison Officer between the Italian authorities, the Royal Navy and British citizens caught up in the calamity. On the first news reaching Rome on the evening of the 28th, he went to Naples and joined the German Liner Therapia which was just about to sail back to Messina for a second load of survivors. As the local British relief organiser he established a mobile headquarters aboard the Cruiser H.M.S. Minerva which, in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, ferried the huge numbers of badly injured evacuees to ships of all nations anchored in the Messina roads. During the following four weeks he was 'constantly on the move between Messina, Reggio, Villa San Giovanni, Siracusa, Catania, Catona, Taormina, and a dozen lesser places, persuading, cajoling, encouraging and observing'. He also made it his job to oversee the equable distribution of aid arriving from Britain and other parts of the Empire, and among his first acts was to request from the Queen Elena of Italy the use of an Italian warship in which he located and diverted the British Liner Ophir whose Officers were all Royal Naval Reserve.
Finally in April 1909 'he submitted to the British Ambassador, Sir Rennell Rodd, a long and detailed report of everything he had seen and heard in the earthquake zone, some of his comments concerning the Italian Local Government Officers being less than complimentary. But it was an excellent report written by a blunt experienced Staff Officer, full of detailed information with no punches pulled, and Rodd happily endorsed it before submitting copies to the King of Italy and to Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office. Delmé-Radcliffe was subsequently appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his services during the emergency: There is no doubt that much of the credit for Great Britain's favourable popular image in Italy - during and after the earthquake - was due to Delmé-Radcliffe's skill in getting things done but without offending the pride of the local people. The role of Royal Navy would have been more difficult if he had not been there to guide and counsel [Admiral] Curzon-Howe'.
Leaving the Rome Embassy in 1911, Delmé-Radcliffe was promoted Brigadier-General and was briefly G.S.O.1 Western Command before being placed on Half-Pay in January 1912. In August 1913 he travelled to the War in the Balkans where he served as Chief British Red Cross Commissioner with the Greek Forces. During the Great War he was first appointed Chief of Staff Third Army for Home Defence from October 1914 to May 1915, and then, very properly, Chief of the British Military Mission attached to the G.H.Q. of the Italian Army at Udine-Fruili. He remained in this post until August 1919 and, having been advanced to a K.C.M.G. in the same year, finally retired from the Army with the rank of Brigadier-General in 1921. He died in 1937.
C.B. London Gazette 24.6.1910.
C.V.O. London Gazette 24.4.1909. For services as Military Attaché in Rome and Berne and during H.M.'s visit to Baia.
Mention in Despatches London Gazettes 12.9.1902 (Lango); 12.4.1918; 30.5.1918; 22.10.1918; 4.12.1918; 6.1.1919 and 5.6.1919.
Brigadier-General Sir (Denis John) Charles "Langa Langa" Delmé-Radcliffe, K.C.M.G., C.B., C.V.O., was commissioned into the Connaught Rangers in 1884 and served in India from 1884-1890, in Malta in '90, and Gibraltar to '93, whence he returned home to pass the Staff College. Returning to the Rock in 1894, he was Aide-de-Camp to Major-General Hopton until appointed D.A.A.G. North Western District in 1895. In 1898 he was attached to the Uganda Rifles, and in the same year participated in operations against the Sudanese soldiers who had refused to undertake an exploratory expedition and had thus mutinied. A hundred or so mutineers, however, escaped and, known as the 'Black Turks', later formed a blood brotherhood with Lango tribesmen, with the result that in 1901 Delmé-Radcliffe was appointed to the command of the Nile Military District with the role of eliminating the last of the Sudanese troublemakers.
In command of the Lango Field Force of six Europeans and 405 Native Officers, N.C.Os and Askaris from Uganda Rifles (4 K.A.R.), he pursued a punishing programme of night patrols through dense forest and nine foot high elephant grass at the height of the rainy season. These highly effective, and, to the Africans, incredible night marches caused all but seven of the 'Black Turks' to be killed or captured and earned Delmé-Radcliffe the native name of 'Langa Langa' or 'were-lion'. A total of 1485 prisoners were taken by the Field Force, together with 10,000 cattle, goats and sheep, 3,000 spears and 88 firearms. Operations concluded with a specially devised de-oathing ceremony whereby the Lango tribesmen were injected by Delme-Radcliffe's Medical Officer with a special emetic into the scar caused at the blood brotherhood ceremony. The resultant vomiting convinced the recipients that the evil spirit was departing.
From 1902 to 1904 he was the British Commissioner for Delimitation of the Anglo-German Uganda Boundary, west of the Victoria Nyanza for which he was created C.M.G. in 1905. The next year he was appointed Military Attaché at the Rome Embassy, and while serving in this capacity played a key role in the international relief effort following the earthquake at Messina which at a stroke accounted for 150,000 lives in Southern Italy on 28.12.1908. As the personal representative of the British Ambassador and therefore the British Government, he filled the important post of Liaison Officer between the Italian authorities, the Royal Navy and British citizens caught up in the calamity. On the first news reaching Rome on the evening of the 28th, he went to Naples and joined the German Liner Therapia which was just about to sail back to Messina for a second load of survivors. As the local British relief organiser he established a mobile headquarters aboard the Cruiser H.M.S. Minerva which, in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, ferried the huge numbers of badly injured evacuees to ships of all nations anchored in the Messina roads. During the following four weeks he was 'constantly on the move between Messina, Reggio, Villa San Giovanni, Siracusa, Catania, Catona, Taormina, and a dozen lesser places, persuading, cajoling, encouraging and observing'. He also made it his job to oversee the equable distribution of aid arriving from Britain and other parts of the Empire, and among his first acts was to request from the Queen Elena of Italy the use of an Italian warship in which he located and diverted the British Liner Ophir whose Officers were all Royal Naval Reserve.
Finally in April 1909 'he submitted to the British Ambassador, Sir Rennell Rodd, a long and detailed report of everything he had seen and heard in the earthquake zone, some of his comments concerning the Italian Local Government Officers being less than complimentary. But it was an excellent report written by a blunt experienced Staff Officer, full of detailed information with no punches pulled, and Rodd happily endorsed it before submitting copies to the King of Italy and to Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office. Delmé-Radcliffe was subsequently appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order for his services during the emergency: There is no doubt that much of the credit for Great Britain's favourable popular image in Italy - during and after the earthquake - was due to Delmé-Radcliffe's skill in getting things done but without offending the pride of the local people. The role of Royal Navy would have been more difficult if he had not been there to guide and counsel [Admiral] Curzon-Howe'.
Leaving the Rome Embassy in 1911, Delmé-Radcliffe was promoted Brigadier-General and was briefly G.S.O.1 Western Command before being placed on Half-Pay in January 1912. In August 1913 he travelled to the War in the Balkans where he served as Chief British Red Cross Commissioner with the Greek Forces. During the Great War he was first appointed Chief of Staff Third Army for Home Defence from October 1914 to May 1915, and then, very properly, Chief of the British Military Mission attached to the G.H.Q. of the Italian Army at Udine-Fruili. He remained in this post until August 1919 and, having been advanced to a K.C.M.G. in the same year, finally retired from the Army with the rank of Brigadier-General in 1921. He died in 1937.