Sir Ian Standish Monteith Hamilton (January 16, 1853 - October 12, 1947) was a general in the British Army and is most notably known for commanding the ill-fated Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Battle of Gallipoli.

Hamilton's military career began in 1873 and he served in India and Africa. He was Chief of Staff to Lord Kitchener during the Boer War and was knighted in 1902.

Kitchener appointed Hamilton to command the Allied expedition to gain control of the Dardanelles straits from Turkey and capture Constantinople.

Biography

• Born in 1853
• Educated at Cheam, Wellington College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst
• Commissioned into 12th (East Suffolk) Foot , 1872
• Served in Ireland, 1872-1873
• Transferred to 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regt, 1873
• Regimental service in India, Afghanistan and South Africa, 1873-1881, including active service in Second Afghan War, 1878-1880, and First Boer War, 1881 (severely wounded, Battle of Majuba Hill, 1881)
• Aide-de-camp to Gen Sir Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Bt, as Commander-in-Chief Madras, 1882-1884, and Commander-in-Chief East Indies, 1886-1890 (including Burma Expedition , 1886-1887)
• Served with 1 Bn Gordon Highlanders during First Sudan Expedition , 1884-1885
• Assistant Adjutant General for Musketry in Bengal, India, 1890-1893
• Military Secretary to Gen Sir George Stuart White, Commander-in-Chief East Indies, 1893-1895
• Assistant Adjutant General and Assistant Quarter Master General, Chitral Relief Force , North West Frontier, 1895
• Deputy Quarter Master General in India, 1895-1898
• Officer commanding 1 Bde and 3 Bde, Tirah Expeditionary Force , North West Frontier, 1897-1898
• Commandant, School of Musketry , Hythe, Kent, 1898-1899
• Assistant Adjutant General and Chief of Staff, Natal Field Force , 1899, and Maj Gen commanding 7 Bde, Second Boer War, South Africa, 1899-1900
• Lt Gen, commanding Mounted Infantry Div, Second Boer War, South Africa, 1900-1901
• Military Secretary, War Office, 1901
• Chief of Staff to Gen Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Baron Kitchener of Khartoum and Aspall, Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, Second Boer War, 1901-1902
• Military Secretary, War Office, 1902-1903
• Quarter Master General to the Forces, 1903-1904
• Military representative of India attached to 1 Japanese Army, Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905
• General Officer Commanding Southern Command, 1905-1909
• Adjutant General to the Forces, 1909-1910
• General Officer Commanding Mediterranean Command, and Inspector General of Overseas Forces, 1910-1914
• Commander-in-Chief Central Force, Home Defence, 1914-1915, World War I
• General Officer Commanding Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, Gallipoli, 1915, World War I
• Lieutenant of the Tower of London, 1918-1920
• Retired from the Army, 1920
• Colonel of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders , 1904-1914
• Colonel of the Gordon Highlanders, 1914-1939
• Lord Rector of Edinburgh University, 1933-1936
• President, 1922-1935, and Patron, 1935-1947, of the Metropolitan Area British Legion
• President of the British Legion in Scotland , 1935-1947
• President of the South African War Veterans' Association , 1932-1947
• Died 1947

Source: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives