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IRONSIDE,
William
Edmund;
Field
Marshall,
1st
Baron
Ironside
of
Archangel
and
Ironside
(b.
Edinburgh,
6th
May,1880;
d.
London,
22nd
September,
1959),
noted
for
his
important
role
as
commander
of
British
forces
in
Persia
in
1920-1921.
He
was
the
second
child
of
Surgeon-Major
William
Ironside,
and
was
educated
at
Tonbridge
School
and
the
Royal
Military
Academy,
Woolwich,
and
commissioned
in
the
Royal
Artillery
Regiment
in
1899.
He
served
in
the
South
African
war,
1899-1902,
and
in
France
in
World
War
I,
1914-18.
After
commanding
Allied
forces
in
Archangel,
North
Russia
(1918-19)
and
British
forces
in
Izmit,
Turkey
(1920),
he
commanded
some
6000
British
forces
in
Persia
(NORPERFORCE)
with
headquarters
in
Qazvin
from
4
October
1920
to
18
February
1921.
There
followed
a
succession
of
senior
staff
appointments
and
promotions
in
the
UK
and
India
culminating
as
Chief
of
the
Imperial
General
Staff
(CIGS)
on
the
eve
of
World
War
II.
In
May
1940,
when
a
German
invasion
of
Britain
seemed
imminent,
Ironside
was
appointed
Commander-in-Chief
of
Home
Forces
but
was
retired
in
July
of
the
same
year.
Ironside's
four
and
a
half
months
in
Persia
were
notable
on
two
accounts:
first,
his
role
in
the
dismissal
of
more
than
a
hundred
Russian
officers
and
NCOs
of
the
Cossack
Division
and
their
replacement
by
Persians
under
the
command
of
Rezµa@
Khan,
founder
of
the
Pahlavi
dynasty;
and
second,
his
encouragement
of
Rezµa@
Khan's
coup
d'e‚tat
of
1299/1921(q.v.;
see
GREAT
BRITAIN
v).
On
each
occasion
Ironside
acted
on
his
own
responsibility
without
authority
from
London.
He
distrusted
Russian
loyalties
after
the
1917
Revolution
and
with
the
help
of
Herman
Norman,
the
British
Minister
in
Tehran,
persuaded
a
reluctant
Shah
to
dismiss
Colonel
Starosselsky,
the
Cossack
Division's
commanding
officer,
and
all
the
Russians
under
him.
It
was
also
Ironside
who
selected
Lt.
Colonel
Rezµa@
Khan
as
Starosselsky's
successor.
This
he
did
on
the
advice
of
Lt.
Colonel
Henry
Smyth
of
the
Cheshire
Regiment
(not
Lt.
Colonel
R.
C.
Smythe
of
the
Royal
Inniskilling
Fusiliers
as
sometimes
said),
a
British
officer
temporarily
attached
to
the
Cossacks,
and
after
several
visits
to
their
camp
at
AÚqa@
Ba@ba@
near
Qazvin
where
he
was
much
impressed
by
the
contingent
(a@triya@d)
from
Hamada@n
under
Rezµa@
Khan
"the
most
manly
Persian
I
have
yet
struck"
(MS.
Diary
29.1.1921).
Ironside's
decision
"to
let
the
Cossacks
go"
(MS.
Diary
15.2.1921)
was
because
he
wanted
a
strong
military
commander
in
the
capital
to
save
the
country
from
the
Bolsheviks
and
chaos
and
safeguard
the
imminent
withdrawal
of
Norperforce
from
Persia.
In
return,
Ironside
recorded,
Rezµa@
Khan
promised
not
to
hinder
British
withdrawal
or
depose
the
Shah
(MS.
Diary
12.2.1921).
An
edited
volume
of
Ironside's
Persian
diary
High
Road
to
Command
was
published
in
1972.
He
was
knighted
in
1919,
promoted
to
full
General
in
1935,
Field
Marshall
in
1940,
and
raised
to
the
peerage
in
1941.
Nicknamed
"Tiny"
because
of
his
great
height,
he
has
been
described
by
a
fellow
officer
as
"simple,
modest,
and
forthright...universally
liked
and
respected...an
intelligent,
imaginative,
and
unconventional
soldier"
(Roderick
Macleod
in
the
Dictionary
of
National
Biography,
1951-60
edition,
pp.
533-35).
He
was
a
good
linguist,
qualifying
as
an
Army
interpreter
in
seven
languages.
He
married
in
1915,
and
had
a
daughter
and
a
son
who
succeeded
him
to
the
peerage.
Bibliography:
Archival
Sources:
2nd
Lord
Ironside,
Private
papers
including
MS
Persian
diary,
London
University,
Liddell
Hart
Centre
for
Military
Archives.
R.
Mcleod
papers,
Public
Record
Office,
Kew,
UK.
Published
Sources:
Dictionary
of
National
Biography,
1951-60
ed.
pp.
533-55.
Cyrus
Ghani,
Iran
and
the
Rise
of
Reza
Shah,
London,
1998.
R.M.
(R.
Mcleod)
and
H.
G.
de
W,
"Field
Marshall
Lord
Ironside,"
Journal
of
the
Royal
Artillery,
vol.
86,
London,
1959,
pp.
153-57.
William
Edmund
Ironside,
Tannenberg:
The
First
Thirty
Days
in
East
Prussia,
Edinburgh,
1925.
Idem,
Archangel
1918-19,
London,
1953.
Idem
The
Ironside
Diaries
1937-1940,
ed.
R.
Mcleod
and
D.
Kelly,
London,
1962.
Idem,
High
Road
to
Command.
The
Diaries
of
Major-General
Sir
E.
Ironside
1920-22,
ed.
Lord
Ironside,
London,
1972.
Richard
Henry
Ullman,
The
Anglo-Soviet
Accord,
Princeton,
1973.
Donald
N.
Wilber,
Riza
Shah
Pahlavi,
New
York,
1975.
Denis
Wright,
The
English
Amongst
the
Persians,
London,
1977.
(DENIS
WRIGHT)
13
October
2003
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