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[[Lieutenant-General]] '''Sir Louis Ridley Vaughan''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|KBE|DSO}} (7 August 1875 – 7 December 1942<ref>Officer Casualties of the Indian armies 1803–1946</ref>), was a [[British Indian Army]] staff officer and [[World War I|First World War]] general. During the First World War, he served on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]], and was [[chief of staff]] to General Sir [[Julian Byng]], commander of the [[Third Army (United Kingdom)|Third Army]] from May 1917 until the end of the war. After the war, he served in the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] of 1919, and then held several army positions in India until his retirement in 1928. He died in 1942 at the age of 67.

==Early life==
Louis Ridley Vaughan was born on 7 August 1875. He was the second son of Cedric Vaughan, a [[Justice of the Peace]] in [[Millom]], [[Cumberland]], UK. Louis Vaughan was educated at [[Uppingham School]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst|Royal Military College]] at Sandhurst, entering the army in 1895.<ref name="GWF">[http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=16772&mode=threaded Brigadier General Louis Ridley Vaughan], Great War Forum, accessed 18 January 2010</ref>

==Early army career==
Vaughan entered the [[Indian Army (1895–1947)|Indian Army]] in December 1896 and was made captain in 1904, having served in the [[78th Moplah Rifles]]. He transferred to the 113th Infantry in July 1907 when the [[78th Moplah Rifles]] were disbanded.<ref>Indian Army List January 1908</ref> He attended the [[Staff College, Camberley]] from 1908 to 1910, and served as a General Staff Officer (GSO) Grade 3, in India from 1910 to 1912. He served in the [[War Office]] from 1912 to 1914 (GSO 2nd Grade), and was promoted to Major in 1913, by then having transferred to the [[7th Gurkha Rifles]].<ref name="GWF"/> Vaughan married Emilie Kate Desmond Deane on 16 April 1913.<ref name="GWF"/>

==First World War==
[[File:BEF commanders and chiefs of staff 1918.jpg|left|thumb|300px|[[Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig|Sir Douglas Haig]] with his army commanders and their chiefs of staff, November 1918. Front row, left to right: [[Herbert Plumer, 1st Viscount Plumer|Sir Herbert Plumer]], Sir Douglas Haig, [[Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson|Sir Henry Rawlinson]]. Middle row, left to right: [[Julian Byng, 1st Viscount Byng of Vimy|Sir Julian Byng]], [[William Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood|Sir William Birdwood]], [[Henry Horne, 1st Baron Horne|Sir Henry Horne]]. Back row, left to right: [[Herbert Lawrence|Sir Herbert Lawrence]], [[Charles Kavanagh|Sir Charles Kavanagh]], [[Brudenell White]], Percy, Louis Vaughan, [[Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd]], [[Hastings Anderson]].]]

Vaughan was on active service as a staff officer from 1914 to 1918, and was mentioned in despatches nine times. He was GSO Grade 2 in 1914, and GSO Grade 1 in 1915. Following this was a series of temporary ([[Brevet (military)|brevet]]) appointments, including temporary [[Brigadier-General]] in 1916, and temporary [[Major-General]] in 1917. He was [[chief of staff]] to General Sir [[Julian Byng]], commander of the [[Third Army (United Kingdom)|Third Army]] from May 1917 until the end of the war, and was made a permanent Major-General in 1919.<ref name="GWF"/>

His brother, Percy Cecil Vaughan, who was a London solicitor pre-war, was killed at Ypres in September 1917.<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/156894 Casualty Details: Vaughan, P. C.], Commonwealth War Graves Commission Debt of Honour Register, accessed 18 January 2010</ref>

In his 1920 book ''The Realities of War'', the British war correspondent Sir [[Philip Gibbs]] described Vaughan as: "That charming man, with his professional manner, sweetness of speech, gentleness of voice and gesture, like an Oxford Don analysing the war correspondence of [[Xenophon]]."<ref name="GWF"/>

Vaughan was nicknamed 'Father' by the troops that served under him. John Bourne, of the University of Birmingham's Centre for First World War Studies, who has researched the nicknames given to British Army generals in the Great War, attributes to this nickname a priestly meaning, rather than any patriarchal meaning.<ref>[http://www.firstworldwar.bham.ac.uk/nicknames/vaughan.htm Generals' Nicknames: No.5: Louis Ridley Vaughan ('Father')], John Bourne, University of Birmingham Centre for First World War Studies, accessed 18 January 2010. Bourne draws a further connection between General Vaughan's nickname and the famous family of Vaughan Catholic clergymen: [[Bernard Vaughan]] (who was a chaplain on the Western Front), [[Herbert Vaughan]], and [[John Stephen Vaughan]].</ref>

Vaughan appears in the famous photograph taken on the steps of the ''Mairie'' (town hall) in [[Cambrai]] on 11 November 1918. This photograph showed Haig, his Army commanders and their chiefs of staff. Vaughan is fifth from the left in the back row.<ref name="GWF"/>

==Post-war career==
After the Great War, Vaughan served in the [[Third Anglo-Afghan War]] from July to September 1919, commanding the fourth of the eight war divisions that were deployed. He was [[mentioned in despatches]] and received a campaign medal and clasp.<ref name="GWF"/>

He was then Commandant of [[Pakistan Command and Staff College|Quetta Staff College]] in [[Quetta]], India, from 1919 to 1923. Following that, he was [[General Officer Commanding]] (GOC) of two command areas in India: the [[Central Provinces and Berar|Central Provinces and Berar District]] (1923 to 1924), and [[Rawalpindi District]] (1925 to 1926). He was made [[Lieutenant-General]] in 1926, and retired in 1928.<ref name="GWF"/>

In August 1930, Vaughan was the representative of General Byng (now Viscount Byng of Vimy) at the unveiling of the [[Cambrai Memorial]].<ref>[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/79300 Cemetery Details: Cambrai Memorial], Commonwealth War Graves Commission, accessed 18 January 2010</ref>

Vaughan died in 1942 at his home in [[Broadmead]], [[Folkestone]], at the age of 67.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1942/12/08/archives/gen-sir-ridlf_-vaughan-i-lord-byngof-staff-ini.html Obituary for General Louis Ridley Vaughan], from ''[[The New York Times]]'', Tuesday, 8 December 1942; p. 25</ref>

==Decorations and honours==
*1915 – [[Distinguished Service Order]] (DSO)
*1918 – [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] (CB)
*1922 – [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (KBE)
*1928 – [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (KCB, Military Division)
*[[Croix de Guerre]]
*[[Legion d'Honneur]]

==References and notes==
<references/>

==Further reading==
*Obituary from ''[[The Times]]'', Tuesday, 8 December 1942; p. 6; Issue 49413; col E
*[https://www.nytimes.com/1942/12/08/archives/gen-sir-ridlf_-vaughan-i-lord-byngof-staff-ini.html Obituary for General Louis Ridley Vaughan], from ''[[The New York Times]]'', Tuesday, 8 December 1942; p. 25
*'Byng of Vimy: An Appreciation', ''Army Quarterly'', LXXI (October 1935), pp. 11–16 by Lieutenant-General Sir Louis Vaughan

==External links==
*[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person.php?LinkID=mp56700 Portraits of Sir Louis Ridley Vaughan] (National Portrait Gallery)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaughan, Louis Ridley}}
[[Category:1875 births]]
[[Category:1942 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian Army generals of World War I]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:People educated at Uppingham School]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]

Louis Vaughan - Revision history

Bot at 14:58, 2 October 2022