GCB, MCMS, KCSI, Aide de Camp to King George V
Born 21st November 1863 - died 2nd June 1948
He married Clara Pauline, daughter of the Reverend J L Wyatt. They had children:
1 Aileen Swinton, born 5th August 1895, died 14th Janaury 1907.
2 Edward Ian, born 27th September 1899, died
For a more datailed account see the Dictionary of National Biography.
FIELD-MARSHAL SIR CLAUD JACOB
THE REWARD OF MERIT
Field-Marshal Sir Claud Jacob, GCB, GCSI, KCMG, died in hospital in London yesterday at the age of 84, after an operation.
Descended from an old Kentish family, he bore a name which has been known in the Indian Army for over a century. A practical, common sense soldier, thorough in his methods and straighforward in his ways, his natural modesty kept him from the limelight, so that his advancement was simply the recognition of a sterling character with a talent for commanding men. High as he rose, he narrowly missed attaining a still higher position on at least two occasions. The first was during the war of 1914 when, as a corps commander, he was seriously considered as a successor to Haig as Commander-in-Chief in France. Eight years later the post of Commander-in-Chief in India seemd likely to fall to him. Once more there was a slip 'twixt cup and lip
Claud William Jacob was born on November 21, 1863, the son of Major-General William Jacob, who was at the siege and capture of Kohat. He passed into Sandhurst from Sherborne, where he was in the fifteen, and received his commission in the Worcestershire Regiment in 1882. At the end of 1884, being stationed at Quetta, he secured his transfer to the Indian service. His first experience of active service was with the Zhob Valley expedition of 1890. Soon came his selection to command the Zhob Levy Corps, which kept the peace along the Wazuiristan and Southern Afghanistan border.
At the end of 1901, he took part in the little campaign which brought to a close the second blockade of the recalcitrant Mahsuds in Waziristan and three years later formed the 106th Hazara Pioneers for work on frontier communications. He commanded his pioneers for seven years, and in 1912 was appointed GSO1 of the Meerut Division. So far his career had been anything but spectacular. Busy with his strenuous work on the frontier, he had not passed through the Staff College, while, on the other hand, it had not been his good fortune to figure in the better known frontier campaigns. His chance was now, however, at hand. After the outbreak of war in 1914 came the decision to send an Indian corps to France, and Jacob went with the Meerut Division. He proved to be the only Indian army officer of the corps to remain in France and rise to a high command there. With the Meerut Division he saw the closing stages of the Battle of La Bassee, in the autumn of 1914. Just before Christmas a critical situation arose on the front of the Indian Corps, which was badly shaken by a German attack. When his seniors failed, Jacob stepped into the breach and by his personal example, as well as by his tactical grasp, he went far to retrieve the situation.
At the beginning of 1915 he was appointed to command the Dehra Dun Brigade, and led it at Neuve Chapelle in March. His practical sense and moral courage were shown in the way that, after a personal reconnaissance, he countermanded an assault that he saw would be in vain - in contrast with other commanders who were content to urge, over the telephone, a continuation of costly and futile efforts. The brigade was also heavily engaged at Aubers Ridge in May. In September he was given the Meerut Division and committed to the fruitless and costly subsidary action of Pietre at the time of the battle of Loos. In November, when the Indian Corps was preparing to leave the Western Front, he was appointed to take over 21 Division of the 'New Armies'. His command had suffered much at Loos, but he brought it to excellent fighting pitch by precept and example; the results of his work were shown in the splendid performance of the Division on the first day of the Somme offensive and many times later.
He had II corps for the remainder of the war: During the Battles of the Somme, 1916, when he carried Thiepval by an admirably planned assault; at the Ancre operations and the pursuit of the Germans to the Hindenburg Line in 1917, and later at 'Third Ypres'; and in Flanders during the advance which brought hostilities to an end in 1918.
Having been promoted lieutenant-general in 1917 he commanded a corps of the Rhine Army for a time, and in 1920 returned to India on appointment as Chief of the General Staff. In the course of the year he was promoted to general and appointed ADC General to the King. Drastic economy in the Army was demanded, and the Commander-in-Chief was hard put to it to reconcile retrenchment with efficiency.
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