Alfred Knox: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}

| honorific_prefix  = [[Major-General]]

| caption      = Admiral Kolchak (seated) and General Alfred Knox (behind Kolchak) observing military exercises on the Eastern Front of the Russian Civil War. Date 1919

| branch        = [[British Army]]

| serviceyears  =  

| rank          = [[Major-General]]

| unit          =  

| battles      = [[First World War]]

| awards    =  

[[Major-General]] '''Sir Alfred William Fortescue Knox''' (30 October 1870 – 9 March 1964) was a career [[British Armed Forces|British military]] officer and later a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] politician.

Born in [[Ulster]], Knox joined the [[British Army]] when he was commissioned a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[Royal Irish Rifles|Irish Rifles]] on 2 May 1891, and was promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 18 November 1893. He was posted to [[British Raj|British India]] where he joined the [[5th Punjab Infantry]], became a double company commander, and was promoted to [[Captain (BARM)|captain]] on 10 July 1901.<ref>Hart′s Army list, 1902</ref> He was [[adjutant]] to the Southern Waziristan Militia, and as such took part in operations in [[Waziristan]] under Major-General [[Charles Egerton (Indian Army officer)|Charles Egerton]] in summer 1902, for which he was [[mentioned in despatches]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue= 27499 |page=8254 |date= 28 November 1902 }}</ref>

In 1911 General Knox was appointed the British Military Attaché in [[Russia]].<ref>Neal Ascherson, "After Seven Hundred Years," ''London Review of Books'' (24 May 2012), p. 8.</ref> A fluent speaker of [[Russian language|Russian]], he became a liaison officer to the [[Imperial Russian Army]] during [[First World War]].   

:''The garrison had dwindled owing to desertions, for there were no provisions and it had been practically starved for two days. There was no strong man to take command and to enforce discipline. No one had any stomach for fighting; and some of the ensigns even borrowed great coats of soldier pattern from the women to enable them to escape unobserved.''

:''The greater part of the yunkers of the Mikhail Artillery School returned to their school, taking with them four out of their six guns. Then the Cossacks left, declaring themselves opposed to bloodshed! At 10 p.m. a large part of the ensigns left, leaving few defenders except the ensigns of the Engineering School and the company of women."'' {{Citation needed|date=September 2011}}

At the [[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924 general election]], he was elected as a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)|Wycombe]], defeating the sitting [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]] MP [[Vera Woodhouse, Lady Terrington|Lady Terrington]]. He held his seat during the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]]<ref name="LG 21 June 1929">{{London Gazette |issue=33508 |date=21 June 1929 |pages=4106–4107  }}</ref> and through subsequent general elections, serving in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] until the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945 general election]]. In 1934, Knox argued against [[Indian independence movement|Indian Independence]] by stating "India, diverse in races and creed and united only by Britain, is not ready for democracy."<ref>S.P. Agrawal and J.C. Aggarwal,''Information India : 1993–94''.  Global View. New Delhi : Concept, 1997. {{ISBN|9788170225379}} (p. 379).</ref> His parliamentary questions mainly concerned the [[Soviet Union]] and the threat of [[Hitler]] as well as the rearmament of [[United Kingdom|Britain]] during the [[inter-war period]]. Knox remained a strong opponent of Communism throughout his career and following the Soviet invasion of Finland, campaigned to [[Franco-British plans for intervention in the Winter War|give military support to the Finns]].<ref>"...General Alfred Knox MP, who in 1919 had been Churchill's special representative at the headquarters of Admiral Kolchak and who still regarded the anticommunist fight as his special vocation". Markku Ruotsila ''Churchill and Finland: A Study in Anticommunism and Geopolitics''. London ; Frank Cass, 2005. {{ISBN|0415349710}} (p. 92)</ref>

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