on the attack after its failure VII Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Thomas D'Oyly Snow, stated in official correspondence: "the 46th Division ... showed a lack of offensive spirit. I can only attribute this to the fact that its commander, Major-General the Hon. E.J. Montagu Stuart-Wortley, is not of an age, neither has he the constitution, to allow him to be as much among his men in the front lines as is necessary to imbue all ranks with confidence and spirit." General Snow ordered a Court of Inquiry on 4 July 1916 into the actions of the 46th Division during the attack, but before it delivered its findings General Haig as Commander-in-Chief ordered Montagu-Stuart-Wortley to leave the field and return to England. Given that Montagu Stuart-Wortley's orders prior to the attack had been "to occupy the ground that is won by the artillery" his dismissal remains a subject of controversy. According to Alan MacDonald, "the Division and its General were made scapegoats for the failure of a fatally flawed concept dreamt up by higher authority – the diversionary attack at Gommecourt". Later life Upon his return home he was appointed to the backwater command of the 65th (2nd Lowland) Division in Ireland until March 1919. He retired from the British Army on 31 July 1919. Post-war, Wortley made several protests to the Government about the perceived injustice that he had suffered at its hands, particularly with regard to not having received the customary honours issued to commanders of Divisional rank in the war, but to no avail. He died 19 March 1934 at age 76. Personal life Edward married Violet Hunter Guthrie on 5 February 1891; she was the daughter of James Alexander Guthrie, 4th Baron of Craigie and her sister Rose Ellinor Guthrie was married to General the Hon Sir Cecil Edward Bingham. They had three children Major Nicholas Rothesay Stuart-Wortley (1892–1926), Louise Violet Beatrice Montagu-Stuart-Wortley (1893-1970) and Elizabeth Valetta Montagu-Stuart-Wortley (1896–1978). Edward's older brother the Hon Sir Francis Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie succeeded to the Earldom of Wharncliffe and his younger brother the Hon Sir Alan Richard Montagu-Stuart-Wortley KCMG DSO KCB became a lieutenant-general in the British Army serving throughout the First World War. Notes Bibliography Robert Franklin, The Fringes of History: The Life and Times of Edward Stuart Wortley (Natula Publications, 2003) External links Centre for First World War Studies: Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley |- 1857 births 1934 deaths Military personnel from London