Lieutenant-General Sir George Montague Harper, (11 January 1865 – 15 December 1922), was a senior officer of the British Army during the First World War. As a protégé of General Henry Wilson, he held important staff positions at the War Office before the war and at British Expeditionary Force (BEF) GHQ in 1914. He later commanded the 51st (Highland) Division at the Battles of the Ancre, Arras, Third Ypres and Cambrai. It was widely claimed by tank officers that his adoption of idiosyncratic tactics at Cambrai caused his division's failure to reach its objectives, although this view has now been called into question. He commanded IV Corps in 1918. Early life Harper was born on 11 January 1865 in Batheaston, Somerset, the son of Charles and Emma Harper. His father was a physician and surgeon. Early military career George Harper was educated at Bath College and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 5 July 1884, and promoted to captain on 1 October 1892. In 1899 he was deployed to South Africa where he joined 37th Field Company Royal Engineers and saw action at Spion Kop, Val Kranz, Tugela Heights and Pieter's Hill. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in November 1900 for his service in South Africa. Staff Officer Harper was promoted to major on 1 April 1901, and entered the Staff College, Camberley, the same year. He was appointed a Staff Captain at headquarters on 15 October 1902. He was on the directing staff at the Staff College from May 1908 to December 1910. Harper accompanied Henry Wilson, then Commandant of the Staff College, on his reconnaissance of the likely future theatre of war. In August 1908, along with Edward Percival ("Perks"), they explored south of Namur by train and bicycle. In August 1909 Harper and Wilson travelled from Mons then down the French frontier almost as far as Switzerland. In Spring 1910, this time by motor car, they travelled from Rotterdam into Germany, then explored the German side of the frontier, noting the new railway lines and "many sidings" which had been built near St Vith and Bitburg (to allow concentration of German troops near the Ardennes). Military Operations He became Deputy Director of Military Operations (DDMO) at the War Office in 1911 (serving under Wilson, DMO). From June 1911 Harper headed M.O.1 section. After