Cameron Shute

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title: "Cameron Shute" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1866-births", "1936-deaths", "british-army-generals", "british-army-generals-of-world-war-i", "knights-commander-of-the-order-of-the-bath", "knights-commander-of-the-order-of-st-michael-and-st-george", "welch-regiment-officers", "rifle-brigade-officers", "british-army-personnel-of-the-mahdist-war", "people-educated-at-marlborough-college", "military-personnel-from-surrey", "graduates-of-the-royal-military-college,-sandhurst", "british-recipients-of-the-legion-of-honour", "people-from-dorking", "graduates-of-the-staff-college,-camberley"] description: "British Army general (1866–1936)" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Shute" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British Army general (1866–1936) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]

Field	Value
honorific_prefix	General
name	Sir Cameron Shute
honorific_suffix
image	CameronShute.jpg
birth_date	15 March 1866
death_date	25 January 1936 (aged 69)
birth_place	Dorking, Surrey, England
death_place	London, England
placeofburial_coordinates
allegiance	United Kingdom United Kingdom
branch	[[File:Flag of the British Army.svg
serviceyears	1885–1931
rank	General
unit	First World War
commands	2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)
59th Brigade
63rd (Royal Naval) Division
32nd Division
19th (Western) Division
V Corps
4th Division
Northern Command
awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
Legion of Honour
::

| honorific_prefix = General | name =Sir Cameron Shute | honorific_suffix = | image =CameronShute.jpg | caption = | birth_date =15 March 1866 | death_date = 25 January 1936 (aged 69) | placeofburial_label = | placeofburial = | birth_place =Dorking, Surrey, England | death_place =London, England | placeofburial_coordinates = | nickname = | allegiance =United Kingdom United Kingdom | branch =[[File:Flag of the British Army.svg|26px]] British Army | serviceyears =1885–1931 | rank =General | unit =First World War | commands = 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own) 59th Brigade 63rd (Royal Naval) Division 32nd Division 19th (Western) Division V Corps 4th Division Northern Command | battles = | awards =Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Legion of Honour | relations = | laterwork = General Sir Cameron Deane Shute, (15 March 1866 – 25 January 1936), was a senior British Army officer during the First World War.

Early life and education

Shute was born in Dorking, Surrey, the son of Col. Deane Christian Shute of the British Indian Army, and his wife, Elizabeth Isabella Brownlow. He was educated at Marlborough College and abroad. He was the nephew of General Sir Charles Cameron Shute (1816–1904). Francis Browne, 4th Baron Kilmaine married his sister Alice Emily Shute.

Military career

After graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Shute was commissioned into the Welsh Regiment in August 1885.

He attended the Staff College, Camberley, from 1893 to 1894 and was again seconded for staff service in August 1898 and transferred to the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) in September 1895, receiving a promotion to captain in his new regiment, and participated in the Nile Expedition of 1898. a general staff officer (GSO) at Scottish Coast Defences from 1905. and appointed commanding officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade and, after being promoted to full colonel in June 1913, he then became a GSO at Aldershot Training Centre from 1914.

He served in the First World War, becoming a GSO1 in August 1914, and later in France and Belgium, becoming commander of the 59th Infantry Brigade, 20th (Light) Division, in France during the Guillemont actions in 1915. Upon being made a temporary major general in October 1916 he went on to be general officer commanding (GOC) of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division, the same year in which he was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

A.P. Herbert poem

As GOC of the Royal Naval Division, Shute had an intense dislike of the division's unconventional "nautical" traditions and made numerous unpopular attempts to stamp them out. He was particularly critical of the poor management of the latrines which could have led to an outbreak of dysentery. Following a particularly critical inspection of the trenches by Shute, an officer of the division, Sub-Lieutenant A. P. Herbert, who later became a famous humorous writer, legal satirist and member of Parliament, wrote a popular poem that summed up the feelings of the men of the division:

::quote

::

The General inspecting the trenches

Exclaimed with a horrified shout

'I refuse to command a division

Which leaves its excreta about.'

But nobody took any notice

No one was prepared to refute,

That the presence of shit was congenial

Compared to the presence of Shute.

And certain responsible critics

Made haste to reply to his words

Observing that his staff advisors

Consisted entirely of turds.

For shit may be shot at odd corners

And paper supplied there to suit,

But a shit would be shot without mourners

If somebody shot that shit Shute. ||}}

Although soldier songs hostile to superior officers were not rare, it is unusual to have a song aimed at a named officer.

He later became GOC of the 32nd Division in 1917 and of the 19th Division at the Battle of Messines (Flanders, Belgium) in 1917. In April 1918 he was promoted to temporary lieutenant general and took command of V Corps in place of the sacked Edward Fanshawe, which he commanded for the rest of the war.

After the war his CB was upgraded to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and in January 1919 he was awarded the French Legion of Honour. Having reverted to his permanent rank of major general in April 1919, and relinquished command of V Corps, he became GOC of the 4th Division, a post he held from November 1919 to November 1923.

After being made a substantive lieutenant general in April 1926, and succeeding General Sir Francis Davies as lieutenant of the Tower of London, he was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Northern Command in 1927. Promoted to full general in March 1931, he retired from the army later on 15 May.

References

-

References

1. (27 January 1936). "Obituary: Gen. Sir Cameron Shute – Leader and Trainer of Troops". [[The Times]].
2. (November 1850). "Marriages". F. Jefferies.
3. (2003). "[[Burke's Peerage". Burke's Peerage & Gentry.
4. [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/SHUTE.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]
5. {{London Gazette. (28 August 1885)
6. (1899). "Hart's Annual Army List, Militia List, and Imperial Yeomanry List". J. Murray.
7. {{London Gazette. (6 September 1898)
8. {{London Gazette. (27 September 1895)
9. He was deputy assistant adjutant general (DAAG) in [[Malta]] from 1899 and, a major from June 1904 onwards,{{London Gazette. (3 June 1904)
10. {{London Gazette. (7 April 1914)
11. {{London Gazette. (25 September 1914)
12. {{London Gazette. (13 July 1915)
13. "Battlefields".
14. {{London Gazette. (14 November 1916)
15. {{London Gazette. (2 June 1916)
16. [[Gordon Corrigan]] ''Mud, Blood and Poppycock'' ({{ISBN. 0304359556) pp. 87–88.
17. [[Martin Gilbert]], ''The Somme'', Henry Holt, 2006, p. 218.
18. {{London Gazette. (24 May 1918)
19. {{London Gazette. (31 December 1918)
20. {{London Gazette. (28 January 1919)
21. {{London Gazette. (29 April 1919)
22. {{London Gazette. (1 July 1919)
23. {{London Gazette. (17 February 1920)
24. {{London Gazette. (14 November 1919)
25. {{London Gazette. (27 April 1926)
26. {{London Gazette. (3 March 1931)
27. {{London Gazette. (15 May 1931)

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