Percy Lake
General in British Army and Canadian Militia
title: "Percy Lake" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1855-births", "people-from-tenby", "1940-deaths", "graduates-of-the-staff-college,-camberley", "british-military-personnel-of-the-second-anglo-afghan-war", "british-army-personnel-of-the-mahdist-war", "british-army-generals-of-world-war-i", "commanders-of-the-canadian-army", "canadian-knights-commander-of-the-order-of-st-michael-and-st-george", "british-army-lieutenant-generals", "59th-regiment-of-foot-officers", "military-personnel-from-pembrokeshire", "canadian-knights-commander-of-the-order-of-the-bath", "military-personnel-from-preston,-lancashire", "people-educated-at-uppingham-school"] description: "General in British Army and Canadian Militia" topic_path: "history" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Lake" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary General in British Army and Canadian Militia ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox military person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| honorific_prefix | Lieutenant-General |
| name | Sir Percy Lake |
| honorific_suffix | |
| birth_date | |
| death_date | |
| birth_place | Tenby, Wales |
| death_place | Victoria, British Columbia, Canada |
| image | PercyLake.jpg |
| allegiance | United Kingdom / British Empire |
| branch | British Army / Indian Army / Canadian Militia |
| serviceyears | 1873–1919 |
| rank | Lieutenant-General |
| commands | Chief of the General Staff, Canada |
| 7th (Meerut) Division | |
| Chief of the General Staff, India | |
| Mesopotamian campaign | |
| battles | Second Anglo-Afghan War |
| Suakin Expedition | |
| World War I | |
| awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath |
| Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George | |
| relations | Richard Stuart Lake (brother) |
| :: |
| honorific_prefix = Lieutenant-General | name = Sir Percy Lake | honorific_suffix = | birth_date = | death_date = | birth_place = Tenby, Wales | death_place = Victoria, British Columbia, Canada | image = PercyLake.jpg | caption = | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom / British Empire | branch = British Army / Indian Army / Canadian Militia | serviceyears = 1873–1919 | rank = Lieutenant-General | commands = Chief of the General Staff, Canada 7th (Meerut) Division Chief of the General Staff, India Mesopotamian campaign | battles = Second Anglo-Afghan War Suakin Expedition World War I | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George | laterwork = | relations = Richard Stuart Lake (brother) Lieutenant-General Sir Percy Henry Noel Lake, (29 June 1855 – 17 November 1940) served as a senior commander in the British and Indian Armies, and in the Canadian Militia. He served during World War I.
Military career
Lake was the son of Lt.-Colonel Percy Godfrey Botfield Lake (1829–1899) and his wife Margaret Phillips of Quebec City. Born at Tenby, Wales, on 29 June 1855,
Lake was commissioned as a sub-lieutenant in the 59th Regiment of Foot in 1873, and promoted to lieutenant on 9 August 1873. He fought in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1878–79. In 1885 he became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General and Quartermaster General during the Suakin Expedition, Sudan.
Returning home, he served as a staff captain at Army Headquarters in 1887 and Deputy Assistant Adjutant General (Intelligence) at Army Headquarters in 1888. He was promoted to major in July 1891 and went on to be Deputy Assistant Adjutant General at Dublin District in Ireland in 1892, Quartermaster General for the Canadian Militia in 1893 Assistant Quartermaster General (Intelligence) at Army Headquarters in India in September 1899. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on 22 August 1902.
After that Lake became Chief Staff Officer for 2nd Army Corps in 1904, Chief of the Canadian General Staff in 1905 and Inspector General of the Canadian Militia in 1908, and appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1905 and Knight Commander (KCMG) in 1908.
Leaving Canada in 1910, he succeeded Lieutenant General Sir James Willcocks as General Officer Commanding 7th (Meerut) Division in India in February 1911 and Chief of the General Staff in India from 1912, In 1913 he was given the colonelcy of the East Lancashire Regiment, which he held until 1920. In January 1916 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Mesopotamian Force, part of an expeditionary force sent to relieve Sir General Townshend's troops at Kut.
After preparing for a fresh campaign, in August 1916 Lake returned to England, He was given a post in the Ministry of Munitions in May 1917.
Later life
Following the war, Lake formally retired on 20 November 1919. He returned to Canada and lived in Victoria, British Columbia, where he died on 17 November 1940. He was survived by his wife Hester Fanny (), whom he had married in 1891. They had no children.
References
References
- he was brought up in [[Preston, Lancashire]] where his father was stationed. He was educated at [[Winckley Square#Preston Grammar School. link. (24 December 2012)
- "Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives: Percy Lake. Archived copy". King's College London.
- {{London Gazette. (21 September 1875)
- (2004). "Lake, Sir Percy Henry Noel".
- {{London Gazette. (3 July 1891)
- {{London Gazette. (25 November 1902)
- {{London Gazette. (31 October 1902)
- {{London Gazette. (4 April 1911)
- (15 July 2000). "The East Lancashire Regiment". Regiments.org.
- [http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/lake.htm Biography of Sir Percy Lake]
- {{London Gazette. (24 November 1919)
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::