[1st Baron]. British general, born on the 11th of September 1862, son of the 2nd Earl of Strafford, and joined the 10th Hussars in India in 1883. He saw his first active service on the Red Sea littoral a year later, when his regiment disembarked there on their way home. He passed through the Staff College, and was a major when the South African War broke out; he was then sent on special service to the Cape. He raised and commanded the South African Light Horse, which formed part of the Natal army and was at the relief of Ladysmith. Subsequently he commanded a column with marked success and was rewarded with promotion to the ranks of brevet lieutenant-colonel and colonel. After the war he commanded his regiment for two years, was then for a year in charge of the cavalry school, and was at the head of a cavalry brigade from 1907–9, when he was promoted major-general. He spent two years in charge of a Territorial division and then, in 1912, he was sent to Egypt to take command of the army of occupation.
In October 1914 he was summoned home to take the 3rd Cavalry Division to France, and he succeeded to the command of the Cavalry Corps in June 1915. But two months later he was despatched to the Dardanelles to take charge of the IX. Army Corps there and he became responsible for the Suvla area, from which he withdrew his troops most skilfully in the following December. For this valuable service he received the K.C.M.G., his corps proceeding to Egypt; but he was almost immediately called back to the western front to take over the XVII. Army Corps, and in May 1916 he was transferred from this to the Canadian Army Corps, then formed, which he commanded for a year. The Dominion troops under his orders distinguished themselves on several occasions, especially in their capture of Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917. He had been promoted lieutenant-general for distinguished service in 1916 and was given the K.C.B.
In June 1917 he succeeded to the leadership of the III. Army, which he retained till the close of hostilities. Towards the end of November he carried out the brilliantly successful surprise attack on the Cambrai front for which he was promoted full general, though the German counterstroke in December largely regained the lost ground. Remaining on this front in the winter of 1917–8, his forces were on the left of the V. Army in the battles of March 1918 and were to some extent involved in its defeat, but they remained unbroken and eventually it was on their front that the enemy’s attack first came to a definite standstill. Five months later they bore their full share in breaking the Hindenburg line and in the general advance. For his services Byng was raised to the peerage as Baron Byng of Vimy and Stoke-le-Thorpe, and he received a grant of £30,000. He retired from the army in 1919, and in June 1921 was appointed to succeed the Duke of Devonshire as governor-general of Canada.
