Major-General Sir John Ponsonby (1866-1952) began his career in the army in 1887 and served in Matabeleland (1893-1894), Uganda (1888-1889), and South Africa (1899-1900). During the First World War he served as Brigadier­General commanding the 2nd Guards Brigade (1915-1917), temporary Major-General commanding 40th Division (1917-1918), and Major­General commanding 5th Division. In the 1920s and 1930s he served as General Officer commanding Madras District (1922-1926), and Colonel of the Suffolk Regiment (1925-1939). During the Second World War Sir Ponsonby commanded the 7th Cumberland Battalion of the Home Guard (1940-1941). He was awarded the DSO (1900), CMG (1915), CB (1918) and KCB (1927).

Diary of military expedition through British East Africa to the Congo, 1898-1899, with a march through Naivasha and Mumias to Unyoro where Sir Ponsonby commanded Sudanese troops in the Uganda Mutiny. Microfilm.

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Listed as no. 933 in Manuscript Collections in Rhodes House Library Oxford, Accessions 1978-1994 (Oxford, Bodleian Library, 1996).

Ponsonby | John | 1866-1952 | Sir | Knight Major General

Kenya | Description and travel

Congo | Description and travel