A Victorian/Edwardian Guards officer with, for the period, a remarkable amount of extra-regimental active service, Major-General Sir Cecil Edward Pereira KCB, CMG (1869-1942) was educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston and commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1890. He served with the Niger Company (1897) and saw action with the MacDonald Expedition and Uganda Mutiny (1897-98), Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) and the First World War during which he was successively appointed CO 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1914, GOC 85th Brigade (which he led prior to being wounded during the Battle of Loos) in 1915 and GOC 1st Guards Brigade in January 1916. Promoted GOC 2nd (Regular) Division in December 1916, he commanded this premier Regular Army formation during the battles of Arras and Cambrai (1917), the German Spring Offensive and Advance to Victory (1918). Following the war he took command of 56th (London) Division from 1919 until retirement in 1923. During the Second World War he commanded the London Local Defence Volunteers. Ably edited by grandson Edward Pereira and military historians Spencer Jones and Michael LoCicero, this detailed and fascinating mid-level BEF commander's private correspondence has been made available for the specialist and general reader for the first time.
