United Kingdom. A CMC Group to Brigadier General Peake, Killed in Action on Hill 70 Commanding the Artillery of the 1st Army Corps.

The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Companion (CMG) (in silver-gilt with red, white, blue and green enamels, Gold buckle); Queen’s Sudan Medal 1896-1897 (CPt M. PEAKE. R.A.); King George V and Queen Mary Coronation Medal 1911 (MAJOR M. PEAKE.); Turkey, Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, IV Class Officer (in silver-gilt and with red and green enamels, chipping evident in the green enamels on the reverse); Belgium, Kingdom: Order of Leopold, IV Class Officer (in silver gilt with red, white, black and green enamels, Gold centrepieces, the obverse one loose); France, Third Republic: Order of the Legion of Honour, IV Class Officer (in silver with red, white, blue and green enamels, Gold centrepieces); and Khedive’s Sudan Medal 1896-1908, 6 Clasps - FIRKET, HAFIR, SUDAN 1897, THE ATBARA, KHARTOUM, SUDAN 1899 (CAPTAIN PEAKE. R.A.). Court-mounted, original ribbons, with large rosettes on the Turkish, Belgian and French awards. Accompanied by three additional awards: Turkey, Ottoman Empire: Order of the Medjidie, III Class Commander Neck Badge (centrepiece in Gold and red enamels, on a silver seven-pointed star base, silver standard marked on the reverse, chipping evident in the red enamels on the centrepiece ring); British War Medal (BRIG. GEN. M. PEAKE.); and Victory Medal (BRIG. GEN. M. PEAKE.). Un-mounted, all three with replacement ribbons. Light contact overall, enamel chipping as noted on the two Turkish awards, very fine.

 

Footnote: Malcolm Peake was born on March 27, 1865, the third son of Frederick Peake and Charlotte Peake, of Burrough-on-the-Hill, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. He was educated at Charterhouse, was a Cadet at the Royal Military Academy beginning in January 1883 and was commissioned in the Royal Artillery on December 9, 1884. Peake served in India and Malta before being attached to the Egyptian Army in July 1895. In Egypt, he commanded a battery of Egyptian Artillery, and was involved in training the Egyptian gunners. He took a prominent part in the re-conquest of Dongola, commanded No.1 Egyptian Battery in the action of Firket and commanded all the Egyptian Artillery at the action of Hafir. Peake’s Battery fired the first shot at the battle of the Atbara at 06.15 a.m., and his guns were hotly engaged at the battle of Omdurman. As part of MacDonald’s brigade, his battery played a prominent part in repulsing the two Dervish assaults on the exposed brigade, firing case shot at 150 yards. As Brigadier Hector MacDonald observed, “It was hard work especially for the Artillery. In the first attack 2nd phase they fired from 1100 yards to case and in the 2nd attack 2nd phase 800 yards to case and were engaged thus for over 2 hours without ceasing, a tremendous physical strain on any set of men”. 

 

During the Fashoda Incident (the climax of imperial territorial disputes between Britain and France in Eastern Africa), on September 10, 1898, Peake accompanied Lord Kitchener south to Fashoda, to neutralize the French presence there. While the momentous events were unfolding at Khartoum, in the far south, the original British fears were being realized: the French were on the Nile. An expedition, led by Major Jean-Baptiste Marchand, consisted of 160 French officers and Senegalese troops, which had left the Congo in April 1897 and began the trek east. The story of the Marchand expedition, and its long march to the Nile is an epic adventure in its own right, and a story of great courage in adversity. On July 10, 1898, the expedition reached the Nile at the ruined and desolate town of Fashoda. The town was duly claimed "in the name of France", the tri-colour raised, and the whole area declared a French protectorate. Marchand then set about building a fort he called St. Louis, planting grain, and settling in for a long stay. He was, however, now stuck in a somewhat unenviable situation. Here he was, in a desolate, unhealthy spot, with only a few troops, non-existent lines of communication, and beginning to hear rumours of a mighty battle further down the Nile. He must have wondered if he would soon be facing either the British or the Dervishes with his woefully inadequate little force. His answer came on September 18th, when two black Sudanese NCO's arrived with a letter addressed "To the Commandant of the European Expedition at Fashoda". Marchand must have breathed a great sigh of relief when he saw that the letter was from Herbert Kitchener, Sirdar of the Anglo- Egyptian Army, and not the Ansar of the Khalifa. The letter told of the great victory near Omdurman, and how, while pushing the reoccupation south, he had heard of a party of Europeans being at Fashoda. The courteous letter also announced that he, with his flotilla of gunboats, would be at Fashoda the following day. The historic meeting took place on board the "Dhal", where the two commanders spent long hours wrestling with their apparently insoluble problem, as both had orders to occupy Fashoda. Marchand was in "possession" with a pitifully small force and could not leave as French honour was at stake. Kitchener, although he certainly had the means to do so, did not want to eject him by force, astutely realizing that if he did, it could possibly cause a war between Britain and France. Kitchener, who spoke excellent French, and who had served for a short time with the French army during the Franco-Prussian war, probably admired Marchand’s bold stand, and suggested a clever compromise. The Anglo-Egyptian force would claim the area in the name of the Khedive, and raise the Egyptian flag alongside the tri-colour of France. Fashoda would thus be jointly occupied. Colonel Jackson of the Egyptian Army would be the British commandant of the district, and Captain Marchand, commandant of the quite separate French force. They would then refer the whole matter back to their respective governments to resolve. The news of the confrontation hit Europe on September 25th. The British were in no mood to concede anything at all to the French after winning the River War, and the French saw both their dreams of empire being frustrated, and their honour being compromised. Hysteria mounted in both countries, with strident calls for war. The British Prime Minister, still with the perennial fear of what could happen to Egypt if control of the Nile headwaters was lost, demanded that the French withdraw Marchand or Britain would declare war. The French government’s reaction was to tell their military to prepare for war. That is, until the French Chiefs of Staff pointed out to their government that their navy had only obsolete battleships, and poorly trained men, and their army, still embroiled in the Dreyfuss Affair, was not in much better a state. Realism finally brought sense out of the histrionics, and on November 3, 1898, Paris ordered Marchand to evacuate Fashoda. The expedition finally arrived back in France, via Abyssinia and Djibouti, the following May. The Union Jack was now raised at Fashoda, with all due pomp and ceremony, on December 12th. 

 

The Upper Nile now belonged to the British, provided that is, that they could actually govern it. Following this, the "Fashoda Incident", Peake was sent south in October in command of the steamer Tamaai with instructions to meet the Belgians, who were rumoured to be making inroads into the southern Sudan to expand and consolidate their occupation of the Lado enclave. Peake met the Belgians at Kiro and showed them a copy of the 1894 Treaty which defined spheres of interest, and, having defused the situation, returned to Khartoum. On his return, Peake confirmed that all the rivers were blocked by sudd and that there was no way through. Peake was involved in the "White Nile" operations against the Khalifa in 1899, and afterwards took command of the Egyptian Artillery until he retired back to the United Kingdom in 1905. Captain Malcolm Peake was noted as an officer seconded "for service in the Egyptian Army", dated July 4, 1895, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 26640 of Friday, July 5, 1895, page 3818. Captain Malcolm Peake, Royal Artillery was awarded the Order of the Medjidie, IV Class, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 26840 of Friday, April 9, 1897, page 2022: "The Queen has been pleased to give and grant unto each of the undermentioned (fourteen) Officers in Her Majesty's Army Her Royal licence and authority that he may accept and wear the Insignia of the Imperial Order of the Medjidieh (Medjidie) of the Fourth Class, which decoration His Highness the Khedive of Egypt, authorized by His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, has been pleased to confer upon the Officers in question in recognition of active and distinguished service before the enemy during the recent Dongola Expedition". Brevet Major Malcolm Peake, Royal Artillery was made a Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, "for services in Egypt", the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 27247 of Friday, November 16, 1900, page 7018. He is also acknowledged as having been awarded the Order of the Medjidie, III Class Commander (London Gazette, July 25, 1905), the Order of Osmanieh, IV Class Officer (London Gazette, August 4, 1900) and the Order of the Legion of Honour, IV Class Officer (London Gazette, April 15, 1916). Major Malcolm Peake, CMG, was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, the vice L.H. Ducrot, effective November 17, 1911, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 28551 of Friday, November 17, 1911, page 8349. He was Mentioned in Despatches four times: London Gazette November 2, 1896 (Reconquest of Dongola Province); January 25, 1898 (Capture of Abu Hamed); September 30, 1898 (Omdurman); and June 4, 1917 (First World War). In addition, he was awarded the King George V and Queen Mary Coronation Medal in 1911. 

 

When the Great War (First World War) broke out, Peake was Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office, a post he had held since May 1914 and which he was to retain until April 1916. He went to the Western Front as Commander, Royal Artillery (CRA) of the 29th Division on April 22, 1916, commanding its guns during the Somme offensive. He was promoted to Brigadier General, Royal Artillery I Corps on December 19, 1916. Brigadier General Peake, CMG was killed by an enemy shell while reconnoitring on Hill 70, near Loos, on August 27, 1917, at the age of 52 and was the thirty-ninth British general to be killed in action or die of wounds. He is buried in Noeux-les-Mines Communal Cemetery and Extension, Pas de Calais, France, Grave Reference: I. U. 2. He was survived by his wife, Louisa Peake of 11, Onslow Crescent, London, S.W.. For his First World War service, he was posthumously awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Major Derrick le Poer Trench DSO MC (May 25, 1882 - August 27, 1917) was killed alongside Brigadier General Malcolm Peake, on that fateful day of August 27, 1917, at the age of 35. Trench is buried in Noeux-les-Mines Communal Cemetery beside Peake, Grave Reference: I. U. 1.