Frederick Hammersley (British Army officer)

Major-General Frederick Hammersley (1858 – 1924) was a senior British Army officer.

Hammersley was the son of Frederick Hammersley and Sarah Keating. He joined the army in 1876, being commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers. He first saw service in the Nile Expedition of 1884-5 in the Sudan. On 15 June 1885 he was promoted to the rank of major. He fought at the Battle of Khartoum in 1898, before being deployed to South Africa in 1899 to fight in the Second Boer War. On 20 October 1899 he was severely wounded at the Battle of Talana Hill.

Between 1906 and 1911, Hammersley commanded the 3rd Brigade, Aldershot Command, but was relieved of his position due to repeatedly showing signs of shell shock. Despite this, upon the outbreak of the First World War, he was put in command of the newly formed 11th (Northern) Division, part of Kitchener's volunteer army. In this capacity, Hammersley commanded the Landing at Suvla Bay by his division during the Gallipoli Campaign. However, his ability to oversee such an operation has subsequently been called into question, and the Dardanelles Commission openly criticised his command. The orders given by General Hammersley were deemed to be confused and the work of his staff defective. On 23 August 1915, he was removed from the front-line in a state of collapse and was replaced by Major-General Edward Fanshawe. He was invalided back to England, suffering from battle fatigue.

He married Edith Grant, and together they had two daughters. He was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1908 Birthday Honours.