George Bullock

Lieutenant General Sir George Mackworth Bullock, KCB, KCMG (15 August 1851 – 28 January 1926) was an officer of the British Army. He served during World War I, rising to the rank of lieutenant general, and was also the one-hundred and eighth Governor, Commander-in-Chief and Vice Admiral of Bermuda.

Bullock was born in 1851 at Warangal in British India, the son of Susannah Juliana née Dennis (c1814—1866) and Col Thomas Henry Bullock (c1808—1868), Deputy Commissioner of Berar. He was educated at Cheltenham College, University College, Oxford, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was the younger brother of Frederick Bullock.

Bullock was commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the 11th Regiment of Foot as a lieutenant on 24 April 1872, and attended Staff College, Camberley in 1880. Promotion to captain followed on 22 February 1882, to major on 29 May 1891, and to lieutenant-colonel on 18 January 1897. He was Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment who were deployed to South Africa for the Second Boer War, and in 1902 was in command at Volksrust, where there was an internment camp for Boers. He was mentioned in despatches (including by Lord Kitchener dated 23 June 1902). The war ended in June 1902, and Bullock left Cape Town on the SS Scot in September, returning home. For his services Bullock was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the April 1901 South Africa Honours list (the award was dated to 29 November 1900) and he received the actual decoration from King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.

Following the end of the war, he became Chief Staff Officer in Egypt in late 1902, Brigadier-General commanding Alexandria District in Egypt in 1904 and General Officer Commanding British troops in Egypt in 1905 before becoming General Officer Commanding the West Riding Territorial Division in 1910. He was also made Colonel of the Devonshire Regiment (1910–1921).

Bullock was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda, a strategic colony (now described as a British Overseas Territory) in the North Atlantic Ocean, in 1912, serving in this post until 1917. He was preceded by Lieutenant-General Sir Walter Kitchener, brother of Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener of Khartoum.

Bullock is remembered as moving Government House to the centre of Bermuda's social life. The British Government saw Bermuda more as a base than as a colony. Since the American War of Independence, the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda had served as the headquarters of the Royal Navy in the western North Atlantic, and a large garrison, the Bermuda Garrison, had been built up to defend it. Vast sums had been spent in the 19th century on fortifying the islands, and its governors were appointed almost exclusively from the general officers of the British Army, especially from the Royal Engineers and the Royal Artillery.

Bullock's predecessors had kept a distance from Bermuda's civilian population, but he made efforts to interact socially, opening Government House to prominent Bermudians and visitors, such as US President-elect Woodrow Wilson, for social functions. He also made efforts to take part in the normal social life of the colony.

When Britain declared war on Germany in 1914, during the First World War, Bullock was temporarily overseas. The commanding officer of the Second Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment (2 Lincolns), based at Prospect Camp, Lieutenant-Colonel George Bunbury McAndrew, found himself acting governor, Commander-In-Chief, and Vice-Admiral of Bermuda in his absence, and oversaw the colony's placement onto a war footing. The battalion returned to England on 3 October 1914, and was sent to the Western Front soon after.

A contingent from the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was detached in December 1914 to train for the Front. It was hoped this could join 2 Lincolns, but when it arrived in England 2 Lincolns was already in France. it was attached as an extra company to the First Battalion (1 Lincolns) instead, and was the first colonial volunteer unit to reach the Western Front when it arrived there in June, 1915. The contingent had trained at Warwick Camp, in Bermuda, over the winter of 1914-1915. As the BVRC still had to meet its obligations as part of the garrison, maintaining patrols and guarding key points around the archipelago, it did not have enough officers to provide an Adjutant to the cadre. Bullock filled this role himself, a job normally performed by a captain. The contingent, as a result, was popularly known as Bullock's Boys.

Bullock retired from the governorship in 1917, being succeeded by General Sir James Willcocks.

He married Amy Isabella née Thomson (1854—1952) in 1884; their daughter Evelyn Amy Bullock (c1887—1962) married Captain John Goldsmith (1882—1917) of the Royal Marines Light Infantry, a nephew of William Knox D'Arcy.

Lady Amy Bullock was invested as OBE for her war work on March 27th 1918.