Page 53 - They Also Served

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David Campbell 1889.
David Graham Muschet Campbell was
born on 28th January 1869. Educated at
Clifton College, he was commissioned
from Sandhurst into the 9th (Queen’s
Royal) Lancers in March 1889. After
serving in Ireland, during which time
he won a horse called The Soarer on the toss of a coin, the regiment returned to Aldershot in 1894, where Campbell began to make a name as a jockey. Winning races at Sandown and Kempton, he carried his form into 1895, where he won the Irish National Hunt Cup. 1896 was his best year when, despite having sold The Soarer, he rode the horse to victory in the Grand National, coming to the front with two fences to go and winning by a length and a half. Thereafter, he became known by the name of his horse but was unable to repeat the triumph the following year when the horse fell, and Campbell broke a collarbone.
By now stationed in India, the 9th Lancers were drafted for active service in the Boer War. ‘Soarer’ Campbell was in the thick of the fighting, being wounded at the Battle of Paardeberg in February 1900. After serving as adjutant, he commanded a squadron, then, in March 1912, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and took command of his regiment. During the early stages of the Great War, he led his regiment in some of the last cavalry charges of the British Army, including at Moncel on 7th September against the German 1st Guard Dragoons – the final lance-on-lance action. After the battle, Campbell was found by the medical officer lying in a clover field, where he was treated for a revolver bullet wound in the leg, a lance wound in the shoulder, and a sword wound to the arm. Campbell is said to have exclaimed: ‘I’ve just had the best quarter of an hour I’ve ever had in my life!’
Campbell was given command of the 6th Cavalry Brigade and, in May 1916, the 21st Division, which he commanded until the end of the war, one of the longest-serving divisional commanders. He also wrote about his experiences in a book, Divisional Commander in France. Further promotion followed in the inter-war years – he served as military secretary and commander-in-chief for Aldershot Command before being promoted to general as commander-in-chief and governor of Malta in 1931. Ill health forced him to retire from his post, and General Sir David ‘Soarer’ Campbell GCB died shortly afterwards on 12th March 1936.
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