Philip de Fonblanque
British general (1885–1940)
Major-General Philip de Fonblanque, DSO (16 November 1885 – 2 July 1940) was a senior British officer, who at the start of the Second World War, organised the logistics for the British Expeditionary Force in France and Belgium. Already a sick man, the result of his exertions was that he died shortly after his evacuation from France in June 1940.
Early life
Philip de Fonblanque was born in 1885 in British India, the elder son of Lester Ramsay de Fonblanque, Vicomte de Fonblanque whose father was Edward Barrington de Fonblanque, a writer and traveller descended from a Huguenot family, and Constance Lucy, the daughter of Colonel Hon. Robert Dundas Kerr, and great-granddaughter of William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian. His younger brother, Edward Barrington de Fonblanque (1895–1981), also rose to become a major-general.
He entered Rugby School in May 1899 at the age of 13 and left in 1902. From there, he became a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich for a year and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in March 1905.
In 1916 he married Stella, eldest daughter of Sir Henry May, governor of Hong Kong. There were a son and two daughters of the marriage.
Military career
During the First World War, Captain de Fonblanque was given the temporary rank of Major when he took command of a Field Company of Royal Engineers in November 1916, although he relinquished this rank to become a staff officer to a chief engineer in July 1917.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Philip de Fonblanque” is british general (1885–1940). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Philip, Fonblanque and British, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “british general (1885–1940)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q16973344. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1885, 1940, 1895 and 1981.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Philip de Fonblanque”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Philip de Fonblanque primary sources, Philip de Fonblanque archive and Philip research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Philip de Fonblanque”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Philip de Fonblanque” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.