Background
Torquhil Matheson was born in 1871, the youngest child of Sir Alexander Matheson, 1st Baronet, and was educated at Eton College.
Torquhil Matheson was born in 1871, the youngest child of Sir Alexander Matheson, 1st Baronet, and was educated at Eton College.
Eton College.
He had previously served in the militia and with the Coldstream Guards in the Second Boer War. They had two sons:
Major Sir Torquhil Alexander Matheson of Matheson, 6th Baronet (15 August 1925-1929 April 1993)
Major Sir Fergus John Matheson of Matheson, 7th Baronet
(b 22 February 1927)
Matheson joined the Hertfordshire Militia before being commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Bedfordshire Regiment on 15 December 1888.
On 2 June 1894, Matheson transferred from the Bedfordshires, in which he was then a lieutenant, to the Coldstream Guards as a second lieutenant again, serving with them in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1902. At the outbreak of the First World War, Matheson went with his regiment to France and fought in several actions, being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1915 in command of the 3rd Battalion.
In July 1915, Matheson advanced to command the 46th Infantry Brigade and remained in this position until March 1917, when he was promoted to Major General and took over the 20th Infantry Division. In August, shortly before the division was due to deploy in the Third Battle of Ypres, Matheson was severely effected by a German gas barrage that struck his headquarters, forcing him to relinquish control of the division.
In September he took over the 4th Infantry Division and commanded he force until September 1918, when he was replaced by Louis Lipsett and took charge of the Guards Division for the final months of the war.
In 1922, he was advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath "for valuable services rendered in the Field with the Waziristan Force" and commanded the 7th Guards Brigade and then the 7th Infantry Division. On 30 June 1931, he was appointed to his last command, as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command, India, and on 30 June 1935 retired from that post as a full General. He died in November 1963.