author
Mainwaring George Jacson
1859–1915
A British army officer turned his firsthand military experience into a detailed account of the Boer War, preserving the story of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment. His best-known book offers readers an on-the-ground view of campaigning, command, and regimental life at the height of the British Empire.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Mainwaring George Jacson was a British Army officer who served in the Devonshire Regiment and later held the rank of brigadier-general. Records from the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War place his birth in 1859 and his death in 1915, and show a long military career that began when he was commissioned from the Royal Military College in 1880.
He is best remembered as the author of The Record of a Regiment of the Line, published in 1908. Written as a regimental history of the 1st Battalion Devonshire Regiment during the Boer War of 1899–1902, the book draws on his military background to give a clear, practical picture of soldiers in the field rather than a distant overview.
Jacson died in 1915 while serving during the First World War. Although not widely known today outside military history circles, his work remains valuable for readers interested in the Boer War, regimental history, and the everyday realities behind imperial campaigns.