Brigadier General Alexander William Pagan, DSO

 

 

Brigadier General Alexander William Pagan, DSO

 1878-1949

 Full Dress Uniform, c. 1931

 

Pagan studied at Cheltenham College and was gazetted to the 2nd Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment (formerly the 61st Regiment of Foot) on the 11th of February, 1899. He accompanied the 2nd Battalion to South Africa in January of 1900 to fight in the Boer War and was advanced to lieutenant that February during the Battle of Paardeberg. Pagan earned his captaincy in September of 1906. He was attached to the 3rd (Militia) Battalion, the Royal South Gloucestershire Militia, as adjutant in 1911. Now serving with the 1st Battalion (formerly the 28th Regiment of Foot), Pagan was promoted to major on the 1st of September, 1915. As a temporary lieutenant-colonel, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for conspicuous good work commanding his battalion near Loos on the 8th of October, 1915, during a heavy bombardment of 4 ½ hours, followed by a heavy infantry assault. Pagan was made a brevet lieutenant-colonel in January of 1917. Whilst commanding the 3rd Infantry Brigade, he was wounded during the Second Battle of Passchendaele on the 10th of November. Pagan was later made a temporary brigadier general and appointed commanding officer of the 184th Infantry Brigade in March of 1918. He was mentioned in despatches three times during the Great War and was also awarded the Belgian Order of Leopold and the Belgian Croix de Guerre. Pagan was placed in command of the 11th District, Irish Command in 1919. From 1922 to 1925, he commanded the Gloucestershire regimental depot at Bristol. On the 1st of February, 1925, Pagan received his colonelcy with seniority of the 1st of January, 1921, whilst assigned as Assistant Commandant of the Small Arms School at Hythe. He remained there until January of 1929 and was appointed to command the 10th Infantry Brigade that February at Jubblepore in India with the temporary rank of brigadier. Pagan retired from the service on the 15th of July, 1929, and was granted the honorary rank of brigadier general. He was appointed Colonel of the Gloucestershire Regiment on the 31st of July, 1931. In November of 1936, Pagan received a Territorial Army Reserve of Officers commission as a major and was assigned to the 8th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. He relinquished that commission in 1942 and continued to serve with the Home Guard.