Major-General Charles Guinand Blackader, CB, DSO (20 September 1869 – 2 April 1921) was a British Army officer of the First World War.

Originally joining the army in 1888 as a junior officer in the Leicestershire Regiment, Blackader's first active posting was in the late 1890s, when he served on attachment to the West African Frontier Force, closely followed by service during the Second Boer War, where he commanded a company at the defence of Ladysmith.

After the Indian Army was withdrawn from France, Blackader was posted to a second-line Territorial Force brigade training in the United Kingdom.

The division would see significant successes in the Hundred Days Offensive of late 1918, but by this point Blackader was no longer in command; he had been invalided home earlier in the year.

[1] During his childhood, the Blackaders moved from Richmond to Southampton, where his father headed the education department at the Hartley Institute, and then to Boulogne in France, where he taught at Beaurepaire School.

[2] Returning from France in 1887, Blackader studied at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he was regarded as a generally promising pupil; his marks were highest in administrative and academic subjects, but lower in drawing and physical education.

The ceremony took place on 2 October, at a registry office in Marylebone, and his biographer notes that it was "clearly in haste" – their first child was born six and a half months after the wedding.

[6] In late 1895, the battalion moved to South Africa, but shortly after arrival Blackader returned to England;[7] he was promoted to captain on 6 December.

[11] He left West Africa in January 1899, after a successful posting, but in ill-health; a third of the officers sent with him had died while on secondment, and Blackader had contracted malaria as well as suffering an attack of dysentery.

Following the advance into Natal, they were stationed in Middelburg in October, for a second prolonged period of garrison duty broken by occasional raids in the Transvaal.

[14] Blackader had applied for a home posting in December 1900, as adjutant to a battalion of volunteers; this had been approved in August 1901, subject to his being released from duties in South Africa.

However, the transfer was delayed, and he did not leave for home until June 1902, when he sailed on board the SS Bavarian with troops returning for the Coronation of Edward VII.

[15] He had been twice mentioned in despatches during the war, received the Queen's South Africa Medal, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).

[19] In the summer of 1907, he applied to become Chief Constable of Leicester – a move which would have meant leaving the Army – but did not succeed; the job went to John Hall-Dalwood, a lawyer and ex-Army officer who had made a career in the police.

[22] In August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War, Blackader was in India, commanding the 2nd Battalion of the Leicesters,[23] which was mobilised for service as part of the 20th (Garhwal) Brigade of the 7th (Meerut) Division.

[32] In the attack, two men were awarded the Victoria Cross, and nine the Indian Order of Merit, and Blackader was commended by his corps commander, Lieutenant General Willcocks, who wrote that "I had learned to respect him and to trust in his judgement.

The division trained through this period, and in April 1918 was able to mount a limited brigade-size attack, which whilst it involved heavy losses was a clear success in a way that would not have been possible two years earlier.

Blackader died, of liver cancer and heart failure[67] on 2 April 1921, at Queen Alexandra Military Hospital,[68] survived by his wife and two daughters,[10] and leaving a small estate of just under £450.