Brigadier-General Charles Strathavon Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, CB, CMG (18 May 1870 – 15 December 1949) was a British Army officer in the Second Boer War and World War I. Charles Strathavon Heathcote-Drummond Willoughby (pronounced 'Hethcut-Drummond-Willowby')[1] was born on 18 May 1870, the second son of Gilbert Henry Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Lord Aveland, and his wife Lady Evelyn Elizabeth Gordon, daughter of the 10th Marquess of Huntly.

[6] The 2nd Scots Guards left Southampton on the SS Britannic in March 1900,[7] arrived in South Africa as reinforcements the following month,[8][9] and soon took part in operations in the Orange River Colony.

[6][10] Early in 1901 he served briefly as an extra Aide-de-Camp to the British High Commissioner, Sir Alfred Milner.

Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby became Adjutant of the 2nd Scots Guards in December 1901,[11][12] and was present with the battalion during further operations in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony until the Boer surrender on 31 May 1902.

[6] When he retired from the army in June 1908,[6][16] he did not sever his military connections, but became an officer in the new Territorial Force created from the former Yeomanry and Volunteers under the Haldane Reforms.

[17][18] On the outbreak of World War I, 6th London Bde was mobilised and Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby was appointed as a temporary brigadier general.

This was one of the last of the 'Kitchener Army' divisions to be formed, and the standard of height for infantry soldiers had been lowered in order to encourage volunteers: some of these so-called 'bantams' were well-knit, hardy men, but many others, especially in 120th Bde, were under-developed and unfit.

To prevent the departure of the division to the Front being indefinitely postponed, the divisional commander asked for fresh units to be drafted in.

[22][24] Early in 1917 the division followed up the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line, with offensive action 24 April, when 120 Bde captured Villers-Plouich and Beaucamp.

The attack on the morning of 23 November, with the objective of capturing Bourlon Wood, was begun by 119 and 121 Bdes with tank support, while 120 Bde was in reserve.

General Willoughby had been in very poor health for some time, but had struggled to remain at his duty in order to see the big [German] offensive, though the delay in the opening of the attack rendered this impossible'.

[2] Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughy married at St. Mark Church, North Audley street, Westminster, on 7 January 1903 Lady Muriel Agnes Stuart Erskine, eldest daughter of the 14th Earl of Buchan.