Major-General Edward James Montagu-Stuart-Wortley, CB, CMG, DSO, MVO (31 July 1857 – 19 March 1934) was a senior British Army officer.

He saw extensive active service in many parts of world, including Afghanistan, South Africa, Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, Malta, Sudan, France and Ireland.

[16] In the summer of 1907 the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm, rented Stuart-Wortley's home Highcliffe Castle whilst he recovered from an acute throat trouble.

[17] In return for his hospitality Edward was given two stained glass windows for the castle and invited to visit the German Army's manoeuvres at Alsace the next year.

Stuart-Wortley, believing the Kaiser, decided that publicizing these views would counteract the anti-German sentiment in Britain that was rising during the Anglo-German naval arms race.

[18] In April 1908 Stuart-Wortley was removed from the half-pay list, promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general, and succeeded Colonel Samuel Lomax in command of the 10th Infantry Brigade,[19] which was then based at Shorncliffe Army Camp.

[3] Despite his reputation as an excellent trainer of troops, the perceived poor performance and high casualty rates of the 46th Division at the Hohenzollern Redoubt and again at Gommecourt, would result in Stuart-Wortley being made a scapegoat for failure.

To his credit, the twenty-two critical and useful tactical points Stuart-Wortley formed from his analysis of the Battle of Loos suggests he was an open-minded commander keen to learn and develop from past experiences.

Lieutenant Colonel Josiah Wedgwood, MP for Staffordshire, wrote directly to Prime Minister H. H. Asquith with a report summarising his discussions with survivors and wounded of 137th Brigade.

Asquith immediately sent the letter to Haig, who rejected most of Wedgwood's findings laying the blame on the ineffectual fighting quality and lack of courage of the Territorial troops and on Stuart-Wortley, their commander.

[28] Woods' analysis of the battalion, brigade and divisional War Diaries clearly shows that the assault formations left their own trenches and advanced at their allotted time.

Woods suggests that it may have been that Stuart-Wortley's original idea – of a series of limited, step-by-step attacks – was seen as unambitious, over-cautious and indicative of a man lacking in 'offensive spirit'.

[32] Woods concludes that Stuart-Wortley was likely unaware that he was a pawn in a bigger game of personal politics being played out in the most senior ranks of the British Army, twelve days before Haig succeeded French.

[31] Wortley incurred Haig's displeasure by writing regularly to King George V about the activities of the 46th Division (despite having the permission of Sir John French to do so).

As part of Lieutenant-General Sir Edmund Allenby's British Third Army, the 46th Division was involved in the diversionary Attack on the Gommecourt Salient on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, on 1 July 1916.

[35] Reporting on the attack after its failure VII Corps commander, Lieutenant-General Thomas D'Oyly Snow, stated in official correspondence: the 46th Division ... showed a lack of offensive spirit.

According to Alan MacDonald, "the Division and its General were made scapegoats for the failure of a fatally flawed concept dreamt up by higher authority – the diversionary attack at Gommecourt".

[41] Post-war, Wortley made several protests to the Government about the perceived injustice that he had suffered at its hands, particularly with regard to not having received the customary honours issued to commanders of Divisional rank in the war, but to no avail.