Sir Thomas Montgomery-Cuninghame, 10th Baronet

Sir Thomas Andrew Alexander Montgomery-Cuninghame, 10th Baronet DSO (30 March 1877 – 5 January 1945) was a British Army officer and Distinguished Service Order recipient.

[5] His oldest child and heir to the baronetcy, Alexander William Henry James Montgomery-Cuninghame, a lieutenant colonel in the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and also a DSO recipient, died in World War II in France.

[1] Gentleman Cadet Montgomery-Cuninghame left the Royal Military College on 17 February 1897 and, following in his father's footsteps, joining The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) as a second lieutenant.

At Vaal Krantz, the Rifles led the attack; Montgomery-Cuninghame was severely wounded in the leg from a bursting pom-pom shell.

[3] He was twice mentioned in despatches[9][10] In 1901, at the age of 23, Montgomery-Cuninghame was awarded the Distinguished Service Order[2] After treatment at Maritzburg and recuperation at Durban, he rejoined his colleagues after the battle at Ladysmith but, due to the residual damage from the injury, found he was unfit for marching any distance.

There, he was tasked with gathering intelligence and reporting on the personal and political complications, intrigues and allegiances involving Austria, Germany, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Montenegro, Serbia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Russia.

[3] The outbreak of the war saw Montgomery-Cuninghame moved to Paris where he continued his intelligence role with the 1st Rifle Brigade, travelling to a number of countries.

[3] However, his wish was not to be fulfilled and in February 1915, he travelled to London, where the War Office instructed him to leave at once for Athens with the express purpose of “helping the British Minister to get the Greeks on our side”.

A Record of troubled Times, London, John Murray, 1936 Robert Hoffmann, The British Military Representative in Vienna, 1919.

In: The Slavonic and East European Review, 52 (1974) 127, 252-271 Robert Hoffmann, Die Mission Sir Thomas Cuninghames in Wien 1919.