Cecil Pereira


Sir Cecil Edward Pereira, was a British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Division during the First World War.

Military career

Educated at the Oratory School, Edgbaston, Pereira was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards in 1890. He served in Uganda from 1898 and was seconded for service in the Second Boer War in South Africa in March 1900, and attached to the Rhodesian Field Force. He then served in the First World War and was appointed Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards in 1914, commander of 85th Brigade in 1915 and commander of 1st Guards Brigade in January 1916, before being made General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in December 1916. After the war he became General Officer Commanding 56th Infantry Division from 1919 until his retirement in 1923.
During the Second World War Pereira commanded the Local Defence Volunteers in London.

Family

In 1903 Pereira married Helen Mary Josephine Lane Fox; they had three sons and two daughters. His brothers were George Pereira, a soldier and explorer, and Edward Pereira, a priest, schoolmaster and cricketer. He settled after 1924 at Caversham Place, near Reading, a house designed for him by Clough Williams-Ellis.