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BRIGADIER GENERAL J.A. TANNER, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O.
Royal Engineers

by
Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis ©2008

Tanner served as a Lieutenant, Royal Engineers during operations in the Sudan in 1885. He was initially assigned to the Indian Labour Corps at Suakin. Following the Battle of Tofrek he was assigned to "F" Company, Madras Sappers and Miners as a replacement for an officer killed at the Battle of Tofrek on the 22nd of March 1885. He subsequently served in Waziristan in 1881 with the 6th Company, Bengal Sappers and Miners.

During the Great War Colonel Tanner went to France in September of 1915 as the Commander Royal Engineers (C.R.E.) of the 22nd Division. Later that year he was promoted to Brigadier General and posted as the Chief Engineer (C.E.) of the British VII Corps in the Third Army. He served in this capacity during the Somme offensive in July of 1916 and during the Battle of Arras in 1917. Brigadier General Tanner died on the 23rd of July 1917 at the age of 58. This photograph of his grave was provided by Mr. Ralph Wilkins of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.