Eric Thesiger

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Lieutenant-Colonel Eric Richard Thesiger DSO TD (17 February 1874 – 2 October 1961) was a British soldier and Page of Honour to Queen Victoria.

The younger son of the 2nd Baron Chelmsford and Adria Fanny Heath, he was educated at Winchester College. Thesiger joined the Imperial Yeomanry during the Boer War, reaching the rank of Captain. In 1902 he transferred to the Surrey Yeomanry. By 1905 he was a Major. In the First World War he was wounded twice and was mentioned in despatches twice. From 1918 to 1919 he commanded the 10th Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1918. Thesiger received the Croix de Guerre, the Territorial Decoration (TD) as well as the Order of the Crown of Belgium. In 1919 he was further honored with the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). He retired from the Territorial Army in 1929.

On 29 October 1904, he married firstly Pearl Marie Coupland, daughter of John Coupland. Thesiger married secondly Sydney Hilda Hutton-Croft, daughter of George Arthur Hutton-Croft on 3 October 1929 and thirdly Mary Pudsey, daughter of Reverend F. W. Pudsey, on 27 March 1953. He had a daughter and two sons by his first wife.