Jacob, Claud William (1863–1948)

British soldier. At the outbreak of World War I he went to France with the Meerut Division and was the only Indian army officer to rise to high command there. In 1915 he led the Dehra Dun Brigade at Neuve Chapelle and at Aubers Ridge. For the remainder of the war he commanded the II Corps; he was involved in the battles of the Somme and the Ancre, the pursuit of the Germans to the Hindenburg Line in 1917, the third battle of Ypres, and the final Allied advance to victory in Flanders in 1918.

Jacob was educated at Sherborne School and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. He joined the Worcestershire Regiment in 1882 but transferred to the Indian army in 1884. In 1920, with the rank of field marshal, he returned to India on his appointment as chief of the general staff. In 1924 he was given the Northern Command in India and from 1926–30 was military secretary at the India Office.