Mitford was
commissioned into the Buffs (East Kent Regiment) (later the
Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)) in September 1882. He was seconded for service with the
Egyptian Army in August 1886. He attended the
Staff College, Camberley, from 1893 to 1894. and served as a deputy assistant adjutant general in September 1897 and was made a brevet colonel in November 1898. After seeing action in the
Dongola campaign, he went to South Africa during the
Second Boer War. He was appointed a Companion of the
Distinguished Service Order in April 1901. He had served as a staff officer, graded as an assistant adjutant general, to a column of
mounted infantry, in January 1901, holding the local rank of lieutenant colonel while in his position. Following the end of this war in June 1902, he stayed on as
assistant adjutant-general to the Forces in South Africa, stationed in the
Pretoria district. He was promoted to major in June 1903 and was placed on
half-pay in July 1906. He was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier general and succeeded Colonel
Edward Stevenson Browne as commander of the
6th Infantry Brigade in December 1906. He then became commander of the
9th Infantry Brigade in May 1907 and was made a
Companion of the Order of the Bath in the
1907 Birthday Honours in June. He commanded the brigade until April 1910 when he relinquished his rank of brigadier general and retired from the army. In February 1912, however, he was granted the honorary rank of brigadier general. He was recalled for service during the
First World War, going on to command the
72nd Infantry Brigade in September 1914 and deploying to the
Western Front with his brigade, which formed part of the
24th Division, where he took part at the
Battle of Loos in September 1915 and the
Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916. again on the Western Front, and took part in the
Battle of Passchendaele in the autumn of 1917. He handed over his command in October. Having been made a CMG in June that year, he was promoted to the honorary rank of major general in February 1918. ==References==