Coote Hedley

Who was Coote Hedley?

Colonel Sir Walter Coote Hedley KBE, CB, CMG was a British Army officer who began his career in the Royal Engineers and later moved into military intelligence. He was also a gifted amateur sportsman who played first-class cricket for several County Championship sides as a right-handed batsman and right-arm fast-medium bowler. He also competed to a high level in rackets and golf.

Hedley was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1884. He became a surveyor in the 1890s and was attached to the Ordnance Survey. This work was interrupted by service in South Africa throughout the Second Boer War, and from 1906–1908 by his appointment as an advisor to the Survey of India. In 1911 he was appointed to command MO4, also known as the Geographical Section of the General Staff. During the First World War this organisation was responsible for producing all the maps required by British Empire forces around the world, and in particular mapping the ever-changing trench system on the Western Front. Following the end of the war, he retired from the army in 1920. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and served on the society's council.