1st British Airborne Division
Arnhem, September 1944		 British officers  |  home

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The service number of each person is (when known) given after the date of commissioning. Most officers had only a wartime career, but when no indication is given about a Territorial Army commission or an emergency commission, the officer involved served as a Regular Army officer, with in most cases an active army career before and after the war. For explanations & abbreviations you can look at the help page.

 
U
Urquhart,
 John Whitehead
 J.W. Urquhart (Photo courtesy of Mr Simon Urquhart)
Youngest son of Mr & Mrs A. Urquhart, of Glasgow, Scotland.
Married (08.1948, Glasgow, Scotland) Betty Symons (died 07.04.2001), daughter of Capt. Maurice Symons, OBE, Commodore of the Haine Steamship Co.; two sons.		 09.1920
Partick district, Glasgow, Scotland
-
14.08.1955
Plymouth, Devon
Cadet ? [1442770]
2nd Lt. 15.01.1944 [304465]
WS/Lt. 15.07.1944 (reld > 04.1946, < 08.1946)
T/Capt. 01.03.1945-(04.1946)
Hon. Capt. > 04.1946, < 08.1946
Efficiency Medal (Territorial) EM 11.06.1948 -
15.01.1944     commissioned, Royal Regiment of Artillery [emergency commission]
30.03.1944 - 02.04.1946 transferred, Glider Pilot Regiment - Army Air Corps
(09.1944)     Section Commander, A Squadron (No. 1 Wing), The Glider Pilot Regiment (Arnhem)
Urquhart,
Robert Elliot
"Roy"



 Eldest son (with two brothers) of Alexander Urquhart, MD (1872-1958), and Isabella Gillespie (1873-1972).
Married (22.03.1939, Lahore Cathedral, British India) Pamela Edith Condon (21.05.1918 - 13.05.2006), daughter (with two brothers) of William Edmond Hunt Condon, OBE (1886-1972), and Isola Mary Nelson Wright (1892-1975); one son, three daughters.

28.11.1901
Shepperton, Middlesex
-
 13.12.1988
Port of Menteith, Perthshire
2nd Lt. 24.12.1920 [17550]
Lt. 24.12.1922
Capt. 26.03.1929
Maj. 01.08.1938
A/Lt.Col. 28.12.1940-27.03.1941
T/Lt.Col. 28.03.1941-18.11.1943
WS/Lt.Col. 19.11.1943
A/Col. 19.05.1943-18.11.1943
T/Col. 19.11.1943-09.01.1945
WS/Col. 10.01.1945
A/Brig. 19.05.1943-18.11.1943
T/Brig. 19.11.1943-09.01.1945
A/Maj.Gen. 10.01.1944-09.01.1945
T/Maj.Gen. 10.01.1945
Maj.Gen. 17.11.1947, seniority 20.01.1946 (retd 20.12.1955)
Companion of the Order of the Bath CB 09.10.1944 Arnhem 09.1944
Distinguished Service Order DSO 23.09.1943 Sicily
Distinguished Service Order DSO 14.10.1943 Middle East (Egypt and Libya)
Order of the Bronze Lion (Netherlands) BL 31.07.1945 Arnhem 09.1944 *
Order of St Olav (Norway) StOlav 1945 ?
* date of Dutch Royal Decree		 Education: St Paul's, West Kensington; RMC Sandhurst.
24.12.1920     commissioned into the Highland Light Infantry (1st Battalion (1921-1925), Depot (1925-1927), 1st Battalion (1927-1933))
01.05.1933 - 20.01.1936 Adjutant, 1st Battalion Highland Light Infantry
01.1936 - 12.1937 Staff College, Camberley (psc)
03.1938 - 10.1938 2nd Battalion Highland Light Infantry
16.10.1938 - 14.05.1939 Staff Captain, India
15.05.1939 - 15.10.1940 Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General (DAQMG), Army HQ, India
16.10.1940 - 27.12.1940 Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG), 3rd Division
28.12.1940 - 27.03.1941 Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster-General (AA&QMG), 3rd Division
28.03.1941 - 03.1942 Commanding Officer, 2nd Battalion The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry
04.1942 - 18.05.1943 General Staff Officer 1st grade (GSO1), 51st Highland Division (North Africa)
19.05.1943 - 30.09.1943 Commander, 231st (Malta) Infantry Brigade (Egypt, Sicily, Italy) [till 24.9.1943  Independent Brigade Group]
01.10.1943 - 09.12.1943 Brigadier General Staff, XII Corps
10.12.1943 - 31.08.1945 General Officer Commanding, 1st Airborne Division (UK, Arnhem [evacuated], UK, Norway, UK) [from 21.5-24.8.1945 designated: HQ Norway Command]
01.11.1945 - 12.1946 Director, Territorial Army & Army Cadet Force, War Office
07.01.1947 - 09.12.1948 General Officer Commanding 16th Airborne Division (TA)
20.12.1948 - 02.1950 General Officer Commanding, Lowland District
03.1950 - 08.1950 General Officer Commanding, Malaya District & General Officer Commanding, 17th Ghurkha Division (Malaya)
08.1950 - 06.1952 General Officer Commanding, Malaya
23.07.1952 - 20.12.1955 General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops Austria
Colonel, Highland Light Infantry, 1954-58. Director, Davy and United Engineering Co. Ltd, 1957-70.
Published: Arnhem (1958).
Literature: John Baynes, Urquhart of Arnhem : the life of Major General RE Urquhart, CB, DSO (1993)

  R.E. Urquhart (© Imperial War Museum H 40945)

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