Lieutenant-General Sir Oliver William Hargreaves Leese                                          3rd Baronet (1937) KCB (1943, CB 1942), CBE (1940), DSO (1916), DL, psc                   Born  27.10.1894  (London) Died 22.01.1978  (Llanrhaeadr, Oswestry, Salop (Wales))

Education:    Ludgrove; Eton; Staff College, Camberley (1927-1928)
 
 

15.05.1915	commissioned, Coldstream Guards
00.00.1914-00.00.1918	served European War: France & Belgium (13-26.10.1914 & 24.2.1915-7.10.1916) (wounded three times, DSO, despatches twice) (from 19.11.1917-23.12.1918 A/Capt. OCB, from 10.5.1918-9.9.1918 T/Capt. OCB)
30.03.1920-31.08.1922	Adjutant, 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards
01.09.1922-31.08.1925	Adjutant, Officer Training Corps Eton (UK)
11.11.1929-21.02.1932	Brigade Major, 1st Guards Brigade (Aldershot Command, UK)
22.02.1932-10.11.1933	Deputy Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General, London District (UK)
07.04.1935-30.09.1936	General Staff Officer 2nd grade (GSO2), War Office (London, UK)
17.12.1936-28.09.1938	Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards
05.09.1938-27.09.1938	specially employed (India)
28.09.1938-20.03.1940	Chief Instructor (General Staff Officer 1st grade (GSO1)), Staff College Quetta (India)
18.04.1940-10.05.1940	Commander, 20th Independent Infantry Brigade (Guards) (UK) (from 2.5.1940-1.11.1940 A/Brig.)
11.05.1940-30.06.1940	Deputy Chief of the General Staff, British Expeditionary Force (France) (A/Maj.Gen.)
15.07.1940-29.12.1940	Commander, 29th Independent Infantry Brigade Group (UK) (from 2.11.1940-8.11.1941 T/Brig.)
30.12.1940-30.01.1941	General Officer Commanding, West Sussex County Division (UK) (from 30.12.1940-8.11.1941 A/Maj.Gen.)
30.01.1941-17.06.1941	General Officer Commanding, 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division (UK)
17.06.1941-11.09.1942	General Officer Commanding, Guards Armoured Division (UK) (from 9.11.1941-11.12.1941 T/Maj.Gen.)
12.09.1942-28.12.1943	General Officer Commanding, XXX Corps (North Africa) (from 12.9.1942-11.9.1943 A/Lt.Gen., from 12.9.1943-30.7.1944 T/Lt.Gen.)
29.12.1943-30.09.1944	General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, 8th Army (Italy)
12.11.1944-00.00.1945	Commander-in-Chief, Allied Land Forces South-East Asia
29.11.1945-00.00.1946	General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Command
23.01.1947	retired

 

02.05.1947-00.00.1962	Honorary Colonel, The Shropshire Yeomanry, TA
00.00.1954	Lieutenant, Tower of London
00.00.1950-00.00.1971	President, Combined Cadet Force Association
00.00.1947	Deputy Lieutenant, County of Salop
00.00.1949-00.00.1963	Justice of the Peace
00.00.1958	High Sheriff of Salop
00.00.1959-00.00.1975	President, Warwickshire County Cricket Club
00.00.1962-00.00.1970	National President, British Legion
00.00.1962-00.00.1963	President, Shropshire County Cricket Club
00.00.1964-00.00.1973	Chairman, Old Etonian Association (President, 1946)
00.00.1965-00.00.1966	President, Marylebone Cricket Club
00.00.1969-00.00.1973	President, Cricket Society

 

15.05.1915	2nd Lieutenant
05.09.1915	Lieutenant
01.04.1921	Captain
30.11.1929	Major
01.07.1933	Brevet/Lieutenant-Colonel
17.12.1936	Lieutenant-Colonel
28.09.1938 (sen. 01.07.1936)	Brevet/Colonel
18.10.1938 (sen. 01.07.1936)	Colonel
12.12.1941 (sen. 26.10.1941)	Major-General
31.07.1944	Lieutenant-General

 

Decorations:	WWI: Mention in Despatches (4.1.1917); DSO (1916); 1914 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal; WWII: CBE (11.7.1940); CB (24.11.1942); KCB (14.10.1943); Virtuti Militari (Poland) (7.12.1944); Commander, Legion of Merit (US) (12.4.1945); Légion d'Honneur (France); Croix de Guerre (France)
Publications:	Desert plants : cacti and succulents in the wild and in cultivation (London : W.H. & L. Collingridge, cop. 1959) Cacti and other succulents. 2nd ed. (London : Edbury P. in association with George Rainbird, 1966) Cacti (London : Ward Lock, 1973)
Literature:	Rowland Ryder, Oliver Leese (London : Hamish Hamilton, 1987)
Papers:	UK National Register of Archives