Nevil Brownjohn

Summary

General Sir Nevil Charles Dowell Brownjohn, GBE, KCB, CMG, MC (25 July 1897 – 21 April 1973) was a senior British Army officer who served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1956 until his retirement in 1958.

Sir

Nevil Brownjohn
Nevil Brownjohn in c. 1942
Nickname(s)"BJ"[1]
Born(1897-07-25)25 July 1897
Richmond, Surrey, England[2]
Died21 April 1973(1973-04-21) (aged 75)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1915–1958
RankGeneral
Service number11450
UnitRoyal Engineers
Battles/warsFirst World War
Second World War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Military Cross

Military career edit

After attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Brownjohn was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in April 1915.[3] He served in the First World War in France and Palestine, where he was awarded the Military Cross in 1917.[4][1][5]

In 1927 he was sent, as a captain, to China to protect the international settlement in Shanghai; he used his skills as a Russian speaker to raise a company of White Russians.[6]

Attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1931 to 1932, he also served in the Second World War, rising to be major general in charge of supplies to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander, in 1943.[4] He then became Deputy Chief of Staff at General Eisenhower's Headquarters in 1944 before being appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General in the Middle East later that year.[4]

After the war he took charge of Administration for the British Army of the Rhine and then joined the Control Commission (British Sector) for Germany in 1947.[4] He became Vice Quartermaster General at the War Office in 1949 and Vice Chief of Imperial General Staff in 1950.[4] He was Chief Staff Officer at the Ministry of Defence from 1952 to 1955 when he became Quartermaster-General to the Forces; he retired in 1958.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Smart 2005, p. 47.
  2. ^ https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/566242
  3. ^ "No. 29137". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 April 1915. p. 3923.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  5. ^ "No. 30450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 December 1917. p. 32.
  6. ^ The Memoirs of Major-General FVB Witt CB CBE DSO MC Royal Engineers Journal, September 1969, Page 245

Bibliography edit

  • Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.

External links edit

  • British Army Officers 1939−1945
  • Generals of World War II
Military offices
Preceded by Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff
1950–1952
Succeeded by
Preceded by Quartermaster-General to the Forces
1956–1958
Succeeded by