General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Sir Charles Parker Deedes, (9 August 1879 – 9 March 1969) was a senior

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who went on to be Military Secretary.

Early life

Deedes was born at

Nether Broughton Nether Broughton is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Broughton and Old Dalby, in the Melton district, in Leicestershire, England. Broughton and Old Dalby's parish council is based in Nether Broughton. The village lies o ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, the son of the Revd Philip Deedes and educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

Military career

Deedes was commissioned into the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in February 1899, and promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 9 October 1899. He served in the 2nd battalion, which was transferred to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

following the outbreak of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

that month.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> For his service in the war, he was appointed a Companion of the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

(DSO) in the October 1902 South African honours list. After the war ended in June 1902, he returned to regular service with his regiment, and transferred with the battalion to

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, for which he left Point Natal on the SS ''Staffordshire'' in October. He also served in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

initially as a

General Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

at the General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force and then from 1916 with 14th Army Corps and from 1917 as a General Staff Officer with 2nd Division in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. After the War he was appointed Deputy Director of Staff Duties at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

. In 1926 he became

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain. ...

of 3rd Infantry Brigade and in 1928 he was made General Officer Commanding 53rd (Welsh) Division. He became Director of Personal Services at the War Office in 1930 and Military Secretary in 1934. He retired in 1937. He was promoted to general and held the colonelcy of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from 1927 to 1947. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was an Area Commander for the

Home Guard Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting wi ...

Family

He married Eve Mary Dean-Pitt and they went on to have a son (

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Charles Julius Deedes) and a daughter, Mary Josephine Deedes.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Deedes, Charles 1879 births 1969 deaths People educated at Winchester College British Army generals King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Distinguished Service Order English cricketers Hertfordshire cricketers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War British Army personnel of World War I British Home Guard officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Military personnel from Leicestershire