Eastern Command was a Command of the
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 Gur ...
.
Nineteenth century
Great Britain was divided into
military district
Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...
s on the outbreak of
war with France in 1793. In the first half of the 19th century the command included the counties of
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...
,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...
,
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
,
Huntingdonshire
Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The p ...
and
Hertfordshire. It was based in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...
.
Disbanded after the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, the Eastern District Command was re-created in 1866 and was based at Flagstaff House in Colchester. In January 1876 a ‘Mobilization Scheme for the forces in Great Britain and Ireland’ was published, with the ‘Active Army’ divided into eight army corps based on the District Commands.
1st Corps was to be formed within Eastern Command, based in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...
. This scheme disappeared in 1881, when the districts were retitled ‘District Commands’.
Twentieth century
The 1901 Army Estimates introduced by
St John Brodrick allowed for six army corps based on six regional commands. As outlined in a paper published in 1903,
IV Corps was to be formed in a reconstituted Eastern Command, with HQ at London. Lieutenant General
Lord Grenfell
Baron Grenfell, of Kilvey in the County of Glamorgan, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 15 July 1902 for the military commander Sir Francis Grenfell. His eldest son, the second Baron, was Deputy Speaker of the H ...
was appointed acting
General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOCinC) of IV Corps in April 1903.
First World War
Army Order No 324, issued on 21 August 1914, authorised the formation of a 'New Army' of six Divisions, manned by volunteers who had responded to
Earl Kitchener's appeal (hence the First New Army was known as 'K1'). Each division was to be under the administration of one of the Home Commands, and Eastern Command formed what became the
12th (Eastern) Division
The 12th (Eastern) Division was an infantry division raised by the British Army during the First World War from men volunteering for Kitchener's New Armies. The division saw service in the trenches of the Western Front from June 1915 to the ...
. It was followed by
18th (Eastern) Division of K2 in September 1914. During the First World War, HQ Eastern Command was in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
: initially at
Horse Guards, then (from February 1916) at 50
Pall Mall, London
Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road. The street's name is derived from pall-mall, ...
; in 1919 it moved to 41
Queen's Gardens,
Bayswater
Bayswater is an area within the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
.
Second World War
At the outbreak of the
Second World War
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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, the headquarters was again located at Horse Guards,
[Patriot Files]
/ref> but by October 1939 it had moved to Hounslow Barracks. At that time Regular Troops reporting to the Command included 4th Infantry Division.[ In 1941, the Command relocated to ]Luton Hoo
Luton Hoo is an English country house and estate near Luton in Bedfordshire and Harpenden in Hertfordshire. Most of the estate lies within the civil parish of Hyde, Bedfordshire. The Saxon word Hoo means the spur of a hill, and is more comm ...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...
. During the war, the 76th Infantry (Reserve) Division was assigned to the command as its training formation.
Post War
After the War the command moved back to Hounslow Barracks in Hounslow
Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in ...
. When the Territorial Army was reformed in 1947, 54th (East Anglian) was not reconstituted as a field division, but 161st Infantry Brigade was reformed as an independent infantry brigade in Eastern Command. From 1947 to 1956 101 Coast Brigade supervised RA TA coastal defence regiments, until the disestablishment of all coastal artillery.
In 1952 the Command was reported to include 48 Field Regiment RA, Kirkee Barracks, Colchester; 49 Field Regiment RA, Canterbury; 47 Coast Regiment RA, Dover; 36 Army Engineer Regiment, Maidstone; and 1st Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment
The Devonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that served under various titles and served in many wars and conflicts from 1685 to 1958, such as the Second Boer War, the First World War and the Second World War. In 1958 ...
, at Colchester.
In 1954 a single-storey blockhouse
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive stro ...
was built at Wilton Park
Wilton Park is an executive agency of the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office providing a global forum for strategic discussion.
Based since 1951 at Wiston House in Sussex, it organises over 70 dialogues a year in the UK and ove ...
in Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...
, to provide a protected Eastern Command headquarters for use in the event of war; however in 1957 this provision was superseded by plans for Regional Seats of Government. In 1968, Eastern Command was dissolved and merged into a reconfigured Southern Command. The new HQ Southern Command was established at Hounslow, and the last GOCinC Eastern Command took over as GOCinC Southern Command. In 1972, Southern Command, together with the other two geographic commands, was merged with Army Strategic Command
The Army Strategic Reserves Command ( id, Komando Cadangan Strategis Angkatan Darat; abbreviated ) is a combined-arms formation of the Indonesian Army. Kostrad is a Corps level command which has up to 35,000 troops. It also supervises operation ...
to form a new command: UK Land Forces (UKLF).
Command Training Centres
Between 1941 and 1943, each regional command of the 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 Gur ...
formed at-least one training centre which trained those recruits preparing to move overseas. The centres which were based within the command were:
* Essex Infantry Training Centre, Warley Barracks, became No.1 Training Centre on 14 August 1941 — affiliated with the City of London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) and Essex Regiment
The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...
** From 2 July 1941 included No.51 Physical Training Wing
* Norfolk Infantry Training Centre, Britannia Barracks, became No.2 Training Centre on 14 August 1941 — affiliated with the Royal Norfolk Regiment and Northamptonshire Regiment
The Northamptonshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1960. In 1960, it was amalgamated with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment to form the 2nd East Anglian Regiment (Duchess of Gloucester's O ...
** From 2 July 1941 included No.52 Physical Training Wing
* Suffolk Infantry Training Centre, Gibraltar Barracks, became No.3 Training Centre on 14 August 1941 — affiliated with the Suffolk Regiment and Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment
The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment was the final title of a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was originally formed in 1688. After centuries of service in many conflicts and wars, including both the First and Second World W ...
** From 2 July 1941 included No.53 Physical Training Wing
General Officers Commanding-in-Chief
GOCs and GOCinCs have included:
General Officer Commanding Eastern District
*1795 – 1800 General Sir William Howe
*1801 – 1802 General the Marquess Cornwallis
*1802 – 1805 Major General Sir James Craig James or Jim Craig may refer to:
Entertainment
* James Humbert Craig (1877–1944), Irish painter
* James Craig (actor) (1912–1985), American actor
* James Craig (''General Hospital''), fictional character on television, a.k.a. Jerry Jacks
* ...
*1805 – 1806 Major General Sir James Pulteney
*1806 – 1814 Lieutenant General Lord Chatham
*1815 – 1819 Major General Sir John Byng
Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Pass ...
*1866 – 1869 Major General Thomas Tidy
Thomas Tidy (9 February 1846 – 26 February 1892) was an English cricketer who played in one first-class cricket match for Kent County Cricket Club in 1868.
Tidy was probably born at Southborough in Kent in 1846, the son of Thomas and Jane Ti ...
*1869 – 1870 Major General Richard Farren
*1870 – 1872 Lieutenant General Freeman Murray
General Freeman Murray CB (16 November 1804 – 14 April 1885) was a British Army officer who became General Officer Commanding Eastern District.
Murray was born in France, the son of General John Murray and his second wife, Canadian Maria P ...
*1872 Lieutenant General the Hon. Alexander Hamilton-Gordon
*1872 – 1877 Major General Sir Edward Greathed
*1877 – 1878 Lieutenant General Sir Richard Kelly
*1878 – 1882 Lieutenant General William Pollexfen Radcliffe
*1882 Major General the Hon. Sir Henry Clifford Henry Clifford may refer to:
*Henry Clifford, 1st Earl of Cumberland (1493–1542)
*Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland (1517–1570)
*Henry Clifford (died 1577), MP for Salisbury and Great Bedwyn
*Henry Clifford, 5th Earl of Cumberland (1591– ...
*1882 – 1886 Lieutenant General Robert White
*1886 – 1889 Major General Sir Evelyn Wood
*1889 – 1892 Major General Henry Buchanan
Henry Kanonta Buchanan (born August 5, 1978) is an American professional boxer.
Professional career
Known as "Sugar Poo", Buchanan began his professional career in 2004, and was undefeated heading into a ShoBox Super Middleweight eliminator tou ...
*1892 – 1896 Lieutenant General John Glyn
*1896 – 1898 Major General Charles Burnett
*1898 – 1899 Major General Sir William Gatacre
*1899 – 1900 Major General Henry Abadie
*1900 – 1903 Major General Sir William Gatacre (also commander 10th Division and 19th Brigade from 1 April 1903[)
*1903 – 1904 Major General Herbert Plumer
*1904 – 1905 Major General ]Arthur Wynne
Arthur Wynne (June 22, 1871January 14, 1945) was the British-born inventor of the modern crossword puzzle.
Early life
Arthur Wynne was born on June 22, 1871, in Liverpool, England, and lived on Edge Lane for a time. His father was the editor of ...
10th Division was renamed 6th Division in 1905.
Commander 4th Army Corps
Home District at Horse Guards, Eastern District at Colchester, Thames District at Chatham and Woolwich District were grouped under 4th Army Corps in 1903.
* 1 April 1903: General the Lord Grenfell[
* 6 June 1904: General the Lord Methuen]
4th Army Corps was renamed Eastern Command 1 June 1905.
General Officer Commanding Eastern Command
*1905 – 1908 Lieutenant General Lord Methuen
*1908 – 1912 Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Paget
*1912 – 1914 Lieutenant General Sir James Grierson
*1914 – 1915 Lieutenant General Sir Charles Woollcombe
*1915 – 1916 Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Rundle
*1916 – 1917 Lieutenant General Sir James Wolfe Murray
*1917 – 1918 Lieutenant General Sir Henry Wilson
Henry Wilson (born Jeremiah Jones Colbath; February 16, 1812 – November 22, 1875) was an American politician who was the 18th vice president of the United States from 1873 until his death in 1875 and a senator from Massachusetts from 1855 to ...
*1918 General Sir William Robertson
*1918 – 1919 Lieutenant General Sir Charles Woollcombe
*1919 – 1923 General Lord Horne
*1923 – 1926 Lieutenant General Sir George Milne
*1926 – 1927 Lieutenant General Sir Walter Braithwaite
*1927 – 1931 General Sir Robert Whigham
General Sir Robert Dundas Whigham, (5 August 1865 – 23 June 1950) was a Scottish British Army officer and a former Adjutant-General to the Forces.
Early life
Whigham was born in 1865, the son of David Dundas Whigham"Death of Capt. Nicholson ...
*1931 – 1933 General Sir Webb Gillman
*1933 – 1936 Lieutenant General Sir Cyril Deverell
*1936 – 1938 Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Ironside
Edmund Ironside (30 November 1016; , ; sometimes also known as Edmund II) was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marred by ...
*1938 – 1941 Lieutenant General Sir Guy Williams
*1941 – 1942 Lieutenant General Laurence Carr
Lieutenant General Laurence Carr CB DSO OBE (14 April 188615 April 1954) was a British Army general during World War II.
Military career
Laurence Carr was commissioned into the Gordon Highlanders in 1904. He served in World War I in France an ...
*April 1942 – August 1942 Lieutenant General Sir Kenneth Anderson
*September 1942 – January 1944 Lieutenant General Sir James Gammell
*January 1944 – December 1944 Lieutenant General Sir Kenneth Anderson
*December 1944 – August 1945 Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham
*1945 – 1947 Lieutenant General Sir Oliver Leese
*1947 – 1950 General Sir Evelyn Barker
*1950 – 1952 General Sir Gerald Templer
Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, (11 September 1898 – 25 October 1979) was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and took part in the crushing of the Arab Revolt in Palestine. As Chief of the Imper ...
*1952 – 1953 Lieutenant General Sir George Erskine
General Sir George Watkin Eben James Erskine (23 August 1899 – 29 August 1965) was a senior British Army officer who is most notable for having commanded the 7th Armoured Division from 1943 to 1944 during World War II, and leading major cou ...
*1953 – 1954 Lieutenant General Sir Geoffrey Bourne
*1954 – 1956 Lieutenant General Sir Francis Festing
*1956 – 1959 Lieutenant General Sir Charles Coleman
*1959 – 1960 Lieutenant General Sir James Cassels
*1960 – 1961 General Sir Gerald Lathbury
*1962 – 1965 Lieutenant General Sir Roderick McLeod
*1965 – 1966 Lieutenant General Sir George Cole
*1966 – 1968 Lieutenant General Sir David Peel Yates
References
Sources
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{{British armies, commands, and corps during the Second World War
Commands of the British Army
Military units and formations disestablished in 1972