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 ...

Henry Templer Alexander, CB,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, DSO (17 May 1911 – 16 March 1977) was a

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 An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

who served as Chief of Defence Staff of the

Ghana Armed Forces The Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) is the unified armed force of Ghana, consisting of the Army (GA), Navy (GN), and Ghana Air Force. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces is the president of Ghana, who is also the supreme military commander ...

between 1960 and 1961.

Early life

Alexander was born on 17 May 1911. He was the son of Major General H. L. Alexander, CB, CMG, DSO, and Dorothy Alexander. He was educated at

Sedbergh School Sedbergh School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the town of Sedbergh in Cumbria, in North West England. It comprises a junior school for children aged 4 to 13 and the main school for 13 to 18 year olds. I ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, then an all-boys public school.

Military career

On 27 August 1931, having attended 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 infant ...

, Alexander was commissioned into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) as a second lieutenant. He was promoted in 1934 as a

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 ...

. In 1939, he was promoted to the rank of Captain. He then served as an instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst for two years. Between 1939 and 1945, he saw action in 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

, Italy, India,

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, and North West Europe. He was promoted Major in 1943 and Commanding Officer, 2 Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) in Italy in 1944. He has also served as Chief Instructor, School of Combined Operations, 1946–1947 and General Staff Officer 1 first at Hong Kong, 1948–1950, then at Camberley, Surrey. Alexander became a

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in 1954 and was appointed Commanding Officer, 1 Battalion, Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) between 1954 and 1955 and he also commanded 26

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian subcontinent, Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Go ...

Infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and mar ...

Brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. B ...

between 1955 and 1957. Between 1958 and 1960, he served as Senior Instructor, Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, Brigade General Staff, Department of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, War Office and at the Imperial Defence College. Between 1960 and 1961, he worked with the

as Chief of Defence Staff. During that period, he commanded the Ghanaian contingent of

Operation des Nations Unies au Congo The United Nations Operation in the Congo (french: Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, abbreviated to ONUC) was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. ONUC was the ...

, the UN force in the newly independent Congo. Upon the initial Congolese request for assistance, before the approval for deployment of UN forces, Alexander flew into Leopoldville with a single Ghanaian platoon.Simon Baynham, The Military and Politics in Nkumrah's Ghana, Westview, 1988, Chapters 4 & 5 The Ghanaian troops were subsequently 're-hatted' as UN forces rather than under bilateral terms, and augmented. From 1962 until his retirement he served as Chief of Staff of Northern Command.

Later life

Alexander retired in 1965. In 1968 he served as an Observer with the International Observer Team on Genocide in Nigeria.

Honours and decorations

*1943 -

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

*1945 - OBE *1957 - DSO *1960 -

*1961 awarded CB

Publications

*''African tightrope: My two years as Nkrumah's Chief of Staff'' (Pall Mall Press, London, 1965).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Henry Templer 1911 births 1977 deaths Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Ghanaian soldiers People educated at Sedbergh School Cameronians officers British Army major generals British Army personnel of World War II Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Chiefs of Army Staff (Ghana) Academics of the Staff College, Camberley