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 ...

James Scott-Elliot, (6 November 1902 – 12 September 1996) 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.

Military career

Educated at

Wellington College, Berkshire Wellington College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in the village of Crowthorne, Berkshire, England. Wellington is a registered charity and currently educates roughly 1,200 pupils, between the ages of 13 and ...

, 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 ...

, Scott-Elliot was commissioned into the King's Own Scottish Borderers on 1 February 1923. He transferred to the

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders Argyll (; archaically Argyle, in modern Gaelic, ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a historic county and registration county of western Scotland. Argyll is of ancient origin, and corresponds to most of the part of the ancient kingdom of ...

in 1935 and attended the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

from 1937 to 1938. After this, he served as a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) with Scottish Command. Scott-Elliot was deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at the start 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

as a brigade major with the

51st (Highland) Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

's 154th Infantry Brigade. After being evacuated from France in June 1940, he became commanding officer of the 6th Battalion,

in April 1942 and landed with his battalion in North Africa after

Operation Torch Operation Torch (8 November 1942 – Run for Tunis, 16 November 1942) was an Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of French North Africa during the Second World War. Torch was a compromise operation that met the British objective of secu ...

in December 1942. He went on to serve as commander of the

17th Indian Infantry Brigade The 17th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. History It was formed in November 1940, at the Delhi Cantonment in India and assigned to the 8th Indian Infantry Division. They were se ...

and then as commander of the

167th (1st London) Brigade The 167th (1st London) Brigade was an infantry formation of the British Territorial Army that saw active service in both the First and Second World Wars. It was the first Territorial formation to go overseas in 1914, garrisoned Malta, and then s ...

in Italy during the Italian campaign. His brigade was the first unit to cross the

River Po The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. Th ...

on the route north through Italy. After the war, Scott-Elliot commanded the 13th Infantry Brigade during most of 1947 before becoming Deputy Director of Military Training 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 1948, Deputy Commander of the

in 1950 and then General Officer Commanding the 51st (Highland) Division in November 1952. He retired from the army in March 1956. Scott-Elliot served as colonel of the King's Own Scottish Borderers from 1954 to 1961, and as

Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Dumfries. *William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry 17 March 1794 –1797 * Charles Montagu-Scott, 4th Duke of Buccleuch 17 November 1797 – 20 April 1819 *Charles Douglas, ...

from 1962 to 1967.

Family

In 1932 Scott-Elliot married Cecil Margaret Du Buisson; they had one son and two daughters. After being divorced from his first wife, he married Fay Courtauld in 1971.

Works

References

External links

Generals of World War II
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott-Elliot, James 1902 births 1996 deaths Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders officers Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British Army major generals King's Own Scottish Borderers officers Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Lord-Lieutenants of Dumfries Military personnel from London British Army brigadiers of World War II Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst People from Charlton, London