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 ...

John Edward Utterson-Kelso, (1893–1972) 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.

Military career

Educated at

Haileybury College Haileybury may refer to: Australia * Haileybury (Melbourne), a school in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia **Haileybury Rendall School, an offshoot in Berrimah, North Territory, Australia China * Haileybury International School, an international ...

, Utterson-Kelso entered 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 ...

, from where he was commissioned into the

Royal Scots Fusiliers The Royal Scots Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1678 until 1959 when it was amalgamated with the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) to form the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Mar ...

on 4 September 1912. He saw service during the

First World War 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 ...

, for which he was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

(MC) and, in September 1917, received a

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

to his MC, with the Bar's citation reading: Utterson-Kelso was also wounded five times,

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and awarded 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). The citation for his DSO reads: Utterson-Kelso was later awarded a Bar to his DSO, with the Bar's citation reading: Utterson-Kelso became an instructor at the Small Arms School in 1928, commander of the Lines of Communications Troops in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

and

Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...

in 1936 and commanding officer of the 2nd 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 ...

in 1937. He went on to be commander of the 131st (Surrey) Infantry Brigade, part of the

44th (Home Counties) Division The Home Counties Division was an infantry division of the Territorial Force, part of the British Army, that was raised in 1908. As the name suggests, the division recruited in the Home Counties, particularly Kent, Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex. ...

, in November 1939, two months after the outbreak of war, and landed in France on 3 April 1940 to join the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). After taking part in the

Dunkirk evacuation The Dunkirk evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo and also known as the Miracle of Dunkirk, or just Dunkirk, was the evacuation of more than 338,000 Allied soldiers during the Second World War from the beaches and harbour of Dunkirk, in the ...

just a few weeks later, he continued to command the brigade until March 1941. From April 1941 he relinquished command of the brigade and, after being promoted to the acting rank of major general, served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) 47th (London) Infantry Division until April 1942. While in that position he became the first divisional GOC to incorporate battle drill into the training of units and higher formations. This so impressed General Sir

Bernard Paget General Sir Bernard Charles Tolver Paget, (15 September 1887 – 16 February 1961) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in the First World War, and then later during the Second World War. During the latter, he commanded ...

, soon to be the

Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces was a senior officer in the British Army during the First and Second World Wars. The role of the appointment was firstly to oversee the training and equipment of formations in preparation for their deployment over ...

, that he made Utterson-Kelso as head of the infantry branch of the Directorate of Military Training at Headquarters Home Forces, holding this post until January 1944. He became GOC 76th Infantry Division in March 1944,, p. 99 before returning to his role as GOC 47th (London) Infantry Division in September 1944; he remained in that role until the end of the war.

References

Bibliography

External links

Generals of World War II
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Utterson-Kelso, John 1893 births 1972 deaths British Army major generals Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Scots Fusiliers officers British Army generals of World War II Devonshire Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War I People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst