Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir John Fullerton Evetts 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 ...

, MC (30 June 1891 – 21 December 1988) 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 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 ...

Early life and First World War

Born in 1891 in

Naini Tal Nainital (Kumaoni language, Kumaoni: ''Naintāl''; ) is a city and headquarters of Nainital district of Kumaon division, Uttarakhand, India. It is the judicial capital of Uttarakhand, the Uttarakhand High Court, High Court of the state being ...

, West Bengal, India, John Fullerton Evetts was educated at

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. ...

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 infant ...

. Upon passing out from Sandhurst, Evetts was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) on 19 September 1911.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> Among his fellow graduates were three future general officers, Kenneth Anderson, Eric Nares and Montagu Stopford. Evetts, promoted on 1 July 1913 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 ...

, fought on the Western Front 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 ...

. Promoted to the

temporary rank Military ranks are a system of hierarchy, hierarchical relationships, within armed forces, police, intelligence agencies or other institutions organized along military lines. The military rank system defines dominance, authority, and responsibi ...

of captain on 10 August 1915, and captain on 1 October 1915, 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 ...

(MC) and mentioned in despatches while serving with the

Machine Gun Corps The Machine Gun Corps (MGC) was a corps of the British Army, formed in October 1915 in response to the need for more effective use of machine guns on the Western Front in the First World War. The Heavy Branch of the MGC was the first to use tanks ...

(MGC). Serving from April 1917 as a

brigade major A brigade major was the chief of staff of a brigade in the British Army. They most commonly held the rank of major, although the appointment was also held by captains, and was head of the brigade's "G - Operations and Intelligence" section dire ...

with the 26th Brigade, part of the

15th (Scottish) Division The 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that served in the First World War. The 15th (Scottish) Division was formed from men volunteering for Kitchener's Army, and served from 1915 to 1918 on the West ...

, a Kitchener's Army formation, he ended the war as a temporary major, having been promoted to that rank on 9 February 1916.

Between the wars

Reverting to the Cameronians after the MGC was disbanded, Evetts returned to England to attend the Staff College, Camberley from 1922 to 1923. Several fellow students were to become general officers, such as

Charles Fullbrook-Leggatt Major-General Charles St. Quentin Outen Fullbrook-Leggatt (16 August 1889 − 29 May 1972) was a British Army officer who served in both the world wars. Early life and military career Charles Fullbrook-Leggatt was born on 16 August 1889, the se ...

, Thomas Hutton, Keith Simmons, William Akerman, Gerald Smallwood. He was seconded to the Iraqi Army from 1925 to 1928 and was Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG) 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 ...

from 1932. In 1934 he transferred from the Cameronians to the

Royal Ulster Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County D ...

and was Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion of his new regiment from 1934. He was posted to Palestine as a General staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) and, from 23 September 1936 when he was promoted to

brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...

, he commanded the 16th Infantry Brigade, commanding it throughout most of the

Arab revolt The Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية, ) or the Great Arab Revolt ( ar, الثورة العربية الكبرى, ) was a military uprising of Arab forces against the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I. On ...

. Evetts was in charge of organizing British troops to protect isolated Jewish farm settlements which were coming under siege of Arab militants. During that time he commanded British troops during the fighting known as the Battle of Anabta against Arab insurgents. He was appointed mayor of Nablus shortly after this. He was somewhat rare for being popular both amongst Arab civilians and amongst the Jewish farmer communities he was tasked with protecting. Both groups "regarded him as fair" however, he was also personally sympathetic towards the aspirations of the Jewish settlers and "greatly disheartened" by the fact they were coming under attack. For his services there he was mentioned in despatches in April 1939, and made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

(CBE) in April 1938.

Second World War

During 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 ...

Evetts was a

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. I ...

on the General Staff of Northern Command in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from 1939 and then he commanded the Western (Independent) District in

from 1940. He was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the

6th Infantry Division 6th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions * 6th Division (Australia) * 6th Division (Austria) *6th (United Kingdom) Division * Finnish 6th Division (Winter War) *Finnish 6th Division (Continuation War) * 6th Division (Reichswehr) * 6th Divisi ...

in North Africa from 1941. Evetts served in Operation Husky, the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...

, in 1943, seeing action at the

Battle of Centuripe The Battle of Centuripe was fought from 2 to 4 August 1943, as part of the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II. The 78th ''Battleaxe'' Division, of the British Eighth Army, was engaged in fierce fighting around the town of Centuripe in ...

. He was Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff (ACIGS) from 1943 and Senior Military Advisor to the

Minister of Supply The Minister of Supply was the minister in the British Government responsible for the Ministry of Supply, which existed to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to the national armed forces. The position was campaigned for by many sceptics of the for ...

from 1944. He retired in 1946.

Postwar and later life

From 1946 to 1950 Evetts led the establishment of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, which led to the formation and development of the Long Range Weapons Establishment (LRWE) at Salisbury, in Adelaide, South Australia, and the famous 'Woomera Rocket Range' (now the 'Woomera Test Range') 460 km north of Adelaide. He was knighted in the 1951 King's Birthday Honours List. In retirement he became managing director and then Chairman of Rotol Limited and British Messier.The Industry
Flight 1, November 1957

References

Bibliography

External links

Imperial War Museum Interview
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Evetts, John 1890s births 1982 deaths Burials in Worcestershire British Army generals of World War II British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine Cameronians officers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Knights Bachelor Machine Gun Corps officers People educated at Lancing College People from Wrotham Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Ulster Rifles officers British Army lieutenant generals Military personnel of British India British people in colonial India