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 ...

Sir (Thomas) John Willoughby Winterton KCB,

KCMG KCMG may refer to * KC Motorgroup, based in Hong Kong, China * Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, British honour * KCMG-LP, radio station in New Mexico, USA * KCMG, callsign 1997-2001 of Los Angeles radio station KKLQ (FM) ...

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 ...

, DL (13 April 1898 – 14 December 1987) 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 who was the Military Governor and Commander of the British and US Zone of the

Free Territory of Trieste The Free Territory of Trieste was an independent territory in Southern Europe between northern Italy and Yugoslavia, facing the north part of the Adriatic Sea, under direct responsibility of the United Nations Security Council in the aftermath ...

from 1951 to 1954.

Military career

Born on 13 April 1898 at

Newbury, Berkshire Newbury is a market town in the county of Berkshire, England, and is home to the administrative headquarters of West Berkshire Council. The town centre around its large market square retains a rare medieval Cloth Hall, an adjoining half timbere ...

, Winterton was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...

and at the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Sig ...

, from where he was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

in 1917, during

World War I 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 ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> After the war, he married, in 1921, and was

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

to a Territorial Army (TA) unit, from 1925 to 1929, before being posted to

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 ...

in 1930 and later attended the

Staff College, Quetta ( ''romanized'': Pir Sho Biyamooz Saadi)English: Grow old, learning Saadi ur, سیکھتے ہوئے عمر رسیدہ ہو جاؤ، سعدی , established = (as the ''Army Staff College'' in Deolali, British India) , closed ...

from 1936 to 1937. In 1938 he was sent to 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 ...

as an instructor, and transferred to the

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was a light infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1881 until 1958, serving in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. The regiment was formed as a consequence of th ...

upon the recommendation of the Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley,

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 ...

.Obituary Royal Green Jackets Chronicle 1987 p. 275. He served in

World War II 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 ...

initially as Deputy Adjutant and Quartermaster General for

I Corps I Corps, 1st Corps, or First Corps may refer to: France * 1st Army Corps (France) * I Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * I Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French A ...

in which role he took 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 ...

. He became Chief of Staff to the General Officer Commanding Burma, Harold Alexander, in 1942 and was given command of a brigade in Burma in 1943 and then in Italy in 1944. After the War he became Deputy Commissioner of the

Allied Control Commission for Austria Following the termination of hostilities in World War II, the Allies were in control of the defeated Axis countries. Anticipating the defeat of Germany and Japan, they had already set up the European Advisory Commission and a proposed Far Easter ...

1945 and then became British High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in 1950. He went on to be Military Governor and Commander of the British and US Zone of the

from 1951 to 1954 before retiring in 1955. Winterton was Colonel Commandant of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry from 1955 to 1958 and Colonel Commandant of the

1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) The 1st Green Jackets (43rd and 52nd) was an infantry regiment of the British Army that existed from 1958 to 1966. The regiment served in the Cyprus Emergency, Brunei Revolt, Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation and West Berlin. The regiment formed ...

from 1958 to 1960. He lived in Newbury,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. Winterton was also an Aide-de-Camp to the King. He married Helen Cross in 1921 with whom he was to have three sons, including

the Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

Father 'Gregory' Cecil John Winterton (1922-2012) who became Provost of the Oratory in Birmingham (1971-1992) and a teacher at St Philip's Grammar School,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. Winterton died on 14 December 1987.

References

Bibliography

External links

Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winterton, John 1898 births 1987 deaths British Army personnel of World War I British Army generals of World War II Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich Royal Artillery officers Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry officers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Berkshire People from Newbury, Berkshire People educated at Oundle School Graduates of the Staff College, Quetta British Army major generals Academics of the Staff College, Camberley Military personnel from Berkshire