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 ...

Lancelot Edgar Connop Mervyn Perowne, (11 June 1902 – 24 March 1982) 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 commanded the

17th Gurkha Division The 17th Gurkha Division/Overseas Commonwealth Land Forces (Malaya) was a British military formation that saw active service during the Malayan Emergency. History The Division was formed on 1 September 1952 at Maxwell Road Camp, Malaya, as part ...

during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

Military career

The son of

John Thomas Woolrych Perowne John Thomas Woolrych Perowne VD, TD (1 June 1863 – 27 April 1954) was a British Army officer, a King's Messenger and a Gold Staff Officer at the Coronation of King George VI in 1937. Biography Born in Lampeter in Wales in 1863, the eldest so ...

and Edith Marione Browne, Perowne was educated at

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: *Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New Z ...

and 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 ...

. He was commissioned into the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

in 1923.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> Prior to 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 ...

he was a searchlight specialist. During the war he served with the

Commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

s in France and then as commander of the 69th Anti-Aircraft Brigade from 1942, the 37th Anti-Aircraft Brigade in 1943 and then the

Chindit The Chindits, officially as Long Range Penetration Groups, were special operations units of the British and Indian armies which saw action in 1943–1944 during the Burma Campaign of World War II. The British Army Brigadier Orde Wingate form ...

-trained 23rd Infantry Brigade in India and Burma from later in 1943. He later claimed that, while stationed in Burma, he attached the severed, boiled head of a Japanese soldier to his knapsack to ward off snipers. As commander of the 23rd Brigade he fought a successful campaign in the Naga hills. He was present at the reoccupation of

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

in 1945. After the war Perowne became commander of the

Penang Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...

Sub-Area and of the

74th Indian Infantry Brigade The 74th Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in July 1942, in India. The brigade was assigned to the 25th Indian Infantry Division and fought in the Burma Campaign. Fo ...

in Malaya. He was appointed commander of the

72nd Indian Infantry Brigade The 72nd Indian Infantry Brigade was an infantry brigade, of both the British and Indian Armies, formed in the United Kingdom in January 1941 during the Second World War. On 1 June 1943 it was re-designated as the British 72nd Infantry Brigade. ...

in 1946, Commandant of the School of Combined Operations in 1947, and commander of the 151st Northumberland and Durham Light Infantry Brigade in 1949. He went on to be Commander of the British Military Mission to Greece in 1951 and General Officer Commanding the South Malaya District and

and Major General commanding the

Brigade of Gurkhas The Brigade of Gurkhas is the collective name which refers to all the units in the British Army that are composed of Nepalese Gurkha soldiers. The brigade draws its heritage from Gurkha units that originally served in the British Indian Army ...

in 1952 before he retired in 1955.

Personal life

Perowne served as an adviser on military matters during the production of ''

The Bridge on the River Kwai ''The Bridge on the River Kwai'' is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Although the film uses the historical setting of the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942–1943, the pl ...

'' (1957). Perowne married Johanne Stein in 1927. His brother was the British diplomat Victor Perowne, and his cousin the author and archaeologist

Stewart Perowne Stewart Henry Perowne OBE, KStJ, FSA, FRSA (17 June 1901 – 10 May 1989) was a British diplomat, archaeologist, explorer and historian who wrote books on the history and antiquities of the Mediterranean. Despite his homosexuality, in 1947 he ...

.E. C. Hodgkin, 'Perowne, Stewart Henry (1901–1989)',

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(2004
accessed 26 September 2012
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perowne, Lancelot 1902 births 1982 deaths British Army brigadiers of World War II British Army generals British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Royal Engineers officers