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 ...
Ralph Younger (12 July 1904 – 2 August 1985) 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
Younger was commissioned into the
7th Queen's Own Hussars
The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in ...
in 1925.
He served as commanding officer of the
3rd Carabiniers in
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 1942 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 opposin ...
.
[
Younger was appointed second in command of the ]255th Indian Tank Brigade
The 255th Indian Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade of the Indian Army during World War II. It was part of the Fourteenth Army and saw action in the Burma Campaign. The 255th Tank Brigade's tactical sign was a black bull, with yellow horns and ...
in August 1944, then promoted to command the brigade in May 1945, commanding it until November.
After the war he became commander of 30th Independent Armoured Brigade in March 1949, commander of 7th Armoured Brigade
7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube.
As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...
in December 1950 and Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps Centre
Bovington Camp () is a British Army military base in Dorset, England. Together with Lulworth Camp it forms part of Bovington Garrison.
The garrison is home to The Armour Centre and contains two barracks complexes and two forest and heathland tr ...
at Bovington Camp in November 1953.[
He was colonel of the 7th Queen's Own Hussars from 1952 to 1958]Queen's Own Hussars
The Queen's Own Hussars (QOH), was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed from the amalgamation of the 3rd The King's Own Hussars and the 7th Queen's Own Hussars at Candahar Barracks, Tidworth in 1958. The regiment served in Aden and Nor ...
from 1958 to 1962 and of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, and the senior Scottish regiment. The regiment, through the Royal Scots Greys, is the oldest surviving Cavalry Regiment of the Line in the British ...
from 1971 to 1975.
Family
In 1932 he married Mary Cynthia Mills; after they divorced he married Greta Mary Turnbull in 1938; they had a son and a daughter.[Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003]
References
External links
Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Younger, Ralph
1904 births
1985 deaths
British Army major generals
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Recipients of the Military Cross
7th Queen's Own Hussars officers
British Army brigadiers of World War II