Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Jacomb Hutton, (27 March 1890 – 17 January 1981) 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 held a variety of vital staff appointments between the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
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 ...
s, ultimately commanding the Burma Army during the early stages of the
Japanese conquest of Burma in early 1942.
Hutton was married to Scottish psychiatrist
Isabel Emslie Hutton.
Early life and First World War
Thomas Jacomb Hutton was born on 27 March 1890 in
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
,
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
, the eldest son of William Henry Hutton. He was educated at
Rossall School
Rossall School is a public school (English independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania ...
and the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. On 23 December 1909, after
passing out Passing may refer to:
Social identity
* Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group
** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender
** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member of ...
from Woolwich, he was
commissioned as a
second lieutenant 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 ...
.
Promoted on 23 December 1912 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 ...
,
Hutton served with the
Royal Field Artillery on the
Western Front throughout 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 ...
,
being promoted to
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in 1915 and
brevet
Brevet may refer to:
Military
* Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay
* Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college
* Aircre ...
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
in 1918. He became staff qualified, and served in 1918 as a
General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) and 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 ...
from 1918 to 1919.
Between the wars
From 1919 to 1920, Hutton served in 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 ...
as the Assistant
Military Secretary and from 1923 to 1924 as the Deputy Assistant
Adjutant General
An adjutant general is a military chief administrative officer.
France
In Revolutionary France, the was a senior staff officer, effectively an assistant to a general officer. It was a special position for lieutenant-colonels and colonels in staf ...
.
He met Scottish
psychiatrist
A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...
Isabel Galloway Emslie in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
and they married in 1921.
After attending the
Staff College, Camberley, as a student from 1922 to 1923,
Hutton was a General Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2) on the staff of
Eastern Command from 1924 to 1926, in the eastern counties of Britain.
He was promoted to the substantive rank of major in 1927, and from 1927 to 1930 he was the Military Assistant to the
Chief of the Imperial General Staff
The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Army Board. Prior to 1964, the title was Chief of the Imperial G ...
(CIGS) and later attended the
Imperial Defence College
The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...
.
He was "double jumped" to the rank of full
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
in 1930 and served from 1933 to 1936 as General Staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) in the Directorate of Military Operations in the War Office.
In 1936, Hutton served in the British forces in
Palestine during 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 ...
.
From 1936 to 1938 he was the GSO1 (
Chief of Staff) in the
1st Infantry Division, which was sent to Palestine. He was promoted to
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 ...
and appointed
General Officer Commanding (GOC) Western Independent District, 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 ...
in 1938.
Second World War
In 1940, after the outbreak of the Second World War, Hutton was appointed Deputy Chief of the General Staff,
GHQ India
GHQ may refer to:
* Garhwa railway station, in Jharkhand, India
* General Health Questionnaire
* General headquarters, or, specifically:
** General Headquarters (Pakistan Army)
** Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (General Headquarters in ...
.
The following year he was promoted
lieutenant-general and appointed
Chief of the General Staff in India.
Burma Army
In 1942, Hutton was appointed General Officer Commanding
Burma Command,
which was facing imminent invasion by Japanese troops. Burma Army was subordinated to the
American-British-Dutch-Australian Command
The American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) Command, or ABDACOM, was a short-lived, supreme command for all Allies of World War II, Allied forces in South East Asia in early 1942, during the Pacific War in World War II. The command consists of ...
, of which
Archibald Wavell was Commander in Chief.
Hutton initially ordered his subordinates to fight as close to the borders as possible. Some of them thought that he was doing so on Wavell's orders, but Hutton actually wished to gain time for reinforcements to arrive. This resulted in the defeat of the ill-equipped and badly-trained Burmese and Indian formations that tried to fight close to the frontier.
Hutton now considered that
Rangoon
Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...
, the capital, could not be defended. He attempted to divert reinforcements to ports further north. Wavell considered this to be defeatism, and stormed at Hutton in front of witnesses at a meeting on 28 February. He did not argue back, feeling that a dignified silence was the best rebuke. Hutton had already been superseded by General
Harold Alexander
Harold Rupert Leofric George Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, (10 December 1891 – 16 June 1969) was a senior British Army officer who served with distinction in both the First and the Second World War and, afterwards, as Governor G ...
as GOC of Burma Army, and appointed Alexander's Chief of Staff, an embarrassing appointment he held until Burma Army was disbanded later in the year.
During the crisis in Burma in 1942, it was felt by some senior officers (such as General
Sir Alan Hartley, the acting Commander in Chief in India), that Hutton made a good chief of staff but was not fitted for command in the field. Hutton subsequently served until 1944 as Secretary of the War Resources and Reconstruction Committees of Council, India.
In 1944, he retired from the army.
Later career
Hutton held a variety of Civil Posts after his retirement: from 1944 to 1946, he was Officiating Secretary, Viceroy's Executive Council in India.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
LHCMA catalogue: Papers of Lt Gen Sir Thomas Jacomb Hutton, MC, KCB, KCIE (1890-1981) King's College London Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. (URL accessed 9 June 2006)
'
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine'', 16 February 1942. British versus Japanese, Rangoon; (archive article), URL accessed 9 June 2006)
British Army Officers 1939–1945
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Thomas Jacomb
1890 births
1981 deaths
Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies
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
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley
People educated at Rossall School
Recipients of the Military Cross
Royal Artillery officers
Military personnel from Nottingham
British Army lieutenant generals