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 ...

Wilfrid Lewis Lloyd CBE, DSO and Bar, MC (1 March 1896 – 22 January 1944) was an officer in the

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 Gurkha ...

and the

British Indian Army The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which cou ...

during the First and

Second The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ea ...

world wars.

Early life

Lloyd was born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, on 1 March 1896, son of Major Ernest Thomas Lloyd (1860-1935), formerly of the

Bengal Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million p ...

, and his wife Ethel Mary (died 1961), second daughter of Sir Richard Dansey Green-Price, 2nd

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

. Sir Guy Lloyd, 1st Baronet (1890-1987), another future British Army officer and Member of Parliament, was his elder brother.

First World War

Lloyd was commissioned into the 7th (Service) Battalion of the

King's Shropshire Light Infantry The King's Shropshire Light Infantry (KSLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army, formed in the Childers Reforms of 1881, but with antecedents dating back to 1755. It served in the Second Boer War, World War I and World War II. I ...

in September 1914, arrived in France in October 1915, and fought with the regiment until 1917, winning a

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 ...

during the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place be ...

. In 1917 he transferred to the Indian Army and was attached to 4th / 39th Garwhal Rifles. He was later to join the 19th Hyderabad Regiment. He remained in the army during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

, attending 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, whic ...

from 1927−1928.

Second World War

In July 1940, Brigadier Lloyd was appointed to the 5th Indian Infantry Brigade of the

4th Indian Infantry Division The 4th Indian Infantry Division, also known as the Red Eagle Division, is an infantry division of the Indian Army. This division of the British Indian Army was formed in Egypt in 1939 during the Second World War. During the Second World W ...

and commanded them in the Western Desert Campaign, the East African Campaign and the Syria-Lebanon campaign. In the Western Desert, Lloyd's forces were involved in the opening stages of

Operation Compass Operation Compass (also it, Battaglia della Marmarica) was the first large British military operation of the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) during the Second World War. British, Empire and Commonwealth forces attacked Italian forces of ...

. In East Africa, forces under Lloyd's command were involved in the Battle of Agordat and the

Battle of Keren The Battle of Keren ( it, Battaglia di Cheren) took place from 3 February to 27 March 1941. Keren was attacked by the British during the East African Campaign of the Second World War. A force of Italian regular and colonial troops defended t ...

. In Syria, he commanded for a period ''Gentforce''. This was a combined British, Indian, and

Free French Free France (french: France Libre) was a political entity that claimed to be the legitimate government of France following the dissolution of the Third Republic. Led by French general , Free France was established as a government-in-exile ...

force attacking towards

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. He was awarded the DSO on 8 July 1941, followed by a Bar to the award on 28 August. For his services in the latter campaigns he was mentioned in despatches on 30 December 1941. From October 1941 to March 1943, during the Burma Campaign, Major-General Lloyd commanded the

14th Indian Infantry Division The 14th Indian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II. It fought in the Arakan Campaign 1942–43, and was subsequently converted into a Training Division, providing drafts of replacements for unit ...

. The Division was defeated during the First Arakan Offensive and Lloyd was removed from command. Most of his contemporaries nevertheless considered he was not responsible for the defeat. From July 1943, in succession to William Slim, to January 1944 Major-General Lloyd commanded the

10th Indian Infantry Division The 10th Indian Infantry Division was a war formed infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II. In four years, the division travelled over from Tehran to Trieste, fought three small wars, and fought two great campaigns: the ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and later in the Italian Campaign. He was killed in an air crash in January 1944, aged 47, and was buried at

Heliopolis War Cemetery Heliopolis War Cemetery (which includes the Heliopolis (Port Tewfik) Memorial and the Heliopolis (Aden) Memorial) is a war cemetery in the Heliopolis district of Cairo, Egypt for British and Commonwealth service personnel. It is maintained by the ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

.
CWGC Casualty record.

Personal life

Lloyd married in 1922 Phyllis Janet, younger daughter of John M.B. Turner, a solicitor, of

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

, England. The couple had two sons and two daughters, one of each survived them: *Peter John Ernest, born 1923. *Maureen Joan, born 1927, died 1943. *David Owen Reginald, born 1931, died 1934. *Patricia Jane, born 1938. After his death, his widow remarried, to Francis Arnold Benedict Jones.

Command history

* General Staff Officer, Division - 1939 * CO 5th Indian Infantry Brigade,

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

- 1940 * CO 5th Indian Infantry Brigade,

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historica ...

- (1940–1941) * CO 5th Indian Infantry Brigade,

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

- 1941 * Director of Military Training, India - (1941–1942) * GOC

- (1941–1943) * GOC

- (1943–1944)

References

Bibliography

External links

British Military History - Major General Wilfrid Lewis LLOYDCWGC entry
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Wilfrid Lewis 1896 births 1944 deaths British Indian Army generals King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers British Army personnel of World War I Indian Army personnel of World War I Indian Army generals of World War II Indian Army personnel killed in World War II Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People educated at Shrewsbury School Military personnel from York Burials at Heliopolis War Cemetery