Colonel Noel Andrew Cotton Croft, (30 November 1906 – 26 June 1998) was a member of the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

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 opposing ...

, with operations in Norway and Corsica, as well as military attaché to Sweden. He was also an Arctic explorer, holding the longest self-supporting dog-sledge journey in the Guinness Book of Records for 60 years (across

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

), and

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the Cadet Corps of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Early life

Noel Andrew Croft was born on 30 November 1906, St Andrews Day, in Stevenage in Hertfordshire where his father, Robert, was the local vicar. After two prep schools, he attended

Lancing College Lancing College is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in southern England, UK. The school is located in West Sussex, east of Worthing near the village of Lancing, on the south coast of England. ...

, before becoming one of the founding pupils at Stowe School, and then going up to Christ Church, Oxford in 1925.

Career as an explorer

Croft participated in several Arctic expeditions. In 1934, along with Lieutenant A.S.T. Godfrey Lieutenant Arthur Godfrey of the Royal Engineers and Martin Lindsay, Croft participated in the 1934 British Trans-Greenland Expedition which mapped the

Crown Prince Frederick Range The Crown Prince Frederick Range ( da, Kronprins Frederik Bjerge) is a large mountain range in King Christian IX Land, eastern Greenland. Administratively this range is part of the Sermersooq Municipality. Despite being relatively unknown it has ...

as the expedition photographer and dog-handler. To do so, he learned to speak

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

and Greenlandic and learned to be an expert dog-driver. He served as the second-in-command of the Oxford University Arctic Expedition, 1935–36, under A. R. Glen, a

glaciologist Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or more generally ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clima ...

. The expedition, under the auspices of the

Oxford University Exploration Club The Oxford University Exploration Club was established in December 1927 by Edward Max Nicholson, Colin Trapnell, and Charles Sutherland Elton. The Club's aim is to support and advise students with planning original expeditions abroad. Recent ...

, was a fourteen-month-long scientific survey of North-East Land. He was a recipient of the

Polar Medal The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It ...

in 1942 and of the Royal Geographical Society's

Back Award The Back Award, also referred to as the Back Grant, was first given by the Royal Geographical Society in 1882 for "applied or scientific geographical studies which make an outstanding contribution to the development of national or international pub ...

in 1947.

War service and army career

During

Croft served with 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 Gurk ...

in Finland,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

, and Sweden before returning to active service with No. 14 (Arctic) Commando. He served with a Special Forces unit behind enemy lines in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, and was then given an independent command in the

(SOE) to operate small motor boats out of Calvi in Northern Corsica. Covert missions were carried out to the Italian and French coasts, where secret agents and equipment were landed and picked up. In 1944, he was parachuted into Southern France to organise the French Resistance there. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

(DSO) on 15 March 1945. Following the end of the war he was granted a regular commission on 21 May 1949, backdated to his original commissioning.

Later life

On 24 July 1952, he married Rosalind Madden, the widow of an Irish Guards officer. He stepped down with his leader, Eric Shipton, from the 1953 Everest Expedition which summitted the mountain that year. In the 1950s he was appointed as the commandant of the Army Apprentice School, Harrogate. In 1960, Croft became the first Commandant of the Metropolitan Police's Hendon Police Cadet College, and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the

1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the '' Lo ...

for his successful development of the Corps of Cadets. In 1968, he served as a member of the organising committee for an Arctic exploration expedition led by

Wally Herbert Sir Walter William Herbert (24 October 1934 – 12 June 2007) was a British polar explorer, writer and artist. In 1969 he became the first man fully recognized for walking to the North Pole, on the 60th anniversary of Robert Peary's disputed exp ...

. A member of the expedition, Allan Gill, suffered a serious lower back injury requiring his evacuation.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', by a Staff Reporter, 26 September 1968, pg. 1

Publications

* ''Polar Exploration: Epics of the Twentieth Century'' * ''A Talent for Adventure''. The Self-Publishing Association, 1991

References

External links

*The Andrew Croft Memorial Fund (http://www.acmf.org.uk/) {{DEFAULTSORT:Croft, Andrew 1906 births 1998 deaths Military personnel from Hertfordshire British Army Commandos officers British military attachés British Army personnel of World War II Essex Regiment officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order British Special Operations Executive personnel English explorers British polar explorers People educated at Lancing College People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Recipients of the Polar Medal People from Stevenage