Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Lewis Macclesfield Heath, (23 November 1885 – 10 January 1954) was an officer in the British Indian Army during the early to mid-twentieth century.

Early life and family

Heath was born 23 November 1885, the son of Col. Lewis Forbes Heath of the British Indian Army. He 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, Ne ...

and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He joined the British Indian Army in 1905. In 1915, Heath married Marjorie, daughter of Brigadier General A. B. H. Drew, and had three sons and two daughters. In 1941, he remarried Kathleen Longeron of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about ...

and had another son.

Military service

Heath joined the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

on 18 January 1905 and served with the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions within ...

from 1909 to 1913. He was promoted to captain on 18 January 1914. He saw action in 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 ...

where he was injured losing an eye and suffering permanent damage to his left arm. He was subsequently awarded the

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 ...

. Following the war he fought in the

Third Anglo-Afghan War The Third Anglo-Afghan War; fa, جنگ سوم افغان-انگلیس), also known as the Third Afghan War, the British-Afghan War of 1919, or in Afghanistan as the War of Independence, began on 6 May 1919 when the Emirate of Afghanistan inv ...

and served in East

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 ...

from 1919 to 1921. He was Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General in India and Afghanistan between 30 May 1919 and 8 August 1919, and Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General between 9 August 1919 and 26 September 1919. On 18 January 1920, he was promoted to major. Between 1919 and 1921 he was Commandant of the Seistan Levy Corps. Between 21 November 1924 and 5 July 1928 Heath served as Assistant Commandant and Commandant Indian Wing, at the Army School of Education, India. He transferred to the 10/14 Punjab Regiment in 1928. He became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion,

11th Sikh Regiment The 11th Sikh Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army. They could trace their origins to 1922, when after World War I the Indian government reformed the army moving from single battalion regiments to multi battalion regiments.S ...

in 1929 and was deployed to the North-West Frontier in India in 1930 and 1932. On 1 January 1929 Heath was promoted to battalion lieutenant colonel and then lieutenant colonel on 6 December 1929. On 6 May 1932, Heath was promoted to battalion colonel. He received 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 8 September 1933 and was promoted to colonel on 9 January 1934. He became an instructor at the Senior Officers School, Belgaum, India in 1934 and Brigade Commander,

Wana Brigade The Wana Brigade was an Infantry formation of the Indian Army during World War II. It was formed in February 1930, for service on the North West Frontier. During World War 2 it was normal practice for newly formed battalions to be posted to the ...

in 1936, in which capacity he was deployed to the North West Frontier in 1937. In 1939, Heath was awarded the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

on 2 January 1939 and promoted to Major General on 20 January of the same year. He went on to be Commander 7th Indian Division of the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

District in 1939. Heath achieved success as the General Officer Commanding the

5th Indian Infantry Division The 5th Indian Infantry Division was an infantry division of the Indian Army during World War II that fought in several theatres of war and was nicknamed the "Ball of Fire". It was one of the few Allied divisions to fight against three diffe ...

during the East African Campaign. Heath was appointed lieutenant general on 10 May 1941 and was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(KBE) on 30 May 1941. He was appointed to command III Indian Corps on 26 April 1941 as part of the

Malaya Command The Malaya Command was a formation of the British Army formed in the 1920s for the coordination of the defences of British Malaya, which comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States. It consiste ...

, which then participated in the

Battle of Malaya The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles betwee ...

. He was unable to stop the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

advance and had conflicting opinions on how to conduct the campaign with his commanding officer, Lieutenant General

Arthur Percival Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival, (26 December 1887 – 31 January 1966) was a senior British Army officer. He saw service in the First World War and built a successful military career during the interwar period but is most noted fo ...

. He was captured during the

Battle of Singapore The Fall of Singapore, also known as the Battle of Singapore,; ta, சிங்கப்பூரின் வீழ்ச்சி; ja, シンガポールの戦い took place in the South–East Asian theatre of the Pacific War. The Empire of ...

, and held in prison in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, Formosa, and Manchukuo (Manchuria) between 1942 and 1945. He retired on 13 April 1946 with the rank of Lieutenant-general.

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Generals of World War II
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heath, Lewis 1885 births 1954 deaths Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Indian Army generals of World War II Indian Army personnel of World War I King's African Rifles officers Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military of Singapore under British rule Recipients of the Military Cross World War II prisoners of war held by Japan British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Afghan War British Indian Army generals Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Military personnel of British India