General Geoffrey Kemp Bourne, Baron Bourne, (5 October 1902 – 26 June 1982) was a British Army officer.

Military career

Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1923, Bourne served in Hong Kong from 1930 to 1932, in

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

from 1933 and 1934, in 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, which i ...

in 1935 and 1936, and in Colchester in 1937. In 1938 and 1939, he was

General Staff Officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

at the War Office. During the Second World War, Bourne was a member of the Joint Planning Staff between 1939 and 1941, and a member of the Joint Staff Mission in Washington, D.C. in 1942. In 1944, he was Commander of the

152nd (Ayrshire Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry was a Regiment of the British Yeomanry and is now an armoured Squadron of the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry (SNIY), part of the British Army Reserve. It is the Lowlands of Scotland's only Royal A ...

, fighting in Italy, and member of the

General Staff A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military un ...

Airborne Corps fighting in Belgium. Between 1945 and 1946, Bourne commanded the

5th Indian 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 differe ...

, in Java and worked at the Imperial Defence College in 1947. He was Head of the British Mission to Burma in 1948 and Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin from 1949 to 1951. Between 1951 and 1953 he commanded

16th Airborne Division The 16th Airborne Division was an airborne infantry division of the British Territorial Army. It was first commanded by Major-General Roy Urquhart, and had its divisional headquarters in London. It was raised in 1947, to compensate for the los ...

, was General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command between 1953 and 1954, and General Officer Commanding

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

between 1954 and 1956. Bourne was Commander-in-Chief, Middle East Land Forces in 1957 and Commandant of the Imperial Defence College between 1958 and 1959. He retired in 1960. Bourne was also Aide-de-Camp General to The Queen in 1959 and 1960, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery from 1954 to 1967 and Honorary Colonel, 10 Battalion The Parachute Regiment, Territorial Army from 1960 to 1965.

Personal life

On 11 July 1928, Bourne married Agnes Evelyn Thompson, daughter of Sir Ernest Thompson. The couple had one son, the Hon. Michael Bourne (1937–2013) and one daughter. Lady Bourne died in 1990. Bourne was invested as a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George IV, George IV, Prince of Wales, while he was acting as prince regent for his father, George III, King George III. ...

, as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, and as a

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...

. On 22 August 1964, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

with the title Baron Bourne, ''of Atherstone in the County of Warwick''.

Arms

References

External links

Generals of World War II
, - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Geoffrey 1902 births 1982 deaths Military personnel from London People from Kensington British Army generals British Army brigadiers of World War II Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Life peers Royal Artillery officers British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry officers Life peers created by Elizabeth II