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Frank Simpson (British Army officer)

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Sir

Frank Simpson
Major General Simpson in 1944.
Nickname(s)"Simpo"
Born(1899-03-21)21 March 1899
Died28 July 1986(1986-07-28) (aged 87)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1916–1954
RankGeneral
Service number15429
UnitRoyal Engineers
CommandsImperial Defence College (1952–1954)
Western Command (1948–1951)
Battles / warsFirst World War
Second World War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches

General Sir Frank Ernest Wallace Simpson, GBE, KCB, DSO (21 March 1899 – 28 July 1986) was a senior British Army officer during the 1940s.

Military career

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Born on 21 March 1899, Simpson was educated at Bishop Cotton Boys' School,[1] Bedford School, Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[2] He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in May 1916.[3][4] He served in the First World War in France and Belgium in 1918 and then after the war went to Afghanistan and the North West Frontier of India and attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1931 to 1932.[4][5]

Men of the 16th Parachute Battalion march past Lieutenant General Sir Frank Simpson (stood near the centre, saluting), GOC-in-C Western Command, August 1949.

Simpson also served in the Second World War, initially in France and Belgium with the British Expeditionary Force and was involved in the defence of Arras and then the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940.[4] He became chief of staff to Lieutenant General Bernard Montgomery in 1940 and then deputy director of Military Operations at the War Office in 1942 being promoted to Director of Military Operations in 1943.[4]

After the war Simpson became Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff for Operations in 1945 and then Vice Chief of Imperial General Staff in 1946.[4] In this role he fought cut-backs in the size of the army.[6]

In 1948 Simpson was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Command and in 1952 he became Commandant of the Imperial Defence College: he retired in 1954.[4] He was made Colonel of the Royal Pioneer Corps from 1950 to 1961.[7]

Retirement

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In retirement Simpson became an advisor to the West Africa Committee, a body formed to promote British business interests in West Africa.[8] He was a deputy lieutenant for Essex from 1956[9] and was Governor of the Royal Hospital Chelsea from 1961[10] to 1969.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Bishop Cotton Boys' School Alumni Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Who's Who
  3. ^ "No. 29595". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 May 1916. p. 5184.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  5. ^ Smart 2005, p. 285.
  6. ^ Hew Strachan (2006). Big Wars and Small Wars: The British Army and the Lessons of War in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-415-36196-5.
  7. ^ "Royal Pioneer Corps". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 18 December 2017.
  8. ^ The business of decolonization: British business strategies in the Gold Coast By S. E. Stockwell, Page 132 Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN 978-0-19-820848-8
  9. ^ Smart 2005, p. 286.
  10. ^ "No. 42366". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 May 1961. p. 3987.
  11. ^ "No. 44885". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 July 1969. p. 6782.

Bibliography

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Military offices
Preceded by Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff
1946–1948
Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC-in-C Western Command
1948–1951
Succeeded by
Preceded by Commandant of the Imperial Defence College
1952–1954
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Chief Royal Engineer
1961–1967
Succeeded by
Preceded by Governor, Royal Hospital Chelsea
1961–1969