Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart
Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart CB DSO MC KStJ (born August 22, 1919 - † June 15, 1999 ) was a British peer and officer and major general of the Army . From 1970 to 1973 he was the 14th commandant of the British Sector of Berlin and thus one of the Allied city commanders .
Beginning of the military career
Cathcart studied at Eton College and Magdalene College in Cambridge and subsequently entered military service and attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst .
After the outbreak of the Second World War , he received a post as Second Lieutenant in the Scots Guards in October 1939 . In 1944 he was awarded the Military Cross and in 1945 the Distinguished Service Order . After the war he moved back to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as an adjutant before returning to the Royal Scots in the same capacity.
From 1954 to 1955 he was chief of staff of the 4th Brigade . Subsequently he was commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards until 1959 . In 1960 Cathcart was promoted to lieutenant colonel.
In 1962 he first served in the Scottish Command and was in command of the 152nd Infantry Brigade from 1965 to 1966 . In 1967 he moved to the Allied headquarters , meanwhile promoted to brigadier .
As major general, he took over the post of commanding general of the Yorkshire District from 1969 to 1970 .
City Commander in Berlin
Cathcart received his last command in November 1970. As the successor to James Bowes-Lyon , he became the new commander of the British sector of Berlin and thus one of the Allied city commanders. Together with the Americans George Seignious II and William W. Cobb (from May 1971) and the French Maurice Routier, he formed the highest authority of the Western Allies in Berlin . He was thus a member of the Allied Command , which was subordinate to the Allied Control Council .
As city commander, he assumed one of the most important and outstanding posts that the British military had to fill outside of Great Britain. As such, he was on the one hand the military, but above all the "political leader" of his country and exercised a kind of representative status for Queen Elizabeth II , since Berlin was formally not part of the scope of the Federal Republic of Germany and Great Britain's ambassador residing in Bonn was not responsible.
Like his predecessors, Cathcart, as city commander, mainly concentrated on the political and diplomatic representation of his country and his duties as a member of the Allied Command, while the respective brigade commander took over the purely military leadership of the British armed forces in the four-sector city .
With the move to Berlin Cathcart moved with his family in the Berlin district Gatow located Villa Lemm . The members of the British royal family also resided on the property during their stays in Berlin. The function of the host towards the royal family was fulfilled by a British city commander at least once a year when the Royal Birthday Parade ("Queens Birthday Parade") was to be accepted on the Berlin Maifeld at the Olympic Stadium .
In July 1973 Cathcart was recalled and replaced by David Scott-Barrett as city commander.
Cathcart finally retired that same month .
Social work
Upon retirement , he became Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords .
Between 1974 and 1980 he also took over the post of Honorary Colonel of the Royal Yacht Squadron .
Private
Alan Cathcart came as a member of the Cathcart clan of an old English noble family , whose origins can be traced back to the award of the title to William Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart on July 16, 1814.
On the death of his father George Cathcart, 5th Earl Cathcart on November 19, 1927, he inherited his title of nobility as 6th Earl Cathcart , including the associated seat in the House of Lords and the hereditary dignity of Chief of the Cathcart clan .
He was married to his first wife Rosemary from July 10, 1946 until her death. The daughters Louisa (1948-2017) and Dame Charlotte (* 1951) as well as the son Major General Charles Cathcart, 7th Earl Cathcart (* 1952) emerged from the marriage.
In May 1984 Cathcart married his second wife Marie († 2015).
In 1985 the already highly decorated Cathcart was accepted into the Order of Saint John as Knight of Justice .
Alan Cathcart died on June 15, 1999 at the age of 79.
Awards
- Military Cross (1944)
- Distinguished Service Order (1945)
- Companion des Order of the Bath (1973)
- Knight of Justice des Order of Saint John (1985)
literature
- Robert Corbett: Berlin and the British Ally 1945-1990 . 1991.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ London Gazette (Supplement). No. 34745, HMSO, London, December 1, 1939, p. 8088 ( PDF , English).
- ↑ The Earl of Cathcart. THE HERALD, June 22, 1999, accessed March 9, 2018 .
| predecessor | title | successor |
|---|---|---|
| George Cathcart |
Earl Cathcart 1927-1999 |
Charles Cathcart |
Lewis Lyne (1945) | Eric Nares (1945-1947) | Otway Herbert (1947–1949) | GK Bourne (1949-1951) | Charles Coleman (1951-1954) | William Oliver (1954–1955) | Robert Cottrell-Hill (1955-1956) | Francis Rome (1956-1959) | Rohan Delacombe (1959-1962) | Claude Dunbar (1962) | David Peel Yates (1962-1966) | John Nelson (1966-1968) | James Bowes-Lyon (1968–1970) | Alan Cathcart (1970–1973) | David Scott-Barrett (1973-1975) | Roy Redgrave (1975-1978) | Robert Richardson (1978-1980) | David Mostyn (1980-1983) | Bernard Gordon Lennox (1983-1985) | Patrick Brooking (1985-1989) | Robert Corbett (1989–1990)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cathcart, Alan, 6th Earl Cathcart |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British peer, Major General of the Army |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 22, 1919 |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 15, 1999 |