Walter Kirke

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Sir Walter Mervyn St. George Kirke , GCB , CMG , DSO (born January 19, 1877 - September 2, 1949 ) was a British general in the British Army who, among other things, was Director General of the Territorial Army between 1936 and 1939 and then from 1939 to 1940 Commander in Chief of the Home Forces was.

Life

Walter Mervyn St. George Kirke, son of Colonel St. George Mervyn Kirke, completed after school officer training and entered after its completion in 1896 as a lieutenant (Second Lieutenant) in the Royal Artillery one. In the following years he found various uses as an officer and staff officer , where he was temporarily used in British India . At the beginning of the First World War he was appointed to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in February 1915 and on June 15, 1915 he was General Staff Officer 1 of the British Expeditionary Force BEF ( British Expeditionary Force ) deployed in France . There he received on 1 January 1917 brevet of colonel and was from March to August 1917 staff officer stationed also in France 4th Infantry Division ( 4th Infantry Division ) .

After the end of the war, Kirke was a Temporary Brigadier-General from November 22, 1918 to November 17, 1921, Deputy Head of the Military Operations Department in the War Office (Deputy Director of Military Operations, War Office ) . In this use, he was also on August 10, 1920, Colonel (Colonel) transported, said transport was backdated to January 1, 1917th He then served between 17 November 1921 and April 1924 as Chief of Staff of the commands Aldershot (Aldershot Command) . He got there at 1 January 1924 was promoted to Major General (Major-General) and 1925 was head of the British military mission in July 17, 1924 to March 30, Finland and then 1925-1926 President of the Inter-Allied Military Control Commission (IMKK ) in Hungary . He was then transferred again to British India and was there from February 19, 1926 to December 13, 1929 Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the British Indian Army (Deputy Chief General Staff, Army Headquarters India) .

Then Walter Kirke took over on December 13, 1929 the post of Commanding General ( General Officer Commanding ) of the 5th Infantry Division ( 5th Infantry Division ) and remained in this position until September 30, 1931. This post took place on June 30, 1931 his promotion to Lieutenant General (Lieutenant General) . After he was not in active service between September 30, 1931 and May 13, 1933 with a reduced salary (half-pay) , he served between May 13, 1933 and April 1936 as Supreme Commander of Army Command West (General Officer Commanding in Chief Western Command) . He was beaten as such on January 1, 1934 to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) and from then on carried the suffix "Sir".

This was followed by Kirke on April 1, 1936 as a successor to Lt. Gen. Charles Bonham Carter Director General of the Territorial Army in the War Office (Director-General of Territorial Army, War Office) and has held this function until 30 June 1939 after which Lt. Gen. Douglas Brownrigg became his successor. He was promoted to general on April 20, 1936 and raised to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath on January 2, 1939 . He also acted as aide-de-camp of King George VI between October 12, 1937 and July 1, 1940 . and was thus one of the monarch's army adjutants. Most recently, General Walter Kirke took over the newly created post of Inspector-General of Home Defense in the War Office on July 1, 1939 and then served from September 3, 1939 until he was replaced by General Edmund Ironside on September 27 , 1939 May 1940 as commander of the home armed forces (Commander in Chief Home forces ) . On July 1, 1940, he left active military service and retired.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1860, p. 84
  2. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1860, p. 346
  3. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1860, p. 218
  4. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1860, p. 112
  5. ↑ a b KNIGHTS AND DAMES. In: leighrayment.com. November 2, 2018, accessed September 24, 2019 .
  6. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1860, p. 19
  7. ↑ SENIOR ARMY APPOINTMENTS SINCE 1860, p. 73
predecessor Office successor
Lieutenant General Charles Bonham Carter General Director of the Territorial Army
1936–1939 		Lieutenant General Douglas Brownrigg
Item newly created Commander in Chief of the Home
Forces 1939–1940 		General Edmund Ironside
personal data
SURNAME Kirke, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kirke, Walter Mervyn St. George (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British general
DATE OF BIRTH January 19, 1877
DATE OF DEATH September 2, 1949