1937 Field Marshal John Gort V. C. To Major General Sir John Ponsonby
1937 Field Marshal John Gort V. To Major General Sir John Ponsonby. This product data sheet is originally written in English. 1937 Field Marshal John. At the WAR OFFICE to Major General Sir John Ponsonby, Colonel of. Field Marshal John Standish. (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal. During the 1930s he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (the professional head of the British Army). He is best known for commanding the British Expeditionary Force that was sent to France in the first year of the Second World War, only to be evacuated from Dunkirk the following year. Later served as Governor of Gibraltar and Malta, and High Commissioner for Palestine and. Early life and family. Was born in London. His mother was Eleanor, Viscountess. Vereker grew up in County Durham and the Isle of Wight. He was educated at Malvern Link Preparatory School, Harrow School, [2] and entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in January 1904. [3] As Viscount Gort, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 16 August 1905, [4] and promoted to lieutenant on 1 April 1907. In November 1908, Gort visited his uncle, Jeffrey Edward Prendergast Vereker, a retired British army major, who was living in Canada, at Kenora, Ontario. During a moose hunting trip, Gort slipped off a large boulder, causing his rifle to discharge; the bullet injured a local guide, William Prettie, who later died of his wound in Winnipeg. [5] While studying at Trinity College, Cambridge he was initiated into Isaac Newton University Lodge. Gort commanded the detachment of Grenadier Guards that bore the coffin at the funeral of King Edward VII in May 1910. [4] He was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order for his services in that role. On 22 February 1911, Gort married Corinna Katherine Vereker, his second cousin; the couple had two sons and a daughter, [4] before divorcing (1925). [8] Their elder son, Charles Standish Vereker, was born on 23 February 1912, and served as a lieutenant with the Grenadier Guards, before committing suicide (26 February 1941). [9][10] A second son, Jocelyn Cecil Vereker, was born on 27 July 1913, but died before his second birthday. [1] Gort’s daughter, Jacqueline Corinne Yvonne Vereker, who was born on 20 October 1914, married (June 1940) The Honourable William Sidney, later the 1st Viscount De L’Isle. On 5 August 1914, Gort was promoted to captain. [11] He went to France with the British Expeditionary Force and fought on the Western Front, taking part in the retreat from Mons in August 1914. [12] He became a staff officer with the First Army in December 1914 and then became Brigade Major of the 4th (Guards) Brigade in April 1915. [12] He was awarded the Military Cross in June 1915. [13] Promoted to the brevet rank of major[2] in June 1916, he became a staff officer at the Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force and fought at the Battle of the Somme throughout the autumn of 1916. [12] He was given the acting rank of lieutenant-colonel in April 1917[14] on appointment as Commanding Officer of 4th Battalion Grenadier Guards and, having been awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in June 1917, [15] he led his battalion at the Battle of Passchendaele, [12] earning a Bar to his DSO in September 1917. On 27 November 1918, Gort was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces, for his actions on 27 September 1918 at the Battle of the Canal du Nord, near Flesquieres, France. Captain (Brevet Major, Acting Lieutenant-Colonel), 1st Battalion The Grenadier Guards. Citation: For most conspicuous bravery, skilful leading and devotion to duty during the attack of the Guards Division on 27th September 1918, across the Canal du Nord, near Flesquieres, when in command of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, the leading battalion of the 3rd Guards Brigade. Under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire he led his battalion with great skill and determination to the “forming-up” ground, where very severe fire from artillery and machine guns was again encountered. Although wounded, he quickly grasped the situation, directed a platoon to proceed down a sunken road to make a flanking attack, and, under terrific fire, went across open ground to obtain the assistance of a Tank, which he personally led and directed to the best possible advantage. While thus fearlessly exposing himself, he was again severely wounded by a shell. Notwithstanding considerable loss of blood, after lying on a stretcher for awhile, he insisted on getting up and personally directing the further attack. By his magnificent example of devotion to duty and utter disregard of personal safety all ranks were inspired to exert themselves to the utmost, and the attack resulted in the capture of over 200 prisoners, two batteries of field guns and numerous machine guns. Viscount Gort then proceeded to organise the defence of the captured position until he collapsed; even then he refused to leave the field until he had seen the “success signal” go up on the final objective. The successful advance of the battalion was mainly due to the valour, devotion and leadership of this very gallant officer. Subsequent to this he became known as “Tiger” Gort. [19] He won a second Bar to his DSO in January 1919. [20] He was also mentioned in despatches eight times during the war. Inter-war years Gort was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 21 October 1919. [12] He left the Staff College in May 1923. Gort was promoted to colonel in April 1926 (with seniority backdated to 1 January 1925). [24] In 1926 he became a staff officer at London District before becoming a chief instructor at the Senior Officers’ School at Sheerness. [8] In January 1927, he went to Shanghai, returning in August to give a first hand account of the Chinese situation to the King and the Prince of Wales. In June 1928, Gort was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. [25] He went on to command the Guards Brigade for two years from 1930 before overseeing training in India with the temporary rank of brigadier. On 25 November 1935, he was promoted to major-general. In May 1937, Gort was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath. [28] In September 1937, he became Military Secretary to the War Minister, Leslie Hore-Belisha, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-general. [29] On 6 December 1937, as part of a purge by Hore-Belisha of senior officers, [30] Gort was appointed to the Army Council, [31] made a general and replaced Field Marshal Sir Cyril Deverell as Chief of the Imperial General Staff. [32] On 1 January 1938, he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. As Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Gort advocated the primacy of building a land army and defending France and the Low Countries over Imperial defence after France had said she would not be able on her own to defend herself against a German attack. On 2 December 1938 Gort submitted a report on the readiness of the British Army. He observed that Nazi Germany, as a result of the acquisition of Czechoslovakia, was in a stronger position than the previous year and that as a result of the government’s decision in 1937 to create a “general purpose” army, Britain lacked the necessary forces for the defence of France. On 21 December Gort recommended to the Chiefs of Staff that Britain would need to help France defend Holland and Belgium and that for that purpose the British Army needed complete equipment for four Regular army infantry divisions and two mobile armoured divisions, with the Territorial army armed with training equipment and then war equipment for four divisions. [36] The First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Roger Backhouse, replied that Britain’s continental commitment might not be a limited liability. Gort replied: “Lord Kitchener had clearly pointed out that no great country can wage a’little’ war”. He also attacked as a fallacy the theory of strategic mobility by the use of seapower because in modern war land transport was faster and cheaper than transport by sea. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Gort was appointed by Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain as the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France, arriving there on 19 September 1939. During this time Gort played a part in a political manoeuvre, the Pillbox affair, that led to the dismissal of War Minister Leslie Hore-Belisha. Unimpressed by his qualities for command, Hore-Belisha described Gort as: “utterly brainless and unable to grasp the simplest problem”. [40] Gort dismissed his subordinates’ critiques of the Allies’ Plan D, including his former friend Alan Brooke’s correct prediction that it would allow the Wehrmacht to outflank the Allied forces, as defeatist. Following the period of the “Phoney War”, the Wehrmacht’s attack and breakthrough in the Ardennes in May 1940 succeeded in splitting the Allied Armies, and surrounding the French First Army and BEF, Gort took the unilateral decision to abandon his orders received from the British Government for a southward attack to be made to support the French Army, instead on 25 May 1940 ordering a retreat by the BEF northwards to the French coast. [42] On reaching the coast Gort oversaw the en masse retirement of the BEF back to the British Isles, involving the Battle of Dunkirk and the Dunkirk evacuation, while France was defeated and surrendered to Nazi Germany four weeks later. With regard to his conduct as C. In France in 1940, Gort is credited by some historians as reacting efficiently to the crisis and saving the BEF, [42] while others hold a more critical view of his leadership, seeing his decision to abandon France during Germany’s attack into the west as defeatist. Gort went on to serve in various positions for the remainder of the war, but the chaotic rout of the BEF under his command from France had convinced Winston Churchill, the newly installed British Prime Minister, that he was an undesirable as a British Army General Staff field commander, and he was side-lined to non-combatant posts. On the day of his return to England from France on 1 June 1940 he was appointed an ADC General to George VI. On 25 June 1940 he went by flying boat, with Duff Cooper, to Rabat, Morocco, to rally anti-Nazi French cabinet ministers, but was instead held on his flying boat. Gort was given the post of Inspector of Training and the Home Guard, [39] and with nothing constructive to do visited Iceland, Orkney and Shetland. He went on to serve as Governor of Gibraltar (1941-42). [46] In 1943 he succeeded Lord Galway as Colonel Commandant of the Honourable Artillery Company, a position he held until his death. As Governor of Malta (1942-44), Gort’s courage and leadership during the siege was recognised by the Maltese giving him the Sword of Honour. He pushed ahead with extending the airfield into land reclaimed from the sea, against the advice of the British government, but was later thanked by the War Cabinet for his foresight when the airfield proved vital to the British Mediterranean campaign. The King gave Gort his field marshal’s baton on 20 June 1943 at Malta. On 29 September, Gort, together with Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harold Alexander, witnessed Marshal Pietro Badoglio signing the Italian surrender in Valletta harbour. Gort was present when his son-in-law, Major William Sidney, received the Victoria Cross from General Sir Harold Alexander, Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Allied Armies in Italy, on 3 March 1944 in Italy. Gort ended the war as High Commissioner for Palestine and Transjordan. [46] He served in this office for only one year. In 1945 he nominated William James Fitzgerald, Chief Justice of Palestine, to enquire into the Jewish-Arab conflict in Jerusalem. Chief Justice Fitzgerald issued his report in which he proposed to divide the city into separate Jewish and Arab Quarters. [49] Despite growing tensions in Palestine, Gort strove to cultivate good personal relations with both Jews and Arabs, and was greatly admired and respected by the Jewish and Arab communities. During his time in Palestine, Gort’s health deteriorated, and he was suffering from great pain and discomfort in his abdomen. He was in fact suffering from liver cancer, but the doctors he consulted in London were unable to properly diagnose his condition. Gort ruled Palestine at the time that the Jewish insurgency was beginning. Despite his efforts, he was unable to stem the growing confrontation between the Yishuv (Jewish community) and British authorities. Commenting on his departure, The Palestine Post wrote that No High Commissioner in the twenty-five years of British rule in Palestine enjoyed greater popular trust and none repaid it with greater personal kindness. After leaving Palestine and returning to England, Gort was admitted to Guy’s Hospital in London, where exploratory surgery revealed that he was dying from inoperable liver cancer. [46][50] In February 1946 he was created a Viscount in the Peerage of the United Kingdom under the same title as his existing Viscountcy in the Peerage of Ireland. On 31 March 1946 he died in Guy’s Hospital at the age of 59 years. As he did not have a surviving son, the Irish Viscountcy of Gort passed to his brother, Standish Vereker, and the British creation became extinct. [46] His body was entombed in the Sidney family vault at St. John the Baptist Church, Penshurst, in the county of Kent. Fresh to the Market Place, from Major-General Sir John Ponsonby’s Collection. For more from this collection see our shop category for SIR HENRY & JOHN PONSONBY COLLECTION. John Ponsonby (British Army officer)From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Major-General Sir John Ponsonby KCB CMG DSO (25 March 1866 – 26 March 1952) was a British Army officer who commanded 5th Division during World War I. Born the son of Sir Henry Ponsonby (Queen Victoria’s Private Secretary), his Mother Hon. Mary Elizabeth Ponsonby, Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria and a daughter of John Crocker Bulteel. His brothers were Frederick Ponsonby, (Assistant Private Secretary to Edward VII & GV), and Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, (British politician, writer, and social activist). His Two Sisters were Alberta Victoria Ponsonby (6 May 1862 – 15 October 1945) and Magdalen Ponsonby (24 June 1864 – 1 July 1934) Author. Sir John was educated at Eton College, He was gazetted to the Royal Irish Rifles 16 November 1887, and to the Coldstream Guards 15 August 1888, becoming Lieutenant 29 June 1891. He was ADC to the Governor and Commander-in-Chief, South Africa, 10 August 1891 to 30 January 1895; served in operations in Matabeleland (Medal); was promoted to Captain 7 September 1898, and in that year served in Uganda (Medal), and again in 1899, during the operations against Kabarega (clasp). He was Adjutant, 5th New Zealand Regiment, 8 June 1900 to 1 January 1901; afterwards in command 1 January to 18 January 1901. From February to May 1900, be was employed with Mounted Infantry, and he took part in operations in the Transvaal, west of Pretoria, from July to 29 November 1900; operations in the Transvaal, February to June 1901; operations in Cape Colony, February to 31 May 1902. He was mentioned in Despatches [London Gazette, 10 September 1901]; received the Queen’s Medal with four clasps, the King’s Medal with two clasps, and was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 27 September 1901]: John Ponsonby, Captain, Coldstream Guards. In recognition of services during the operations in South Africa. The Insignia were presented by the King 27 October 1901. He was promoted to Major 23 January 1904, and commanded the Guards’ Depot 1 March 1905 to 28 February 1907. He became Lieutenant Colonel 28 October 1913. Commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade, BEF, 26 August 1915 to 19 November 1916: was given the Brevet of Colonel 1 January 1916; commanded the Special Reserve Infantry Brigade 28 November 1916 to 7 March 1917; commanded the 21st Infantry Brigade, BEF, 8 March to 20 March 1917; became Colonel 20 March 1917; commanded the 2nd Guards Brigade, British Armies in France, 21 March to 21 August 1917; commanded the 40th Division, British Armies in France, 22 August 1917 to 3 July 1918; subsequently commanded the 5th Division, British Armies in France, 4 July 1918 to 1 April 1919; was promoted to Major General 1 January 1919. He was mentioned in Despatches; created a CMG in 1915, a CB in 1918, and was given the Brevet of Colonel. He went on to become General Officer Commanding 5th Division remaining in that role until the end of the War. After the War he became General Officer Commanding the Madras District of India. He retired in 1928. He lived at Haile Hall near Beckermet in Cumbria. Powered by SixBit’s eCommerce Solution. At the WAR OFFICE to Major General Sir John Ponsonby, Colonel of of the Suffolk Regiment. Field Marshal John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, MC (10 July 1886 – 31 March 1946) was a senior British Army officer. As a young officer during the First World War he was decorated with the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Battle of the Canal du Nord. Gort later served as Governor of Gibraltar and Malta, an. Field Marshal John Gort V. Major General Sir John Ponsonby. Original typed & Signed Letter. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Militaria\1919-38\Original Period Items”. The seller is “atlantic-fox” and is located in this country: GB. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Place/Building: War Office
- Country/ Organization: Great Britain
- Letter From: Field Marshal John Gort V.C.
- Related Interests: Victoria Cross
- Service: Army
- Country: England
- Related Interests 2: The Suffolk Regiment
- England County: Middlesex
- City/Town/Village/Place: London
- Year of Issue: 1937
- Theme: Military
- Era: 1914-1945
- Addressed to: Major General Sir John Ponsonby
- Issued/ Not-Issued: Issued
- Type: Documents & Maps
- Document Type: Original typed & Signed Letter
- Conflict: Inter-War (1919-1938)
- Titled Families: 6th Viscount Gort
- Brand: Unbranded