Patrick Howard-Dobson

General Sir Patrick John Howard-Dobson GCB (12 August 1921 – 8 November 2009) was a senior British Army officer and Quartermaster-General to the Forces.

Sir Patrick Howard-Dobson
Born(1921-08-12)12 August 1921
Leicester, Leicestershire, England
Died8 November 2009(2009-11-08) (aged 88)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1941–1981
RankGeneral
Service number189025
UnitYorkshire Hussars
7th Queen's Own Hussars
Queen's Own Hussars
Commands heldVice-Chief of the Defence Staff
Staff College, Camberley
20th Armoured Brigade
Queen's Own Hussars
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Virtuti Militari (Poland)
Silver Star (United States)

Early life

Patrick Howard-Dobson was born on 12 August 1921 in Leicester, Leicestershire, England, and educated at King's College School, Cambridge and Framlingham College.[1]

Military career

During the Second World War Howard-Dobson was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Yorkshire Hussars in 1941.[2] He saw action as a tank troop commander in the 7th Queen's Own Hussars, to which he was transferred, during the long withdrawal from Rangoon in Burma during the early stages of the Burma Campaign.[2] The regiment formed part of the 7th Armoured Brigade, and, after serving in India, Iraq, Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, landed in Italy in early May 1944. Howard-Dobson, along with the rest of the brigade, were to remain there for the rest of the war, engaged in the fighting on the Italian Front. He again saw action during the fourth and final Battle of Monte Cassino, and later, while attached to Lieutenant General Władysław Anders's Polish II Corps, at the Battle of Ancona, the fighting on the Gothic Line and, in April 1945, at the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy, which brought an end to the war in Italy. For his distinguished services in the war he was awarded the Italian Virtuti Militari and the US Silver Star.[2]

After being granted a commission in the Regular Army, he attended the Staff College, Camberley, and in 1963 he was made Commanding Officer (CO) of the Queen's Own Hussars and then in 1965 he was appointed commander of the 20th Armoured Brigade, then serving in Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), following which he returned to England to attend the Imperial Defence College (now the Royal College of Defence Studies, usually destined only for officers who were destined to become high-flyers.[1] In 1968 he became the last Chief of Staff at British Far East Command in Singapore. He was Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley from 1972, Military Secretary from 1974 and then Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1977.[2] In 1979 he was made Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel & Logistics) and he retired in 1981.[2]

He lived in Benington, Hertfordshire for over 25 years.[3]

In retirement he was chairman of the Council of St Luke's Hospital for the Clergy.[1]

Family

In 1946 he married Barbara Mary Mills and together they went on to have two sons and one daughter.[2]

References

  1. Obituary: General Sir Patrick Howard-Dobson The Daily Telegraph, 20 December 2009
  2. Obituary: Sir Patrick Howard-Dobson. The Times, 13 November 2009
  3. Ex-soldier From Benington Dies. East Herts Herald, 17 November 2009
Honorary titles
Preceded by
David Davies
Colonel of the Queen's Own Hussars
1969–1975
Succeeded by
M. Fox
Military offices
Preceded by
Allan Taylor
Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley
1972–1974
Succeeded by
Hugh Beach
Preceded by
Sir John Sharp
Military Secretary
1974–1976
Succeeded by
Sir Robert Ford
Preceded by
Sir William Jackson
Quartermaster-General to the Forces
1977–1979
Succeeded by
Sir Richard Worsley
Preceded by
Sir Edwin Bramall
Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff
1979–1981
Succeeded by
Sir David Evans
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