John Nelson (British Army officer)
Sir John Nelson | |
---|---|
Birth name | Eustace John Blois Nelson |
Born | [1] Shenley, Hertfordshire, England | 15 June 1912
Died | 23 December 1993 Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland | (aged 81)
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1933–1968 |
Rank | Major General |
Service number | 53116 |
Unit | Grenadier Guards |
Commands | British Forces in Berlin London District 4th Guards Brigade Group 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards 1st Guards Parachute Battalion 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards |
Battles/wars | Second World War Palestine Emergency |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Officer of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross |
Major General Sir Eustace John Blois Nelson, KCVO, CB, DSO, OBE, MC (15 June 1912 – 23 December 1993) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards during the Second World War and later served as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin.
Military career
[edit]Nelson was born in Hertfordshire, the son of barrister Roland Nelson and Hyla Letitia Grace, sixth daughter of Sir John Ralph Blois, 8th Baronet.[1] He was educated at West Downs School[2] and Eton College,[3] Nelson entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Grenadier Guards in 1933.[4][5]
He served in the Second World War, latterly as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards during the Italian Campaign.[4]
After the war he became CO of the 1st Guards Parachute Battalion in Palestine, before transferring to the War Office as a General Staff Officer (GSO) in 1948.[4] He was CO of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards in Tripoli from 1950 until 1952, when he became a GSO at London District.[4] In 1954 he joined the British military staff in Washington, D.C. and in 1959 he commanded the 4th Guards Brigade Group in Germany.[4] He was made Major-General commanding the Household Brigade and General Officer Commanding (GOC) London District in 1962 and Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1966.[4] He retired from the British Army in 1968.[4]
Following his death in 1993, a memorial service was held at Wellington Barracks, London.[6]
Family
[edit]He married Lady Margaret Jane Fitzroy, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Grafton, who was granted the rank of a duke's daughter in 1936.[7] In 1999, their elder daughter, Jennifer Forwood, received the title of Baroness Arlington, which had been abeyant since the death of Nelson's brother-in-law the 9th Duke of Grafton in 1936.[8] Their second daughter, Juliet Auriol Sally Nelson, married Captain Sir Montague John Cholmeley, 6th Bt.[7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1939). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (97th ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 316. ISBN 0-00-082331-7.
- ^ Old West Downs Society
- ^ Charmian Brinson; Richard Dove (2003). "Stimme Der Wahrheit": German-language Broadcasting by the BBC. Rodopi. p. 208. ISBN 90-420-0978-0.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Nelson, John". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 5 February 2011.
- ^ "No. 33974". The London Gazette. 1 September 1933. p. 5732.
- ^ Court Circular The Independent, 22 April 1994
- ^ a b Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 1619. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
- ^ "The Barony of Arlington (Hansard, 27 May 1999)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 27 May 1999. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
Further reading
[edit]- Durie, William (2012). The British Garrison Berlin 1945 – 1994: nowhere to go ... a pictorial historiography of the British Military occupation / presence in Berlin. Berlin: Vergangenheitsverlag (de). ISBN 978-3-86408-068-5. OCLC 978161722.
- 1912 births
- 1993 deaths
- People educated at West Downs School
- People educated at Eton College
- Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- Recipients of the Military Cross
- British Army major generals
- British Army personnel of World War II
- British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency
- Grenadier Guards officers
- Military personnel from Hertfordshire
- People from Shenley