Anthony Farrar-Hockley

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Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley
Mentioned in Despatches (2)
Alma materExeter College, Oxford
Spouse(s)
  • Margaret Bernadette Wells
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1945; died 1981)​
  • Linda Wood
    ​
    (m. 1983)​
Children3 including
the Queen

Military historian

Second World War.[1]

Personal life

Anthony Farrar-Hockley was born in

Italy and Southern France. Later he won the Military Cross (MC) in 1944 while fighting the communist rebellion in Athens during the Greek Civil War.[1][3]

On 7 July 1945 in St Peter's Church, Ealing,[4] Farrar-Hockley married Margaret Bernadette Wells with whom he had three sons (two of whom survive). His first wife died in 1981 and he married Linda Wood in 1983. Following in father's footsteps his elder son Charles Dair Farrar-Hockley also won an MC fighting with the Parachute Regiment in the Falklands War.

During his mid-career Farrar-Hockley was carrying out research and publishing. He established a reputation as an authority on the

Oxford University.[2][5]

Military career

At the outbreak of the

Second World War in September 1939, at the age of 15, Farrar-Hockley ran away from school and enlisted in the ranks with the Gloucestershire Regiment. After the discovery of his age he was discharged. In 1941 he enlisted again and was posted to the 70th (Young Soldiers) Battalion, Glosters. In November 1942 he was commissioned and posted to the new 1st Airborne Division seeing action with the Parachute Regiment in Italy, France and Greece. He was still only 20 in 1944 when he was given command of a company in the 6th (Royal Welch) Parachute Battalion and later won a Military Cross in Greece whilst resisting the communist rebellion in Athens.[1][2]

After post-war service with the Gloucestershire Regiment, having gained a permanent commission in that regiment in April 1945,[3] in Palestine during the Palestine Emergency, Farrar-Hockley fought in the Korean War, still with the Glosters as adjutant. He provided inspiring leadership during the Battle of the Imjin River and fight for Hill 235. "A" Company had undergone lengthy attack, taken severe officer casualties and was struggling. Farrar-Hockley volunteered to reinforce the company and his presence had an immediate effect. The company were able to retrench and hold on for some time. Nevertheless, they became surrounded, ran out of ammunition, and after hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets were ordered to withdraw. Farrar-Hockley organised an orderly withdrawal but as one of the last to leave the position he was captured. The Glosters became known as the Glorious Glosters and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, although he was a captain and the DSO was usually reserved for more senior ranks.[1] His citation stated:

Throughout this desperate engagement on which the ability of the Battalion to hold its position entirely depended, Captain Farrar-Hockley was an inspiration to the defenders. His outstanding gallantry, fighting spirit and great powers of leadership heartened his men and welded them into an indomitable team. His conduct could not have been surpassed.[2]

Farrar-Hockley spent two years as a

mentioned in despatches for his conduct. After active service in the Cyprus Emergency (1956), Egypt (1956) and Jordan (1958), he spent some time at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
as chief instructor (1959–1961)

In 1962 Farrar-Hockley took command of

the Persian Gulf. While there possibly the greatest feat of arms of his career took place in 1964 during the Aden Emergency when his battalion captured a stronghold held by nationalist and tribesmen in the Radfan mountains of north of Aden at Wadi Dhubsan. For this action Farrar-Hockley was awarded a Bar to his DSO.[1][2]

In 1965 Farrar-Hockley was posted as Chief of Staff to the Director of Operations in Borneo in the Far East. Indonesia under President Sukarno was confronting Malaysia. Secret and unattributable cross-border operations which Farrar-Hockley helped to organise on Indonesian territory helped bring the ill-judged military confrontation to an end.[5]

After commanding (1966–1968) the

BAOR (1971–1973) before returning to the Ministry of Defence where he was put in charge of Combat Development for the Army.[1][2]

After a period as

General Officer Commanding South East District (1977–1979), Farrar-Hockley was appointed commander in chief of Nato's Allied Forces Northern Europe. He held this appointment until his retirement from the army in 1982.[2]

Later life

Other positions held by Farrar-Hockley included:

Colonel-Commandant of the Prince of Wales's Division
(1974–1980) and of the Parachute Regiment (1977–1983). He was colonel of his Gloucestershire Regiment 1978–1984.

During his retirement Farrar-Hockley carried out historical research and published campaign histories and biographies, he acted as a consultant and was a frequent pundit in the newspapers and on television and radio. He commanded the French at Waterloo in an episode of the brief TV series A Game of War in 1997.

Farrar-Hockley is known to have been a target for the IRA after his name was found on an hitlist in the 1980s. In 1990, his 5-year-old grandson found a bomb attached to a hose in his garden. The bomb failed to explode.[1]

Farrar-Hockley declared to The Guardian that a secret arms network was established in Britain after the war, but refused to say if it still existed. He aroused controversy in 1983 when he became involved trying to organise a campaign for a new home guard against possible Soviet invasion and in 1990, following Italian Prime minister Giulio Andreotti's October 1990 revelations concerning Operation Gladio, a NATO stay-behind network, he revealed that the armed anti-communist secret resistance network across western European had involved Britain.[1][6]

His honours included: Mentioned in despatches 1943, MC 1944, DSO 1953, Mentioned in despatches 1954,

GBE 1982.[7]

Works

From British Library catalogue (October 2006).

By himself

With others

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Dan van der Vat (15 March 2006). "Obituary: General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley". The Guardian.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g The Telegraph Obituary:Gen Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley. 14 March 2006.
  3. ^ a b c "British Army officer histories". Unit Histories. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  4. ^ Goldman, L. (ed.) 'Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008', Oxford, 2013
  5. ^ a b The Times. Obituary: General Sir Anthony Farrar-Hockley
  6. ^ "Secret Italian Unit 'trained in Britain'" in The Guardian, 17 November 1990
  7. ^ Who's Who 2006.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by GOC 4th Division
1971–1973 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC South East District
1977–1979 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Colonel of the Gloucestershire Regiment
1978–1984 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by C-in-C Allied Forces Northern Europe
1979–1982 		Succeeded by
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