Henry Pownall

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Sir Henry Pownall
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Pownall, 1941.
Born(1887-11-19)19 November 1887
London, England
Died10 June 1961(1961-06-10) (aged 73)
London, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1906–1945
RankLieutenant-General
Service number3553
UnitRoyal Field Artillery
Royal Artillery
Commands
Battles / wars
Awards
Relations
(brother)

Louis Mountbatten
in South East Asia in 1943–1944.

Early career

Henry Royds Pownall was born in London on 19 November 1887, the second son of Charles Assheton Whately Pownall and his wife, Dora Bourne Royds. His brother was Sir Assheton Pownall and his Grandfather The Ven. Assheton Pownall Archdeacon of Leicester. His father Charles Pownall was a consulting engineer with the Japanese railways, and Pownall lived in Japan from when he was three until he was eight years old. He received his education at Rugby School and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery on 20 December 1906.[2] He began his military service with the Royal Horse Artillery, where he was stationed at Lucknow with U Battery.[3] He was promoted to lieutenant on 20 December 1909.[4]

First World War

During the

mentioned in despatches,[8][9] and awarded the Distinguished Service Order on 1 January 1918.[10]

Interbellum

On 10 December 1918, Pownall married Lucy Louttit, the widow of Captain John Gray, a

siege of Kut Al Amara in 1916.[1] They had no children, but he acquired a stepson, Willoughby Gray, through his marriage.[11]

Pownall attended the

operations on the north west frontier of India through 1931,[1] for which he was mentioned in despatches a third time,[15] and awarded a bar to his Distinguished Service Order.[16]

Pownall attended the Imperial Defence College in 1932, and, following this, he held a series of staff appointments, serving as the Military Assistant Secretary for the Committee of Imperial Defence from 1933 to 1935, then as Deputy Secretary for the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1936.[13][12] His rank of lieutenant-colonel became substantive on 31 January 1935,[17] and he was promoted to colonel on 1 May 1935, with his seniority backdated to 1 January 1932.[18] From 1936 to 1938,[12] he was Commandant of the Royal School of Artillery, with the rank of brigadier from 15 September 1936.[19] As the threat of war grew, he was Director of Military Operations and Intelligence in the War Office from 1938 to 1939.[12][13] He was promoted to major-general on 26 March 1938.[20]

Second World War

Pownall (right) and Lord Gort study a map at GHQ in the Chateau at Habarcq, 26 November 1939

Britain entered the war on 3 September 1939, and the following day Pownall was appointed Chief of General Staff of the

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 11 July 1940,[23] and again mentioned in despatches.[24][25][26]

Pownall then assumed the position of inspector general for the recently created

Alan Brooke. Whereupon Nye was appointed VCIGS.[27]

Pownall became commander-in-chief of the

Archibald Wavell.[12] His rank of lieutenant-general became substantive on 17 January 1942.[28] For this service, he was mentioned in despatches once more,[29] and he was made a Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.[30]

Pownall arrives at Singapore to take up his appointment as C-in-C Far East, December 1941.

After ABDACOM was dissolved in February 1942, Pownall assumed the role of

kidney stone on 12 August 1944 and did not return to duty until October. Mountbatten had doubts about Pownall's health and asked for a replacement. He handed over to Lieutenant-General Frederick Browning in December 1944.[31]

Pownall was made a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1945 New Year Honours on 1 January 1945,[32] but never held another command. He retired from the British Army on 8 September 1945.[33]

Post war

After the war, Pownall was chairman of

Order of St John in 1951. He served as a military consultant on the writing of Churchill's The Second World War from 1948 to 1954.[13]

Pownall died in London on 10 June 1961, aged 73.[1] His papers are in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.[13]

Notes

  1. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35597. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ^ "No. 27986". The London Gazette. 15 January 1907. p. 326.
  3. ^ Hart 1911, p. 229.
  4. ^ Hart 1911, p. 213.
  5. ^ "No. 28960". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 30 October 1914. p. 8862.
  6. ^ "No. 28960". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 30 October 1914. p. 8862.
  7. ^ British Army List. 1922. p. 581. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  8. ^ "No. 30077". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 18 May 1917. p. 4871.
  9. ^ "No. 30421". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 7 December 1917. p. 12919.
  10. ^ "No. 30450". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 28 December 1917. p. 25.
  11. ^ Bond 1972, p. ix.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h Smart 2005, pp. 254–255.
  13. ^ a b c d e "Pownall, Lt Gen Sir Henry Royds (1887-1961)". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  14. ^ "No. 33344". The London Gazette. 3 January 1928. p. 45.
  15. ^ "No. 33823". The London Gazette. 6 May 1932. p. 2959.
  16. ^ "No. 33823". The London Gazette. 6 May 1932. p. 2958.
  17. ^ "No. 34129". The London Gazette. 1 February 1935. p. 769.
  18. ^ "No. 34161". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 17 May 1935. p. 3220.
  19. ^ "No. 34324". The London Gazette. 18 September 1936. p. 6005.
  20. ^ "No. 34497". The London Gazette. 29 March 1938. p. 2087.
  21. ^ Mead 2007, p. 359.
  22. ^ "No. 34680". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 12 September 1939. p. 6239.
  23. ^ "No. 34893". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 October 1941. p. 4247.
  24. ^ "No. 35305". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 October 1941. p. 5900.
  25. ^ "No. 35305". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 October 1941. p. 5911.
  26. ^ "No. 35305". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 October 1941. p. 5933.
  27. ^ Mead 2007, p. 361.
  28. ^ "No. 35509". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 31 March 1942. p. 1497.
  29. ^ "No. 35807". The London Gazette. 1 December 1942. p. 5258.
  30. ^ "No. 35863". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 12 January 1943. p. 323.
  31. ^ Mead 2007, p. 364.
  32. ^ "No. 36866". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 January 1945. p. 3.
  33. ^ "No. 37254". The London Gazette (1st supplement). 10 January 1945. p. 4470.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Pownall.
Military offices
Preceded by Commandant of the School of Artillery, Larkhill
1936–1938 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Director of Military Operations and Intelligence
1938–1939 		Succeeded by
Richard Dewing
(as Director of Military Operations)
Frederick Beaumont-Nesbitt
(as Director of Military Intelligence)
Preceded by Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff
May 1941 – December 1941 		Succeeded by
Preceded by C-in-C Far East Command
1941–1942 		Post disestablished
Command absorbed by ABDACOM
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