Sir John Smyth, 1st Baronet

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ronald Arthur Chamberlain
Succeeded byJohn Fraser
Personal details
Born
John George Smyth

(1893-10-24)24 October 1893
British India
Service / branchBritish Army
British Indian Army
Years of service1912–1942
RankBrigadier
Service number49726
Unit15th Ludhiana Sikhs
11th Sikh Regiment
Commands17th Indian Infantry Division
19th Indian Infantry Division
36th Indian Infantry Brigade
127th Infantry Brigade
Battles / wars
Awards
Other work
Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament. During WWII, he led a unit in France and during the evacuation of Dunkirk, and in the Burma campaign. Although a recipient of the Victoria Cross
, his military career ended in controversy.

Early life and education

Drawing of Lieutenant Smyth's VC action, from The War Illustrated, August 1915.

Smyth was born in 1893 in

City of York.[2]

Smyth was educated at Dragon School,[3] Repton, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[4]

Military career

After passing out from Sandhurst, Smyth was commissioned as a second lieutenant on the unattached list for the British Indian Army on 24 August 1912,[5] and was commissioned into the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs on 5 November 1913.[6] He was promoted to lieutenant on 24 November 1914, three months after the outbreak of the First World War.[7]

He was 21 years old, and a lieutenant in the 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, 3rd (Lahore) Division, Indian Army during the First World War, when his actions earned him the Victoria Cross (VC). In June 1915, Smyth was awarded the VC, the United Kingdom's highest award for bravery in combat. The citation for this award, published in the London Gazette read:[8]

For most conspicuous bravery near

machine-gun
and rifle fire.

As well as Smyth's VC, the Indian Distinguished Service Medal was posthumously awarded to the men killed during this incident.[9] Smyth was also awarded the Russian Order of St. George, Fourth Class, in 1915,[10] and was promoted to captain on 24 August 1916.[11]

Smyth continued his war service in Egypt and on the North-West Frontier.[4]

Between the wars

In September 1920, when brigade major of the 43rd Indian Brigade, Smyth was awarded the Military Cross (MC) for distinguished service in the field in Waziristan. The citation for this award, published in the London Gazette, read:[12]

For gallantry and initiative at Khajuri, Tochi Valley, on the 22nd October, 1919, when, having been sent forward from Idak to clear up the situation, his quick appreciation, dispositions and leadership averted a serious disaster and contributed largely towards the saving of a valuable convoy attacked by the enemy. He showed great gallantry under heavy fire, inspired his command, and brought the convoy safely to Idak.

In 1923, while serving in India, Smyth played two first-class cricket matches for the Europeans team.[13]

Returning to England, he attended the

Frederick Pile, Gordon Macready, Roderic Petre, Alastair MacDougall, Edmond Schreiber, Michael Gambier-Parry, Richard Dewing, Leslie Hill, Kenneth Loch, Douglas Pratt, Balfour Hutchison, Robert Pargiter, Robert Stone and Henry Verschoyle-Campbell along with Horace Robertson of the Australian Army and Harry Crerar and Georges Vanier of the Canadian Army.[4] Smyth received a brevet promotion to major on 1 January 1928, receiving the substantive promotion to major on 24 August 1929.[14][15] By this time, he was a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) with the 3rd Battalion, 11th Sikh Regiment, an appointment he vacated on 22 November 1929.[16] An early appointment as the Indian Army instructor at the Staff College, Camberley in 1930 further indicated that Smyth's career was on the fast track, borne out by his appointment as a GSO2 at the Staff College on 16 January 1931, with the local rank of lieutenant colonel.[17] He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1933, and relinquished his appointment at the Staff College on 16 January 1934.[18][19]

On 16 July 1936, Smyth was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel, an illustration of how rapidly his career had thus far progressed.[20] He managed to persuade General Lord Gort, then the Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) and a former instructor at the Staff College in the mid-1920s, as well as being another fellow VC recipient, to give him an undertaking that he would be given a brigade to command in the United Kingdom should hostilities break out.[21]

Second World War

Having managed to engineer leave from India to the United Kingdom in the summer of 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the

Major General Harry Willans, which had only recently been formed.[22]

In February 1940, after further lobbying, Smyth was appointed to command the 127th Infantry Brigade. His brigade major was Charles Phibbs Jones, later to become a full general. The brigade was one of three which formed part of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division, another TA formation, then commanded by Major General William Holmes, which from April he led in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).[22] After the evacuation from Dunkirk in late May, he continued to command the brigade in Britain until he was summoned to return to India in March 1941.[23] He was promoted to colonel on 23 December 1940.[24]

After briefly commanding

Sir Archibald Wavell was furious and sacked Smyth on the spot.[26]

There is also a degree of controversy about Smyth's behaviour as regards his health in this period. He had not recovered from surgery for an anal fistula, which must have caused him significant, and possibly distracting, discomfort, yet managed to be recommended as fit to stay in command by a medical board presided over by the senior doctor in his own division.[27]

Smyth received no further posts and returned to the United Kingdom to retire with the substantive rank of colonel and the honorary rank of brigadier.

Sittang River, thus permitting a strong defence line to be established. His recommendation was refused.[29]

Postwar career

Smyth went into politics and stood unsuccessfully against

privy counsellor in 1962.[31] He retired from Parliament at the 1966 general election
; as of 2015, he was the last VC recipient to sit in the Commons.

Smyth was also an author, a playwright, a journalist and a broadcaster. His two brothers were distinguished soldiers, one of whom also became a brigadier. He married twice: firstly Margaret Dundas on 22 July 1920, later dissolved, with whom he had three sons and a daughter; and then Frances Chambers on 12 April 1940. One of his sons, Captain John Lawrence Smyth of the 1st Battalion, Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), was killed on 7 May 1944, during the first attack on Jail Hill at the Battle of Kohima.

Smyth was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Imperial War Museum.

One of Brigadier Smyth's uniforms is on display at the armoury of the Artillery Company of Newport in Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Smyth was a cat lover and wrote three books on cats, Beloved Cats (Frederick Muller, 1963), Blue Magnolia (Frederick Muller, 1964) and Ming: The Story of a Cat Family (Frederick Muller, 1966).

Footnotes

  1. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63738. Retrieved 8 August 2020. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  2. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1
    .
  3. ^ "Skipper's spirit". The Old Dragon. Vol. 2017, no. 6. Dragon School. 2017. p. 25.
  4. ^ a b c Smart, p. 292
  5. ^ "No. 28638". The London Gazette. 23 August 1912. p. 6287.
  6. ^ "No. 28815". The London Gazette. 24 March 1914. p. 2548.
  7. ^ "No. 29086". The London Gazette. 2 March 1915. p. 2110.
  8. ^ "No. 29210". The London Gazette. 29 June 1915. p. 6269.
  9. ^ Dhulai, Sabki. "Brigadier Sir John Smyth, VC, MC". Newslaundry. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  10. ^ "No. 29275". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 August 1915. p. 8504.
  11. ^ "No. 30084". The London Gazette. 22 May 1917. p. 4946.
  12. ^ "No. 32064". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 September 1920. p. 9510.
  13. ^ "Brigadier Sir John Smyth". Cricinfo. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
  14. ^ "No. 33344". The London Gazette. 3 January 1928. p. 45.
  15. ^ "No. 33538". The London Gazette. 27 September 1929. p. 6169.
  16. ^ "No. 33577". The London Gazette. 7 February 1930. p. 801.
  17. ^ "No. 33683". The London Gazette. 23 January 1931. p. 535.
  18. ^ "No. 33955". The London Gazette. 30 June 1933. p. 4383.
  19. ^ "No. 34017". The London Gazette. 23 January 1934. p. 541.
  20. ^ "No. 34326". The London Gazette. 25 September 1936. p. 6141.
  21. ^ Mead (2007), p. 430
  22. ^ a b Mead, p. 430
  23. ^ Mead, p. 431
  24. ^ "No. 35216". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 July 1941. p. 3972.
  25. ^ "No. 35463". The London Gazette. 20 February 1942. p. 844.
  26. ^ Reminiscence by E.R.B. Hudson. "A Close View of the Disaster at the Sittang Bridge" (PDF). Michigan War Studies Review. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
  27. ^ James Lunt The Retreat from Burma 1941-42 (David & Charles, 1989) pp. 88, 119-121, 154-6, 278
  28. ^ Mead, p. 433
  29. ^ History of the Second World War (encyclopedic magazine), p. 876
  30. ^ "No. 40695". The London Gazette. 27 January 1956. p. 566.
  31. ^ "No. 42683". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 May 1962. p. 4307.

References

Bibliography
Military offices
New title GOC 19th Indian Infantry Division
October−December 1941 		Succeeded by
Preceded by GOC 17th Indian Infantry Division
1941−1942 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Ronald Arthur Chamberlain
 Member of Parliament for Norwood
1950–1966 		Succeeded by
John Fraser
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation
Baronet

(of Teignmouth)
1956–1983 		Succeeded by
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