Sir John Whitaker, 2nd Baronet

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Sir John Albert Charles Whitaker, 2nd Baronet
Nickname(s)"Jack"
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Mentioned in dispatches
(2)

CB (5 March 1897 – 5 October 1957 was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War and the Second World War
.

Military career

Born the son of Sir Albert Edward Whitaker, 1st Baronet and educated at Eton College[2] and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Whitaker was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards of the British Army on 12 May 1915 during the First World War.[3][1] His service during the war was on the Western Front with the third battalion, where he was wounded in April 1918 during the German spring offensive[4] and taken prisoner by the enemy.[5]

After being repatriated, he was married in 1923 to Pamela Lucy Mary Snowden, the daughter of Herbert Guy Snowden and Florence Mary Hankey.

7th Infantry Brigade (Guards) in late 1938, receiving a promotion to brigadier at the relatively young age (in peacetime, where promotion was slow) of 41.[6][1][7]

He was deployed to France with his brigade as part of the 3rd Infantry Division in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at the start of the Second World War in late 1939.[1]

Following the Battle of France and the subsequent Dunkirk evacuation, the 3rd Division was placed on Home Defence duties and Whitaker briefly served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 3rd Division from 22 to 25 July 1940.[8] After serving as a Brigadier General Staff (BGS) with Western Command from August 1940, he went on to be Director of Military Training at the War Office in London in March 1942.[6] His new appointment was followed by a promotion, to the acting rank of major-general, on 9 March 1942.[9] This was made temporary a year later.[10] He left his post at the War Office at the end of the war and retired from the army in 1946, after over thirty years of service.[6] He became a Deputy lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in October 1946[11] and High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire in 1950.[12]

Whitaker was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1944 Birthday Honours.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Smart 2005, p. 331.
  2. ^ Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
  3. ^ "No. 29159". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 May 1915. p. 4538.
  4. – via Google Books.
  5. ^ "List Of British Officers Taken Prisoner In The Various Theatres Of War Between Aug 1914 And November 1918. Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards And Irish Guards". ww1photos.com.
  6. ^ a b c "Whitaker, John Albert Charles". Generals.dk. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  7. ^ "No. 34570". The London Gazette. 15 November 1938. p. 7190.
  8. ., p. 43
  9. ^ "No. 35485". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 March 1942. p. 1157.
  10. ^ "No. 35957". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 March 1943. p. 1460.
  11. ^ "No. 37768". The London Gazette. 25 October 1946. p. 5263.
  12. ^ "No. 38878". The London Gazette. 4 April 1950. p. 1666.
  13. ^ "No. 36544". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1944. p. 2567.

Bibliography

  • Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. .

External links

Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Albert Edward Whitaker
Baronet
(of Babworth)
1945–1957
Succeeded by
James Herbert Ingham Whitaker