Bertie Fisher

Lieutenant General Sir Bertie Drew Burdett Fisher, KCB, CMG, DSO (13 July 1878 24 July 1972) was a British Army general during the Second World War.

Sir Bertie Fisher
Born(1878-07-13)13 July 1878
Died24 July 1972(1972-07-24) (aged 94)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1900−1938
1939−1940
RankLieutenant General
Service number6400[1]
Unit17th Lancers
17th/21st Lancers
Commands heldLeicestershire Yeomanry
8th Infantry Brigade
17th/21st Lancers
2nd Cavalry Brigade
Royal Military College, Sandhurst
Southern Command
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
World War I
World War II
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George
Distinguished Service Order

Military career

Fisher was commissioned into the 17th Lancers as second lieutenant on 23 May 1900,[2] and served in the Second Boer War, during which he was promoted to lieutenant on 29 July 1901.[3] Following the end of the war, he returned from Cape Town to England in the SS Maplemore in August 1902.[4]

He went to the Staff College in 1911.[2] In 1913 he learned to fly[5] and became a General Staff Officer in the Military Aeronautics Department at the War Office.[2]

He served in World War I initially as a brigade major in the 6th Cavalry Brigade, which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force[2] and then as a General Staff Officer in 1st Cavalry Division.[2] He was appointed commanding officer of the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1915 and the commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade in 1918.[2]

After the war, he was the commander of the 17th Lancers at the time of their amalgamation with the 21st Lancers in 1922.[2]

He took command of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in 1923 and was the commandant of the Senior Officer School in 1927.[2] He was then a Brigadier on the General Staff at Aldershot Command from 1930 and Director Recruiting and Organisation at the War Office from 1932.[2] He became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1934 and retired in 1938.[2]

He was recalled from retirement during the Second World War to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Southern Command from 1939 to 1940, when he retired again.[2]

He lived in Basingstoke in Hampshire.[6]

Family

He married Majorie Frances Boyd; they had two sons.[6]

References

  1. "No. 35418". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 January 1942. p. 273.
  2. "Fisher, Bertie Drew". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  3. "No. 27369". The London Gazette. 29 October 1901. p. 6982.
  4. "The Army in South Africa - Return of Troops". The Times. No. 36847. London. 15 August 1902. p. 4.
  5. The Royal Aero Club - Notices Flight Global, 6 September 1913
  6. Boyd Archived October 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

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