Charles Deedes

General Sir Charles Parker Deedes, KCB, CMG, DSO (9 August 1879 – 9 March 1969) was a senior British Army officer who went on to be Military Secretary.

Sir Charles Deedes
Born9 August 1879
Died9 March 1969 (aged 89)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1899–1937
RankGeneral
Service number854[1]
UnitKing's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry
Commands held3rd Infantry Brigade
53rd (Welsh) Division
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

Early life

Deedes was born at Nether Broughton, Leicestershire, the son of the Revd Philip Deedes and educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[2]

Military career

Deedes was commissioned into the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry as a second lieutenant in February 1899, and promoted to lieutenant on 9 October 1899.[3] He served in the 2nd battalion, which was transferred to South Africa following the outbreak of the Second Boer War that month.[4][5] For his service in the war, he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in the October 1902 South African honours list.[6] After the war ended in June 1902, he returned to regular service with his regiment,[7] and transferred with the battalion to Malta, for which he left Point Natal on the SS Staffordshire in October.[8]

He also served in World War I initially as a General Staff Officer at the General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force and then from 1916 with 14th Army Corps and from 1917 as a General Staff Officer with 2nd Division in France.[5]

After the War he was appointed Deputy Director of Staff Duties at the War Office.[5] In 1926 he became Commander of 3rd Infantry Brigade and in 1928 he was made General Officer Commanding 53rd (Welsh) Division.[5] He became Director of Personal Services at the War Office in 1930 and Military Secretary in 1934.[5]

He retired in 1937.[5] He was promoted to general and held the colonelcy of the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry from 1927 to 1947.[9]

During World War II he was an Area Commander for the Home Guard.[5]

Family

He married Eve Mary Dean-Pitt and they went on to have a son (Major-General Charles Julius Deedes) and a daughter, Mary Josephine Deedes.[10]

References
  1. "No. 37678". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 August 1946. p. 4013.
  2. Creagh, Sir O'Moore (1923). "The VC and DSO". Naval and Military Press. p. 310. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  3. "No. 27160". The London Gazette. 2 February 1900. p. 694.
  4. Hart′s Army list, 1903
  5. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  6. "No. 27490". The London Gazette. 31 October 1902. p. 6903.
  7. "No. 27494". The London Gazette. 11 November 1902. p. 7167.
  8. "The Army in South Africa – Movements of Troops". The Times. No. 36896. London. 11 October 1902. p. 10.
  9. "The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 18 December 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. "Sir Charles Parker Deedes". The Peerage.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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