Ernest Down

Lieutenant General Sir Ernest Edward Down, KBE, CB (10 February 1902 – 15 February 1980) was a senior officer of the British Army, who saw active service during the Second World War.

Sir Ernest Down
King George VI (centre) with Major General George Hopkinson (left) and Brigadier Ernest Down during a visit to Bulford, Wiltshire, April 1943.
Born(1902-02-10)10 February 1902
Cornwall, England[1]
Died15 February 1980(1980-02-15) (aged 78)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1923–1955
RankLieutenant General
Service number23809
UnitDorset Regiment
Commands heldSouthern Command (1952–55)
53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division (1950–52)
British Troops in Greece (1947–48)
4th Infantry Division (1946)
2nd Indian Airborne Division (1945–46)
44th Indian Airborne Division (1944–45)
9th Indian Airborne Division (1943–44)
1st Airborne Division (1943)
2nd Parachute Brigade (1942–43)
1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment (1941–42)
No. 11 Special Air Service Battalion (1941)
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath

Military career

Ernest Down was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Dorset Regiment in February 1923.[2]

Down served in the Second World War, attending a short course at the Staff College, Camberley in 1940,[3] being appointed commander of the 2nd Parachute Brigade, then serving in North Africa in 1942.[4] He went on to be General Officer Commanding (GOC) 1st Airborne Division, taking over from Major General George Hopkinson who had been killed in action in September 1943, in the early stages of the Allied invasion of Italy.[4] He was then GOC of the 9th Indian Airborne Division, which itself became the 44th Indian Airborne Division in 1944 and GOC of 2nd Indian Airborne Division in 1945.[4]

After the war, on 26 September 1946, Down was appointed GOC of the 4th Infantry Division in Greece. In 1947, after the division had been disbanded, he became GOC of all British Troops in Greece. Then in 1948, he became head of the British Military Mission to Greece.[5][6] Returning to the United Kingdom, he was appointed District Officer Commanding Mid-West District and GOC 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division in 1950 and GOC-in Chief of Southern Command in 1952, a post from which he retired in 1955.[4]

Down was also Colonel of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry from 1955 to 1957.[7]

References
  1. Dover 1981, p. 83.
  2. "No. 32792". The London Gazette. 2 February 1923. p. 807.
  3. Dover 1981, p. 85.
  4. "Down, Ernest". Generals.dk. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
  5. "No. 37746". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 October 1946. p. 4933.
  6. "Obituary: Lieut-General Sir Ernest Down". The Times. 22 February 1980. p. 16. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  7. "Succession of Colonels 1755 – 1963". British Armed Forces. Archived from the original on 20 July 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2016.

Bibliography
  • Dover, Major Victor (1981). The Sky Generals. Cassell. ISBN 0-304-30480-8.
  • Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
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