Francis Nosworthy

Lieutenant General Sir Francis Poitiers Nosworthy, KCB, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar (21 September 1887 – 9 July 1971) was a British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command during the Second World War.

Sir Francis Nosworthy
Born(1887-09-21)21 September 1887
Jamaica[1]
Died9 July 1971(1971-07-09) (aged 83)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1907–1945
RankLieutenant General
Service number4180
UnitRoyal Engineers
Commands heldWest Africa Command (1943–45)
IX Corps (1942)
IV Corps (1940–41)
5th Infantry Brigade (1935–38)
Battles/warsFirst World War
Third Anglo-Afghan War
Second World War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order & Bar
Military Cross & Bar
Mentioned in Despatches
Croix de Guerre (France)

Military career

Educated at Exeter School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Nosworthy was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907.[2] He took part in the Abor and Mishmi expedition to India in 1912 and served in the First World War as a General Staff Officer in France.[2] After taking part in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, he attended the Staff College, Quetta from 1919 to 1920, and was appointed second-in-command of the Sudan Defence Force in 1926, followed by attendance at the Imperial Defence College in 1931, he commanded the 5th Infantry Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1935 and became Deputy Chief of the General Staff at Army Headquarters in India in 1938.[2]

Nosworthy served in the Second World War becoming General Officer Commanding (GOC) IV Corps from May 1940, receiving a promotion to lieutenant-general.[3] After the Norwegian campaign ended, the corps commanded most of the armoured reserves preparing to face the proposed German invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion), while the other corps headquarters that had been evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo was reorganised. Under Nosworthy's command IV Corps was envisaged as a counter-attack force.[4] He continued as GOC IX Corps in Tunisia from 1942 and as Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command from 1943.[2] He retired in February 1945.[5]

References
  1. Smart 2005, p. 236.
  2. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  3. "No. 34886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 June 1940. p. 4003.
  4. Bryant: Alanbrooke diary 18 September 1940
  5. British Military History

Bibliography
  • Alanbrooke, Field Marshal Lord (2001). Danchev, Alex; Todman, Daniel (eds.). War Diaries 1939–1945. Phoenix Press. ISBN 1-84212-526-5.
  • Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
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