John Nelson (British Army officer)
Major General Sir Eustace John Blois Nelson, KCVO, CB, DSO, OBE, MC (15 June 1912 – 23 December 1993) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards during the Second World War and later served as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin.
Sir John Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Eustace John Blois Nelson |
| Born | 15 June 1912[1] Shenley, Hertfordshire, England |
| Died | 23 December 1993 (aged 81) Oban, Argyll and Bute, Scotland |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/ | British Army |
| Years of service | 1933–1968 |
| Rank | Major General |
| Service number | 53116 |
| Unit | Grenadier Guards |
| Commands held | British Forces in Berlin London District 4th Guards Brigade Group 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards 1st Guards Parachute Battalion 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards |
| Battles/wars | Second World War |
| Awards | Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order Officer of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross |
Military career
Nelson was born in Hertfordshire, the son of barrister Roland Nelson and Hyla Letitia Grace, sixth daughter of Sir John Ralph Blois, 8th Baronet.[1] He was educated at West Downs School[2] and Eton College,[3] Nelson entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Grenadier Guards in 1933.[4]
He served in the Second World War, latterly as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards during the Italian Campaign.[4]
After the war he became CO of the 1st Guards Parachute Battalion in Palestine, before transferring to the War Office as a General Staff Officer (GSO) in 1948.[4] He was CO of the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards in Tripoli from 1950 until 1952, when he became a GSO at London District.[4] In 1954 he joined the British military staff in Washington, D.C. and in 1959 he commanded the 4th Guards Brigade Group in Germany.[4] He was made Major-General commanding the Household Brigade and General Officer Commanding (GOC) London District in 1962 and Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1966.[4] He retired from the British Army in 1968.[4]
Following his death in 1993, a memorial service was held at Wellington Barracks, London.[5]
Family
He married Lady Margaret Jane Fitzroy, granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Grafton, who was granted the rank of a duke's daughter in 1936.[6] In 1999, their elder daughter, Jennifer Forwood, received the title of Baroness Arlington, which had been abeyant since the death of Nelson's brother-in-law the 9th Duke of Grafton in 1936.[7] Their second daughter, Juliet Auriol Sally Nelson, married Captain Sir Montague John Cholmeley, 6th Bt.[6]
References
- Burke, Sir Bernard, ed. (1939). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (97th ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 316. ISBN 0-00-082331-7.
- Old West Downs Society
- Charmian Brinson; Richard Dove (2003). "Stimme Der Wahrheit": German-language Broadcasting by the BBC. Rodopi. p. 208. ISBN 90-420-0978-0.
- Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
- Court Circular The Independent, 22 April 1994
- Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 1619. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
- "The Barony of Arlington (Hansard, 27 May 1999)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 27 May 1999. Retrieved 13 February 2016.
Further reading
- Durie, William (2012). The British Garrison Berlin 1945 – 1994: nowhere to go ... a pictorial historiography of the British Military occupation / presence in Berlin. Berlin: Vergangenheitsverlag (de). ISBN 978-3-86408-068-5. OCLC 978161722.