Valentine Blomfield

Major-General Valentine Blomfield CB, DSO (29 March 1898 – 11 January 1980) was a British Army officer.

Valentine Blomfield
Blomfield as Colonel of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment in 1959.
Born29 March 1898
Died11 January 1980 (aged 81)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1916−1954
RankMajor-General
Service number13747
UnitBorder Regiment
King's Own Royal Border Regiment
Commands held71st Infantry Brigade
42nd (Lancashire) Division
Battles/warsFirst World War
Waziristan campaign
Second World War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in dispatches (2)
RelationsDavid Blomfield (son)

Military career

Blomfield entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he was commissioned into the Border Regiment on 7 April 1916.[1] He saw action during the Western Front during the First World War and was the deployed to India during Waziristan campaign.[2]

Remaining in the army during the interwar period, he attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1934 to 1935.[3] Following this, he was appointed as a Staff Captain with the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division, a Territorial Army (TA) formation, from June 1936.[4] On 1 August 1938 he was promoted to major.[5]

He was deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force in September 1939 during the Second World War.[2] After being promoted to the local rank of brigadier on 16 March 1942,[6] he served at the War Office in London, where he was Deputy Director of Staff Duties until December 1943.[6] After this, he later served as commander of 71st Infantry Brigade, part of the 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division, in France during the Battle of Normandy in the summer of 1944, for which he was appointed a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order.[7] He continued to command the brigade until September 1944 when he was wounded. On 1 August 1945 he was promoted to the local rank of major-general.[8][6]

After being appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1947 New Year Honours[9] he became Director of Personal Services at the War Office in September 1947 and General Officer Commanding 42nd (Lancashire) Division in October 1950 before retiring in December 1953.[10]

He was honorary colonel of the Border Regiment from 1952 to 1959[11] and then honorary colonel of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment from 1959 to 1961.[12]

References
  1. "No. 29537". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 April 1916. p. 3684.
  2. "Major-General V. Blomfield, Border Regiment". DNW. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  3. "No. 34017". The London Gazette. 23 January 1934. p. 541.
  4. "No. 34302". The London Gazette. 7 July 1936. p. 4315.
  5. "No. 34538". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 August 1938. p. 5024.
  6. "Biography of Major-General Valentine Blomfield (1898 – 1980), Great Britain". generals.dk.
  7. "No. 36917". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 January 1945. p. 678.
  8. "No. 37239". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 August 1945. p. 4319.
  9. "No. 37835". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1946. p. 3.
  10. "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  11. "The Border Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 27 February 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  12. "The King's Own Royal Border Regiment". regiment.org. Archived from the original on 23 February 2007. Retrieved 18 October 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
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