NOTES OFFERED TO ME TO PUBLISH ON THIS WEBSITE. WRITTEN BY DAVID HALFORD FOR HIS OBITUARY. THANKS DAVID
These notes were written for non-military friends and family. The whole business of his rank changing all the time has been reflected as accurately as possible. Some of my sources gave conflicting dates of events, so I have guessed, or given alternatives.
His Paternal grandfather, Charles Augustus Drake Halford, fought with the Vth Dragoon Guards at the Charge of the Heavy Brigade in the Crimea.
His own father (Lt.-Colonel M.F. Halford) was a captain with part of the expedition to relieve Ladysmith (getting wounded at Spion Kop for his pains), serving under his future father-in-law (and my father's future maternal grandfather) Lieutenant-Colonel (later Brigadier-General) W.J.Kirkpatrick C.B. He (M.F.Halford) later commanded the 2nd Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment on the Ypres Salient in 1915/16, and the 1st Battalion after the war.
Brigadier-General W.J.Kirkpatrick was a major with the 2nd Battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment when the R.I.M.S. Warren Hastings sank at night on January 14th 1897, on rocks of Reunion Island, en route to Bombay, and appears to have been one of the key figures who ensured that no lives were lost. His report, quoted in full in the Y&L regimental history, makes interesting reading. I also heard from a family friend that the regiment's Sword of Honour was lost in the wreck, and although Queen Victoria wrote to commend the regiment for its success, she never replaced it.
So my father was third generation army. His own service record speaks for itself, and he saw action many times in more than 30 years in the army. You may have picked up one or two slight bits of misinformation from my uncle and brother. He was at Salerno, not Anzio, and although he captained Trinity College, Cambridge at hockey, he was never a blue.
I gather from a family friend that he ended up with the Hallamshires at the outbreak of war, rather than with the 1st Battalion in Narvik, Norway, because of a youthful indiscretion in 1938. He and a fellow subaltern gate-crashed a party to which they had not been invited, and Lt.-Colonel Bernard Wetherall (later General Sir Bernard Wetherall), who was his C.O., decided that he needed sobering up, so sent him off to the regimental depot in Sheffield (the 1st Y&L was in York at the time.) He was seconded to the Hallamshires in April 1939, and although he was invited to rejoin the st Battalion for the Norway Campaign he decided (my brother remembers hearing) that the plan was deeply flawed, and that he was better off with the Hallamshires. This led to Dunkirk, and on …
Maybe this is a chance to sound a threnody for the demise of one of our great county regiment (the York and Lancaster were disbanded on 14 December 1968, and for the dismantling of this whole system over the last few years.
MICHAEL CHARLES KIRKPATRICK HALFORD
|
YEARS |
RANK |
ACTIVITIES |
| 1927-32 |
Wellington College, Crowthorne, Berkshire | |
| 1932 |
2nd Lieutenant | Commission in the Royal Guernsey Militia |
| 1932-35 | Trinity College, Cambridge: graduated with a BA (Hons) in Maths and Modern Languages (German and French). Captained Trinity College Hockey Team in 1935 | |
| 30/08/34
- 31/08/35 |
2nd
Lieutenant: York and Lancaster Regiment |
His actual commission was on 31/08/35, but was ante-dated to 30/08/34 for seniority purposes. |
| 1936 | Egypt/Palestine (with the 1st Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment) during Arab rebellion/revolt. First saw action 10th August in an ambush on Tiberias-Rosh Pinna road, when the privat soldier next to him had his head blown off. | |
| 08/12/36
- ?04/39 |
With
the 1st Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment, in York, England. |
|
| 30/08/37 |
Lieutenant |
|
| 02/09/39
- 01/12/39 |
Acting
Captain |
Adjutant
of the newly formed 6th (TA) Battalion, the Hallamshire Regt.. |
| 20/04/39
- 14/09/40 |
Temporary
Adjutant TA (? with 6th Hallamshires throught whole period.) |
|
| 26/04/40
- 02/06/40 |
46th
Division in Northern France and retreat to Dunkirk (with 6th Battalion
of the Hallamshires.) Involved with rearguard protecting the beachhead. |
|
| 02/12/39
- 13/01/41 |
Temporary
Captain |
January-April
1941 at Staff College, Camberley, England |
| 20/12/40 |
Mentioned
in dispatches for actions at Dunkirk |
|
| 26/05/41? |
Substantive
Captain |
|
| 26/05/41 |
Acting
Major |
202nd
Infantry Brigade |
| 04/12/41
- 18/09/42 |
GSO2
Junior Staff School at Brasenose College, Oxford |
|
| ?/1942 |
Admin
officer to (?unit) on (?) Tyneside |
|
| 17/01/43
- |
North
African campaign: Algeria and Tunisia. Brigade Major (?with 6th
Y&L., part of 138th Infantry Brigade/46th Division/V Corps.)
at defence of Medjez-el-Bab, recapture of Sedjenane, etc.. Lost
hearing in one ear permanently after driving over a land mine. |
|
| 17/09/42? |
Temporary
Major |
|
| 08/04/43
- 06/06/45?? |
Temporary
Major |
|
| 09/09/43
- ?03/44 |
Landings
at Salerno, Italy with 6th Y&L., part of 46th Div./X Corps and
then in Italian Campaign - part of 46th Div./X Corps and then in
Italian Campaign inc. crossing of the Volturno River, capture of
Monte Camino and attack on Monte Cedro, crossing of the Garigliano
River, etc.. |
|
| 03/44
- 8/44 |
US
Command and General Staff College, Fort Levenworth, Kansas, USA.
On 5th June 1944 the project set father's team was to plan an invasion
of France on the very same beaches used by the Allies the following
day. He never discovered whether it was a deliberate double bluff
for any prying eyes and ears, or complete coincidence. |
|
| 20/08/44 |
Mentioned
in dispatches for Italian Campaign |
|
| 09/44 |
Rejoins
Hallamshires for recapture of Le Havre, France, after which he took
over as 2nd in command of the battalion from John Mott. |
|
| 29/09/44 |
Attack
on Depot de Mendicite, Belgium |
|
| 10/44
- 5/45 |
Saw
action at Nieukerk, Holland, and subsequently at Roosendaal, Venio,
Nijmegen, Battle of the Rhineland, second battle of Arnhem, finally
liberating Utrecht on 7th May 1945. |
|
| 21/12/44 |
Awarded
M.B.E. presumably for Italian Campaign. |
|
| 07/03/45
- 06/06/45 |
Acting
Lt.-Colonel |
|
| 11/03/45 |
Assumes
command of Hallamshires, taking over from Lt.-Colonel Trevor Hart
Dyke |
|
| 07/06/45 |
War
substantive major |
|
| 07/06/45
- 20/11/46 |
Temporary
Lt.-Colonel |
|
| 22/08/45 |
Married
Pamela Joy Wright with whom he had three sons |
|
| 24/01/46 |
Awarded
the D.S.O. for his leadership of the battalion around Arnhem. "The
battalion did all the work and I got the D.S.O." is how father
described it. |
|
| 09/10/46
- 28/05/48 |
S.O.
to Chief of Staff, BAOR, Bad Oeynhausen, Niedersachsen, Germany |
|
| 30/08/47 |
Major |
|
| ?1948 |
Completed
short war course at RAF Staff College |
|
| 16/07/48
- 03/08/51 |
Instructor
at Royal Military College, Sandhurst, England |
|
| 10/51
- 06/52 |
Joint
Services Staff College, Latimer, England |
|
| 06/52-
10/52 |
?2nd
in command of 1st Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment, Braunschweig/Brunswick,
West Germany |
|
| 01/53
- 05/53 |
2nd
in command of 1st Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment, in
Khartoum, Sudan |
|
| 09/05/53
- 08/06/53 |
Local
Lt.-Colonel |
|
| 09/06/53
- 19/10/54 |
Temporary
Lt.-Colonel |
|
| 05/53
- 09/54 |
GSO1
(Intelligence), Hong Kong |
|
| ?10/54
- ?55 |
C.O.
of 1st Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment in the Canal Zone
(?Fayid, Egypt.) |
|
| 20/10/54 |
Substantive
Lt.-Colonel |
|
| 1956 |
Led
the 1st Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment in the Suez Crisis,
in the invasion of Port Said, Egypt. Involved the ceasefire/truce
negotiations |
|
| 15/05/57
- 15/01/59 |
Instructor
at the Imperial Defence College, going on study tours to Africa
(1957) and the USA and Canada (1958) |
|
| 01/06/57 |
Awarded
the O.B.E. (?for Suez) |
|
| 16/02/59 |
Colonel |
|
| 02/59
- 07/60 |
Brigade
Colonel, Yorkshire Brigade in Strensall, England |
|
| 23/07/60 |
Temporary
Brigadier |
|
| 27/07/60
- 30/06/63 |
C.O.
147th Infantry Brigade (TA), Birmingham, England (07/61 - 07/63)
(and also in Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire from 07/60 - 07/61) |
|
| 16/02/63 |
Brigadier |
|
| 01/07/63
- 09/12/64 |
Chief
of Staff, H.Q. Western Command, Chester, England |
|
| ?1964 |
Seconded
for 3 months to do a report on the defence preparedness of defences
in the Radfan area of Aden (and also travelled to Oman.) |
|
| 17/02/64
- 01/01/65 |
Temporary
Major-General |
|
| 15/12/64
- ?/02/67 |
G.O.C.
43rd Wessex Division (T.A.), Taunton, England |
|
| 01/02/65
- ?/02/67 |
Major-General |
|
| 1966
- 1979 |
Representative
Colonel, York and Lancaster Regiment. |
|
| 02/67 |
Offered
the job of Chief-of-Staff, Far East Command, Singapore, but decides
for a number or reasons to retire. |
|
| 14/12/68 |
Disbandment
of the York and Lancaster Regiment (the successor to the 65th (formed
in 1758) and 84th Regiments of Foot.) |
|
| 1967
onwards |
Regional
secretary of the British Field Sports Society until the late 1970s,
and involvement with the Royal British Legion until his death. |
|
| 1975
- ? |
Deputy
Lieutenant of Hampshire |
|
| 04/01/1999 |
Died
after a short illness, aged 84. He is survived by his widow and
two of his three sons. |
|