Sir John Evetts
Nickname(s)"Jack"[1]
Born30 June 1891
Naini Tal, West Bengal, India
Died21 December 1988 (aged 97)[2]
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Buried
Kemerton, Worcestershire, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1911–1946
RankLieutenant General
Service number4551
UnitCameronians
Machine Gun Corps
Royal Ulster Rifles
Commands held1st Battalion, Royal Ulster Rifles
16th Infantry Brigade
6th Infantry Division
Battles/warsFirst World War
Arab revolt in Palestine
Second World War
AwardsKnight Bachelor
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Military Cross
Legion of Merit (United States)
Mentioned in despatches
Other workMaster-General of the Ordnance
managing director, Rotol Limited and British Messier
Chairmanchairman, Rotol Limited and British Messier

Lieutenant General Sir John Fullerton Evetts CB, CBE, MC (30 June 1891 – 21 December 1988) was a senior British Army officer.

Early life and First World War

Born in 1891 in Naini Tal, West Bengal, India, John Fullerton Evetts was educated at Lancing College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Upon passing out from Sandhurst, Evetts was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) on 19 September 1911.[3][4] Among his fellow graduates were three future general officers, Kenneth Anderson, Eric Nares and Montagu Stopford.[1]

Evetts, promoted on 1 July 1913 to lieutenant,[5] fought on the Western Front during the First World War. Promoted to the temporary rank of captain on 10 August 1915,[6] and captain on 1 October 1915,[7] he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in January 1918[8] and was mentioned in despatches while serving with the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). Serving from April 1917 as a brigade major with the 26th Brigade, part of the 15th (Scottish) Division, a Kitchener's Army formation, he ended the war as a temporary major, having been promoted to that rank on 9 February 1916.[9][1]

Between the wars

Reverting to the Cameronians after the MGC was disbanded, Evetts returned to England to attend the Staff College, Camberley from 1922 to 1923. Several fellow students were to become general officers, such as Charles Fullbrook-Leggatt, Thomas Hutton, Keith Simmons, and Gerald Smallwood.[1]

He was seconded to the Iraqi Army from 1925 to 1928 and was Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG) at the War Office from 1932. In 1934 he transferred from the Cameronians to the Royal Ulster Rifles and was Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion of his new regiment from 1934.[4]

He was posted to Palestine as a General staff Officer Grade 1 (GSO1) and, from 23 September 1936 when he was promoted to brigadier,[10] he commanded the 16th Infantry Brigade,[4] commanding it throughout most of the Arab revolt. Evetts was in charge of organizing British troops to protect isolated Jewish farm settlements which were coming under siege of Arab militants. During that time he commanded British troops during the fighting known as the Battle of Anabta against Arab insurgents.[11] He was appointed mayor of Nablus shortly after this.[12]

He was rare for being popular both among Arab civilians and among Jewish communities he was tasked with protecting. Both groups "regarded him as fair". However, he was also personally sympathetic towards the aspirations of the Jewish settlers and "greatly disheartened" by the fact they were coming under attack.[13]

For his services there he was mentioned in despatches in April 1939,[14] and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in April 1938.[15]

Second World War

During the Second World War Evetts was a Brigadier on the General Staff of Northern Command in India from 1939 and then he commanded the Western (Independent) District in India from 1940.[4] He was General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 6th Infantry Division in North Africa from 1941.[4] Evetts served in Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily, in 1943, seeing action at the Battle of Centuripe.[16] He was Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff (ACIGS) from 1943[4] and Senior Military Advisor to the Minister of Supply from 1944.[4] He retired in 1946.[4]

Postwar and later life

From 1946 to 1950, Evetts led the establishment of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, which led to the formation and development of the Long Range Weapons Establishment (LRWE) at Salisbury, in Adelaide, South Australia, and the famous 'Woomera Rocket Range' (now the 'Woomera Test Range') 460 km north of Adelaide. He was knighted in the 1951 King's Birthday Honours List.

In retirement, he became managing director and then Chairman of Rotol Limited and British Messier.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Smart 2005, p. 99.
  2. ↑ "Deaths". The Times. 23 December 1988.
  3. ↑ "No. 28532". The London Gazette. 19 September 1911. p. 6882.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  5. ↑ "No. 28738". The London Gazette. 18 July 1913. p. 5139.
  6. ↑ "No. 29276". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 August 1915. p. 8521.
  7. ↑ "No. 29337". The London Gazette (Supplement). 22 October 1915. p. 10475.
  8. ↑ "No. 13186". The Edinburgh Gazette. 2 January 1918. p. 41.
  9. ↑ "No. 29479". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 February 1916. p. 1881.
  10. ↑ "No. 34332". The London Gazette. 16 October 1936. p. 6610.
  11. ↑ "Two British Soldiers Killed in Palestine Fighting: Arabs Machine-Gunned from the Air. Three Planes Hit By Bullets in Fierce Encounter", The Guardian, 22 June 1936.
  12. ↑ Winston S. Churchill: Companion Vol. V, Part Three, The Coming of War 1936-1939 Martin Gilbert Houghton Mifflin, 1983, p. 800
  13. ↑ Rex King-Clark, Free for a Blast, Robert King-Clark Grenville Publishing Company, 1988.
  14. ↑ "No. 34619". The London Gazette. 25 April 1939. p. 2750.
  15. ↑ "No. 15387". The Edinburgh Gazette. 14 May 1937. p. 425.
  16. ↑ SAS in Italy 1943-1945: Raiders in Enemy Territory by Malcolm Tudor
  17. ↑ The Industry Flight 1, November 1957

Bibliography

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