Sidney Kirkman

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Sidney Chevalier Kirkman
29 July 1895–29 October 1982
Allegiance British Army
Years of service 1915 - 1949
Rank Lieutenant General
Commands held 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division 1943
XIII Corps 1944 - 1945
I Corps 1945
Battles/wars World War I
World War II
*Western Desert Campaign
*Italian Campaign
Awards GCB KCB KBE CB CBE MC

Sir Sidney Chevalier Kirkman GCB KBE MC (1895–1982) was a Lieutenant General in the British Armed Forces from 1944 to 1950 and Director General of Civil Defence in the Civil Defence Department from 1954 to 1960.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Kirkman was born in 1895 and educated at Bedford School and later at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.[1] During the First World War, Kirkman was commissioned as an officer in the Royal Artillery in 1915 and was awarded the Military Cross during his time at the Western Front and in Italy.[2]

Between 1919 and 1930, Kirkman served with the British Army in Palestine, Malta and India. He was married in 1923 and between 1931 and 1932 he attended Staff College in Camberley, Surrey.[1]

During the Second World War, Kirkman served as commanding officer of the 65 Medium Regiment of Royal Artillery from 1940 until 1941 at the rank of Brigadier. Later in 1941 and 1942 he held the position of Commander Royal Artillery successively in I Corps, VII Corps, XII Corps and 56th (London) Infantry Division and was awarded an OBE.[1]

In 1942, Kirkman was appointed Brigadier Royal Artillery 8th Army (its chief gunnery officer) serving under General Bernard Montgomery during the Battle of El Alamein in Africa, 1942, a fact paid tribute to in Montgomery’s memoirs,[2] and for which he was awarded a CBE. He was appointed commander of 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division on promotion to Major General in April 1943 and led the division during Allied invasion of Sicily. After the Sicilian campaign the division was sent to the U.K. to prepare for the invasion of northwest Europe planned for 1944.[3]

In February 1944 Kirkman was promoted to Lieutenant-General and appointed commander of 8th Army's XIII Corps in Italy.[3] The Corps played a key role in the fourth and final battle of Monte Cassino in May 1944 and came under command of U.S. Fifth Army, fighting on its right wing in the assaults during the autumn and winter of 1944 on the Gothic Line and central Apennines. He was invalided back to the U.K. with severe arthritis in March 1945.[4] In 1945 he took command of I Corps of the British Liberation Army operating in occupied Germany.[1]

Throughout the period of 1945 to 1950, Kirkman was a member of Army Council and until 1947 he was Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff in the War Office, and thereafter Quartermaster General to the Forces and commander of the Royal Artillery until 1950 when he retired from the army.

Kirkman became Special Financial Representative in Germany from 1951 until 1952. In 1954 he became Director General of Civil Defence and held this post until 1960. From 1957 until 1960 he was also Chairman of the Central Fire Brigades Advisory Council for England and Wales. He died 29 October 1982.[2]

[edit] Army career

1915 Commissioned Royal Artillery
1941 Commander Corps Royal Artillery I Corps
1941 Commander Corps Royal Artillery VII Corps
1942 Commander Corps Royal Artillery XII Corps
1942 Commander Royal Artillery 56th (London) Division
1942 - 1943 Brigadier Royal Artillery 8th Army, North Africa
1943 - 1943 Brigadier Royal Artillery 18th Army Group, North Africa
1943 - 1944 General Officer Commanding 50th Division, North Africa - Sicily - UK
1944 - 1945 General Officer Commanding XIII Corps, Italy
1945 General Officer Commander in Chief Southern Command
1945 General Officer Commanding I Corps, Germany
1945 - 1947 Deputy Chief Imperial General Staff, War Office
1947 - 1950 Quartermaster-General to the Forces, War Office
1950 Retired

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c d Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London
  2. ^ a b c New York Times archive November 7, 1982 retrieved on March 13, 2007
  3. ^ a b Blaxland, pp.22-23
  4. ^ Blaxland, p.248