Howard N. Cole

Howard Norman Cole
OBE TD F.R.Hist.S DL
Born 1911
Died May 1983
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Rank Lieutenant Colonel
Unit 11th (Honourable Artillery Company and City of London Yeomanry) Brigade
Battles/wars World War II
Other work Author and Historian
Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Hampshire

Lieutenant Colonel Howard Norman Cole (1911 – May 1983) OBE TD F.R.Hist.S DL had been a serving officer in the British Army during World War II and was an author of books on military subjects.

A writer, historian and lecturer, Cole was the Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Hampshire from 1965 to 1983,[1] the Honorary Remembrancer for the Borough of Aldershot from 1963 to 1974, and Curator of the Aldershot Local History Collection.[2]

Cole first visited Aldershot in 1930 while serving in the 11th (Honourable Artillery Company and City of London Yeomanry) Brigade, part of the Territorial Army. A Lance Bombardier, Cole was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Territorials on 20 July 1935.[3] With the outbreak of World War II, and after serving time at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1942, he was promoted to the rank of Major. He was awarded an OBE in 1945 for services in north west Europe during the Second World War. Cole returned to Aldershot in March 1946 where he was employed by publishers Gale and Polden as military sales manager for more than thirteen years. He raised and commanded Aldershot'sTerritorial Army Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery from 1947 to 1951.[2]

In 1954 Cole provided the commentary for The Military Centenary of Aldershot, part 1 & part 2, a film produced by Aldershot Borough Council celebrating the Centenary of its association with the British Army.[4]

Cole was appointed an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem in 1953,[5] and a Commander in 1974.[6] He lived in Tongham in Surrey.

'Howard N. Cole Way', a street on the site of the former South Cavalry Barracks in Aldershot, was named in his honour in 1979.[2] His collection of memorabilia and pictures of early Aldershot Military Town were donated to Aldershot Military Museum on his death in 1983.

Publications

References

  1. London Gazette 20 July 1965
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Cole, Howard N. The Story of Aldershot: a History of the Civil and Military Towns Gale & Polden, Aldershot (1951)
  3. London Gazette 19 July 1935
  4. The Military Centenary of Aldershot (1954)
  5. London Gazette 26 June 1953
  6. London Gazette 31 January 1974

External links