Vivian Majendie
Vivian Majendie | |||||||||||||||
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Born | 20 April 1886 Ipplepen, Devon, England | ||||||||||||||
Died | 13 January 1960 (aged 73) North Watford, Hertfordshire, England | ||||||||||||||
Allegiance | ![]() | ||||||||||||||
Service/ | ![]() | ||||||||||||||
Years of service | 1905–1946 | ||||||||||||||
Rank | Major-General | ||||||||||||||
Unit | Somerset Light Infantry | ||||||||||||||
Commands held | 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry 2nd Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division Northern Ireland District | ||||||||||||||
Battles/wars | First World War Second World War | ||||||||||||||
Awards | Companion of the Order of the Bath Distinguished Service Order | ||||||||||||||
Cricket information | |||||||||||||||
Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||
Role | Wicket-keeper | ||||||||||||||
Domestic team information | |||||||||||||||
Years | Team | ||||||||||||||
1907–1910 | Somerset | ||||||||||||||
Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Source: ESPNcricinfo, 23 October 2017 |
Major-General Vivian Henry Bruce Majendie CB DSO (20 April 1886 – 13 January 1960) was a British Army officer and amateur cricketer for Somerset County Cricket Club.
Military career[]
The son of The Reverend Henry Majendie, he was educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,[1] Majendie was commissioned into the Somerset Light Infantry in 1905.[2] He developed a career as a cricketer and played for Somerset and Devon.[3][4] He served with the West African Frontier Force in Southern Nigeria from 1908 to 1913 and then in India from 1913 to 1914.[2]
He fought in the First World War, moving with his battalion to France in 1915, marrying the following year, being awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1917. He ended the conflict in 1918 as Officer commanding (OC) of the 1st Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, serving in France as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).[2][4]
After the war he became Commander of the Amiens Sub Area of France and then, after attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1920 to 1921, became brigade major for the 14th Infantry Brigade in Curragh in 1922 before becoming a General Staff Officer (GSO) at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.[2] In 1924 he was appointed a Staff Officer to Inspector General of the West African Frontier Force and in 1929 he became OC 2nd Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry.[2] After attending the Imperial Defence College in 1932, he returned to the Staff College as a GSO in 1933 and then was made Director of Military Training at GHQ India in 1936.[4][2] He was appointed General officer commanding (GOC) of the 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division, a Territorial Army (TA) formation, in 1938, and the same year became Colonel of the Somerset Light Infantry.[2][4] In 1939, with war in Europe deemed likely, the division split to form a second-line duplicate formation, the 59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division.[4]
He served from the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 until June 1941 as GOC of the 55th Division, which in late June 1940 was reorganised as an infantry division and served in the United Kingdom throughout the war.[4] By now believed to be too old for field command, he relinquished command of the 55th Division to Major-General William Morgan, became GOC Northern Ireland District in 1941 and served in the War Office as President of the War Office Regular Commissions Board in 1943.[2] He retired from the army, after a career spanning well over 40 years, in 1946 and ceased being Colonel of his regiment the following year.[2] He became Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Hertfordshire in 1951.[4]
References[]
Bibliography[]
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
External links[]
- 1886 births
- 1960 deaths
- Somerset Light Infantry officers
- British Army personnel of World War I
- British Army generals of World War II
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
- English cricketers
- Devon cricketers
- Somerset cricketers
- Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley
- Royal West African Frontier Force officers
- British expatriates in Nigeria
- British expatriates in India
- People of colonial Nigeria
- Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies
- Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
- People educated at Winchester College
- Deputy Lieutenants of Hertfordshire
- War Office personnel in World War II
- Academics of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst
- Academics of the Staff College, Camberley
- British Army generals
- Military personnel from Devon
- British Army cricketers