Gordon Macready

Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Nevil Macready, 2nd Baronet KBE, CB, CMG, DSO, MC (5 April 1891 – 17 October 1956) was a British Army officer who served as Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War.

Sir Gordon Macready, Bt
Taking a part in the Combined Chiefs of Staff discussions at the Potsdam Conference in Germany, 1945. From left to right: Lieutenant General Sir Gordon McCready, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham, and Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke.
Nickname(s)	"Baronet Macready"
Born	5 April 1891 Kandy, Ceylon
Died	17 October 1956 (aged 65) Paris, France
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1910–1946
Rank	Lieutenant General
Service number	22930
Unit	Royal Engineers
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order Military Cross Mentioned in dispatches (5) Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) Legion of Honour (France)
Relations	Sir Nevil Macready (father)

Military career

Villa Mauser in Bad Honnef, Residence of Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Macready from 1949 until his death in 1956.

Born in Kandy, British Ceylon on 5 April 1891, the son of Sir Nevil Macready, Gordon Macready was sent to England and was educated at Cheltenham College and later entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers on 23 December 1910.[1][2] Promoted to lieutenant on 21 December 1912,[3] Macready served on the Western Front during the First World War becoming Assistant Adjutant & Quartermaster General (AA&QMG) for the 66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division in 1917. He was promoted to captain on 23 December 1916,[4][5] and brevet major on 3 June 1917.[6] After the war, from April 1919, he became Assistant Adjutant General for the British Military Mission to Berlin.[5]

Attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1923 to 1924, he was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1926, which was followed by attendance at the Imperial Defence College in 1933, Deputy Director of Staff Duties at the War Office in 1936 and Head of the British Military Mission to Egypt in 1938.[7] He served in the Second World War as Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff from October 1940[8] and as Head of the British Army mission in Washington D. C. from 1942 until his retirement in 1946.[9]

In retirement he became Regional Commissioner for Lower Saxony in 1946, British Chairman of the Economic Control Office for the British and American Zones of Germany in 1947 and then Economic Advisor to the UK High Commissioner in 1949.[5]

He is author of the book In the wake of the great published by Clowes in 1965.[10]

Family

In 1920 he married Elisabeth Pauline Sabine Marie de Noailles; they had one son, Sir Nevil Macready, 3rd Bt.[11]

Arms

Coat of arms of Gordon Macready

Crest On a wreath of the colours in front of two swords points upwards in saltire proper pommels and hilts Or a cubit arm also Proper grasping a snake Vert. Escutcheon Argent on a chevron Azure between three leopard faces Gules two swords the points in saltire Proper pommels and hilts Or. Motto Ad Extremum Tenax [12]

References

1. "No. 28455". The London Gazette. 10 January 1911. p. 226.
2. Smart, p. 205
3. "No. 28674". The London Gazette. 24 December 1912. p. 9785.
4. "No. 29888". The London Gazette. 2 January 1917. p. 105.
5. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
6. "No. 13099". The Edinburgh Gazette. 4 June 1917. p. 1058.
7. Generals.dk
8. Army Commands Archived 5 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine
9. Citation Accompanying the Legion of Merit Awarded to Lieutenant General Sir Gordon N. Macready
10. Amazon.com
11. Angelfire
12. Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage. 2000.

Bibliography

• Mead, Richard (2007). Churchill's Lions: A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II. Stroud (UK): Spellmount. p. 544 pages. ISBN 978-1-86227-431-0.
• Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnsley, UK: Pen & Sword Military. ISBN 1-84415-049-6.

External links

• British Army Officers 1939−1945
• Generals of World War II