“Rohan Delacombe”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Major General Sir Rohan Delacombe {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCMG|KCVO|KBE|CB|DSO|KStJ}} (25 October 1906 – 10 November 1991) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the British occupation forces in Berlin from 1959 to 1962 at the height of the Cold War. He was the last British Governor of Victoria, Australia from 1963 to 1974.

Early life

Delacombe was born in Malta on 25 October 1906, the son of Addis and Emma Louise Mary Delacombe. Addis Delacombe served as a pay officer in the British Army; several generations of Delacombes, whose seat was Shrewton Manor, Wiltshire, had served in the armed forces. Rohan was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.^[1]

Military career

Delacombe, after passing out from Sandhurst, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Scots, then the most senior line infantry regiment in the British Army, on 4 February 1926, and Philip "Pip" Roberts, who was another future general officer, was among his fellow graduates.^[2] He was promoted to lieutenant on 4 February 1929.^[3] He saw service in Egypt, North China and Quetta in India (now Pakistan) with the regiment's 1st Battalion, and was promoted to captain on 2 March 1937.^[4]

He then served in Palestine]] with the battalion during the Arab revolt from 1937 until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939; he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division (MBE) in the 1939 King's Birthday Honours List.^[5] Delacombe was posted with the 4th Infantry Brigade, then commanded by Brigadier James Gammell and one of three brigades which formed part of Major General Charles Loyd's 2nd Infantry Division. The division was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) which was sent to the Franco-Belgian border following Germany's invasion of Poland. After returning to England and attending the British Army Staff College, Camberley in 1940, Delacombe assisted Major General Adrian Carton de Wiart as a General Staff Officer (Grade 2) during the Namsos Campaign in Norway.^[6]

In 1942, he was made commanding officer (CO) of the Royal Scots 8th Battalion with the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 4 February 1943.^[7] He led the battalion, which formed part of the 227th Infantry Brigade of Major General Gordon "Babe" MacMillan's 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, at the Battle of Normandy in mid-1944, where his leadership earned him a Distinguished Service Order (DSO), gazetted on 19 October 1944.^[8] He was wounded and, after recovering, made CO of the Royal Scots 2nd Battalion, which fought in the Italian Campaign, followed by security duties in Lebanon.

Delacombe then returned to staff duties as General Staff Officer (Grade 1) during the re-occupation of British Malaya from 1945 to 1947. He was promoted to substantive lieutenant-colonel on 22 March 1948,^[9] and served as a general staff Colonel at the headquarters of the British Army of the Rhine. He was promoted to colonel on 31 December 1950 and was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division (CBE) in the 1951 New Year Honours List.^[10]^[11] He spent much of the next 14 years from 1948 to 1962 in Germany. He served as a temporary brigadier commanding the 5th Infantry Brigade (1950–1953), and was promoted to brigadier on 16 November 1954,^[12] in which capacity he was Deputy Military Secretary for the War Office. He was promoted to temporary major-general on 4 October 1955 and appointed General Officer Commanding of the 52nd (Lowland) Division.^[13] and to substantive major-general on 29 November 1956.^[14] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, Military Division (CB) in the 1957 Birthday Honours List.^[15] He relinquished command of the division on 10 October 1958 and was appointed Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin on 23 March 1959.^[16]^[17] As Commandant, his role included representing British interests in Spandau Prison, where Rudolf Hess was incarcerated. Knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division (KBE) in the 1961 Birthday Honours List,^[18] Delacombe relinquished his appointment as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin on 4 May 1962,^[19] and retired from the army on 27 July.^[20]

Governor of Victoria

Sir Rohan was appointed as Governor of Victoria in Australia in 1963, and was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG) in the 1964 New Year Honours List.^[21] As Governor, he was made an honorary colonel in the Australian Army's 1st Armoured Regiment.

In 1967, Sir Rohan was petitioned to exercise the Royal prerogative of mercy on behalf of the Queen, to commute the execution of Ronald Ryan. Four members of the jury had submitted a guilty verdict, in the belief that capital punishment had been abolished in Victoria, and that Ryan's sentence would be commuted to life imprisonment. These jurors then petitioned the governor to save Ryan after it became apparent that the Premier Henry Bolte was determined he should hang. Sir Rohan called a meeting with the Victorian cabinet, at which it was unanimously agreed that the execution should proceed. Ryan was hanged on 3 February 1967, the last person in Australia to be executed.^[22]

Death and memorials

Delacombe died in 1991 at his home at Shrewton in England, and was buried in the churchyard at the parish church, St Mary's.^[1]

References

1. ^¹{{Cite web|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/delacombe-sir-rohan-17373|title=Delacombe, Sir Rohan (1906–1991)|website=Australian Dictionary of Biography|last=Browne|first=Geoff|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|location=Canberra|access-date=27 October 2016}}
2. ^{{London Gazette |issue=33130 |date=5 February 1926 |page=886}}
3. ^{{London Gazette |issue=33463 |date=5 February 1929 |page=866 |nolink=yes}}
4. ^{{London Gazette |issue=34404 |date=4 June 1937 |page=3587 |nolink=yes}}
5. ^{{London Gazette |issue=34633 |date=8 June 1939 |page=3860 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
6. ^{{cite web |url=http://www.umds.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/DELACOMBE.shtml |title=Delacombe, Sir Rohan (1906–1991), Major General |website=Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London, Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900–1975}}
7. ^{{London Gazette |issue=35890 |date=5 February 1943 |page=639 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
8. ^{{London Gazette |issue=36753 |date=19 October 1944 |page=4785 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
9. ^{{London Gazette |issue=38415 |date=28 September 1948 |page=5189 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
10. ^{{London Gazette |issue=39137 |date=2 February 1951 |page=593 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
11. ^{{London Gazette |issue=39104 |date=1 January 1951 |page=6 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
12. ^{{London Gazette |issue=40377 |date=7 January 1955 |page=147 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
13. ^{{London Gazette |issue=40601 |date=7 October 1955 |page=5617 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
14. ^{{London Gazette |issue=40953 |date=21 December 1956 |page=7213 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
15. ^{{London Gazette |issue=41089 |date=13 June 1957 |page=3369 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
16. ^{{London Gazette |issue=41517 |date=10 October 1958 |page=6159 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
17. ^{{London Gazette |issue=41663 |date=24 March 1959 |page=1973 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
18. ^{{London Gazette |issue=42370 |date=10 June 1961 |page=4148 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
19. ^{{London Gazette |issue=42664 |date=4 May 1962 |page=3579 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
20. ^{{London Gazette |issue=42744 |date=31 July 1962 |page=6081 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
21. ^{{London Gazette |issue=43200 |date=1 January 1964 |page=4 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}
22. ^{{cite book |last=Blainey |first=Geoffrey |authorlink=Geoffrey Blainey |title=A History of Victoria |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=UK |isbn=0-521-86977-3 |page=216 |chapter=Whirlwind and Calm}}
23. ^The Age. 7 October 1965. p.17.