Major General Hew Dacres George Butler, (12 March 1922 – 10 July 2007) was a senior officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Early life

Hew Dacres George Butler was born on 12 March 1922, the second of two sons born to Major General Stephen Seymour Butler by his wife Phyllis, daughter of Captain H. Critchley-Salmonson."Butler, Maj.-Gen. Hew Dacres George"
''Who Was Who'' (online edition), Oxford University Press, April 2014. Retrieved 17 March 2016. In 1954, he married Joanna Christiane Aline, daughter of Geoffrey Martin Puckridge; they had two sons and one daughter.
Portsmouth Evening News
', 18 October 1954, p. 5

Military career

Following schooling at

Winchester College Winchester College is an English Public school (United Kingdom), public school (a long-established fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) with some provision for day school, day attendees, in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It wa ...

, Butler was commissioned into the

Rifle Brigade The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

in 1941. He served in the Middle East with the 7th Battalion from 1942, but was wounded the following March during the Battle of Mareth Line and taken prisoner. Eventually transferred to Stalag VIIA, he escaped in December 1943 but was recaptured."Major-General Hew Butler"
''Telegraph'', 13 September 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2016. He served out the rest of the war as prisoner. In 1949, Butler was posted as an instructor at the School of Infantry. He was Brigade Major of the

7th Armoured Brigade Seventh is the ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 7, seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"T ...

between 1951 and 1953 and then served in Kenya between 1954 and 1955. Two years later, he was appointed an Instructor at the Staff College, in which position he served until 1960. Two years later, he was placed in command of the 3rd Green Jackets, Rifle Brigade, in Cyprus, where he was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. He then commanded the 24th Infantry Brigade in

Aden Aden () is a port city located in Yemen in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, on the north coast of the Gulf of Aden, positioned near the eastern approach to the Red Sea. It is situated approximately 170 km (110 mi) east of ...

(1966–67). He served as

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

Near East Land Forces NEAR or Near may refer to: People * Thomas J. Near, US evolutionary ichthyologist * Near, a developer who created the higan emulator Science, mathematics, technology, biology, and medicine * National Emergency Alarm Repeater (NEAR), a former ...

, between 1972 and 1974 after which he was chief of staff with responsibility for Contingencies Planning at

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. SHAPE is situated in the villag ...

. He relinquished that appointed in 1976 and retired in 1977. In civilian life, Butler was Secretary of the Beit Trust from 1978 to 1993. He became a Deputy Lieutenant in 1980 and served as

High Sheriff of Hampshire This is a list of High Sheriffs of Hampshire. This title was often given as High Sheriff of the County of Southampton until 1959. List of High Sheriffs 11th and 12th centuries 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th ...

in 1983. He died on 10 July 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Hew 1922 births 2007 deaths British Army major generals Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy lieutenants of Hampshire High sheriffs of Hampshire British World War II prisoners of war British Army personnel of World War II Rifle Brigade officers World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Escapees from German detention