Early life and military career
Born in New Zealand, Willcox was Officer (armed forces), commissioned into the Sherwood Foresters of the British Army from the New Zealand Army, New Zealand Military Forces on 20 December 1911.Liddell Hart Centre for Military ArchivesBetween the wars
After the war he married, in 1919, and became a GSO3 in his substantive rank of captain on 25 February 1920. He served initially in Home Forces, then at Aldershot, then in Mesopotamia and Iraq, then at Southern Command (United Kingdom), Southern Command and finally attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1925 to 1926. Among his fellow students there included Ronald Scobie, Philip Sidney Whitcombe, Philip Whitcombe, Francis Tuker, Roland Le Fanu, Frank Messervy, William Duthie Morgan, William Morgan, Raymond Briggs (British Army officer), Raymond Briggs, Gordon Grimsdale (British Army officer), Gordon Grimsdale, Ralph Bouverie Deedes, Ralph Deedes, Alan Pigott (British Army officer), Alan Pigott, John Swayne, Montagu Brocas Burrows, Brocas Burrows, Douglas McConnel, Leonard Arthur Hawes, Leonard Hawes, Eric Harrison (British Army officer), Eric Harrison, William Oxley (British Army officer), William Oxley and Langley Browning (British Army officer), Langley Browning, all of whom would become general officers. He relinquished his position of brigade major on 5 December 1922, and was appointed a GSO3 on 21 January 1927. On 9 July 1927, he transferred from the Sherwood Foresters to the East Lancashire Regiment in order to receive a promotion to major (with seniority backdated to 2 June 1927), and brevetted to Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom), lieutenant colonel on 1 July 1929. On 21 January 1930, he returned to the Staff College, Camberley upon being appointed as a GSO2 instructor. Relinquishing this appointment in early 1933, Willcox was then selected to attend the Royal College of Defence Studies, Imperial Defence College, and, promoted on 8 November 1934 to lieutenant colonel, was appointed as Commanding officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment. Promoted to the temporary rank of Colonel (United Kingdom), colonel on 15 September 1936, he then became Assistant Adjutant General for Mandatory Palestine, Palestine and Emirate of Transjordan, Transjordan during the early stages of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, Arab revolt in Palestine, before reverting to lieutenant colonel on 7 December 1936 and relinquishing the appointment on the same date. On 29 June 1937 his permanent rank was advanced to colonel (with seniority backdated to 1 July 1933) and, on the same date, was made an instructor at the Pakistan Command and Staff College, Staff College, Quetta in British Raj, India. He returned to England and, promoted to the temporary rank of Brigadier (United Kingdom), brigadier on 16 October, took command of the 15th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom), 15th Infantry Brigade in succession to Brigadier Archibald Bentley Beauman, Archibald Beauman. Handing over the brigade to Brigadier Horatio Pettus Mackintosh Berney-Ficklin, Horatio Berney-Ficklin in July 1939, he succeeded Brigadier Alfred Reade Godwin-Austen, Reade Godwin-Austen in command of the 13th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom), 13th Infantry Brigade. Both brigades formed part of the 5th Infantry Division (United Kingdom), 5th Infantry Division, whose General officer commanding (GOC) was the then-Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Harold Franklyn.World War II
He served in World War II, leading his brigade overseas to France in mid-September 1939, shortly after war began, as part of General (United Kingdom), General John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort, Lord Gort's British Expeditionary Force (World War II), British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Instead of being involved in immediate action as in World War I, however, Willcox's brigade, sent initially as an independent formation under GHQ BEF as the 5th Division was not yet fully formed, was relegated to guard duties in the BEF's rear areas in Nantes, with little time being allotted to training for operations. On 19 November, however, after handing over command of the 13th Brigade to Miles Dempsey, who had been of his students at the Staff College, Camberley in the early 1930s, Willcox was ordered to return to England and, promoted to the acting rank of major general on 21 November, was made Inspector of Infantry at the War Office, responsible for the training of the infantry of the British Army. His rank of major general was made permanent on 9 March 1940 (with seniority backdated to 19 July 1938). He held this post until 18 June 1940, handing over to Major General Charles Loyd, when he was given command of a division, becoming GOC of the 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division in succession to Major General William Holmes (British Army officer), William Holmes, also of the East Lancashire Regiment, who was promoted to command X Corps (United Kingdom), X Corps. A first-line Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army (TA) formation then stationed in Yorkshire, the division – comprising George William Sutton, George Sutton's 125th (Lancashire Fusiliers) Brigade, 125th, Eric Miles's 126th (East Lancashire) Brigade, 126th and Sir John Smyth, 1st Baronet, John Smyth's 127th (Manchester) Brigade, 127th Infantry Brigades, plus divisional troops – had recently Battle of France, fought in France and subsequently participated in the Dunkirk evacuation, suffering severe losses in both manpower and equipment, and needed to be brought up to strength to face a potential Operation Sea Lion, German invasion of Britain which, in the aftermath of the Armistice of 22 June 1940, French surrender, was considered highly likely. The 42nd, then serving under William Holmes's X Corps, was rapidly brought up to strength in men by absorbing thousands of Conscription in the United Kingdom, conscripts – few of whom had had any sort of military experience – although the division was still very short on equipment of all sorts and, throughout the year and into 1941, the division moved numerous times around the country, alternating between beach defence and training to repel the expected German invasion. Willcox remained with the 42nd Division until late April 1941 when, after handing over the division to Major General Eric Miles, he was promoted to the rank of acting Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), lieutenant general on 12 May and became GOC of I Corps (United Kingdom), I Corps, succeeding Lieutenant General Laurence Carr. The corps had then the History of the British 1st Division during the World Wars, 1st and 2nd Infantry Division (United Kingdom), 2nd Infantry Divisions (commanded by Major Generals Edwin Morris (British Army officer), Edwin Morris and Daril Watson, respectively), along with the Lincolnshire County Division, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire County Divisions (under Major Generals Arthur Kenneth Hay, Kenneth Hay and Edward Lawson, 4th Baron Burnham, Edward Lawson) under control. I Corps was stationed in Northern England under Northern Command (United Kingdom), Northern Command and was responsible for the defence of Lincolnshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire. However, in October 1941, General Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, Sir Alan Brooke, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, who had been one of "Ulysses" Willcox's instructors at the Staff College, Camberley in the mid-1920s and soon to become Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom), Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), believed Willcox to be out of his depth in corps command, claiming him, along with Ridley Pakenham-Walsh, the GOC of IX Corps (United Kingdom), IX Corps stationed further north, to be "quite incapable of handling the forces under orders!"Danchev and Todman, p. 168 Therefore, several months later, in May 1942, Willcox was replaced by Lieutenant General Frederick E. Morgan, Frederick Morgan, who was nearly five years younger. Willcox was then sent to India to become GOC Central Command (India), Central Command, India and, in 1944, he became Chairman of the British Indian Army, Indian Army Reorganisation Committee, set up to consider India's postwar needs.Postwar
After a military career spanning three decades, and with the war over, Willcox, after being knighted, retired from the army in August 1946, retaining the honorary rank of lieutenant general. He was Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel of the Sherwood Foresters from 1946 to 1947.References
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