Colonel Noel Andrew Cotton Croft, (30 November 1906 – 26 June 1998) was a member of the

Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local Resistance during World War II, resistance movements during World War II. ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, with operations in Norway and Corsica, as well as

military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

to Sweden. He was also an Arctic explorer, holding the longest self-supporting dog-sledge journey in the

Guinness Book of Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

for 60 years (across

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

), and

Commandant Commandant ( or ; ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ...

of the Cadet Corps of the Metropolitan Police Service.

Early life

Noel Andrew Croft was born on 30 November 1906, St Andrews Day, in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

in Hertfordshire where his father, Robert, was the local vicar. After two prep schools, he attended

Lancing College Lancing College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, private boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils aged 13–18 in southern England, UK. The school is located in West S ...

, before becoming one of the founding pupils at

Stowe School The Stowe School is a public school (English private boarding school) for pupils aged 13–18 in the countryside of Stowe, England. It was opened on 11 May, 1923 at Stowe House, a Grade I Heritage Estate belonging to the British Crown. ...

, and then going up to

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

in 1925.

Career as an explorer

Croft participated in several Arctic expeditions. In 1934, along with Lieutenant A.S.T. Godfrey Lieutenant Arthur Godfrey of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

and Martin Lindsay, Croft participated in the 1934 British Trans-Greenland Expedition which mapped the

Crown Prince Frederick Range The Crown Prince Frederik Range () is a large mountain range in King Christian IX Land, eastern Greenland. Administratively this range is part of the Sermersooq Municipality. Despite being relatively unknown it has some of the highest summits i ...

as the expedition photographer and dog-handler. To do so, he learned to speak Danish and Greenlandic and learned to be an expert dog-driver. He served as the second-in-command of the Oxford University Arctic Expedition, 1935–36, under A. R. Glen, a

glaciologist Glaciology (; ) is the scientific study of glaciers, or, more generally, ice and natural phenomena that involve ice. Glaciology is an interdisciplinary Earth science that integrates geophysics, geology, physical geography, geomorphology, clim ...

. The expedition, under the auspices of the Oxford University Exploration Club, was a fourteen-month-long scientific survey of North-East Land. He was a recipient of the

Polar Medal The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It w ...

in 1942 and of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

Back Award The Back Award, also referred to as the Back Grant, was first given by the Royal Geographical Society in 1882 for "applied or scientific geographical studies which make an outstanding contribution to the development of national or international pub ...

in 1947.

War service and army career

During

Croft served with 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 ...

in Finland,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

before returning to active service with No. 14 (Arctic) Commando. He served with a Special Forces unit behind enemy lines in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, and was then given an independent command in the

(SOE) to operate small motor boats out of Calvi in Northern Corsica. Covert missions were carried out to the Italian and French coasts, where secret agents and equipment were landed and picked up. In 1944, he was parachuted into Southern France to organise the French Resistance there. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

(DSO) on 15 March 1945. Following the end of the war he was granted a regular commission on 21 May 1949, backdated to his original commissioning.

Later life

On 24 July 1952, he married Rosalind Madden, the widow of an Irish Guards officer. He stepped down with his leader,

Eric Shipton Eric Earle Shipton, CBE (1 August 1907 – 28 March 1977), was an English Himalayan mountaineer. Early years Shipton was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1907 where his father, a tea planter, died before he was three years old. When he was e ...

, from the 1953 Everest Expedition which summitted the mountain that year. In the 1950s he was appointed as the commandant of the Army Apprentice School, Harrogate. In 1960, Croft became the first Commandant of the Metropolitan Police's Hendon Police Cadet College, and was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in the

1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the ''Lon ...

for his successful development of the Corps of Cadets. In 1968, he served as a member of the organising committee for an Arctic exploration expedition led by

Wally Herbert Sir Walter William Herbert (24 October 1934 – 12 June 2007) was a British polar explorer, writer and artist. In 1969 he became the first man fully recognized for walking to the North Pole, on the 60th anniversary of Robert Peary's disputed exp ...

. A member of the expedition, Allan Gill, suffered a serious lower back injury requiring his evacuation.''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', by a Staff Reporter, 26 September 1968, pg. 1

Publications

* ''Polar Exploration: Epics of the Twentieth Century'' * ''A Talent for Adventure''. The Self-Publishing Association, 1991

References

External links

*The Andrew Croft Memorial Fund (http://www.acmf.org.uk/) {{DEFAULTSORT:Croft, Andrew 1906 births 1998 deaths Military personnel from Hertfordshire British Army Commandos officers British military attachés British Army personnel of World War II Essex Regiment officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order British Special Operations Executive personnel English explorers British explorers of the Arctic People educated at Lancing College People educated at Stowe School Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Recipients of the Polar Medal People from Stevenage