Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

Anne Field ADC Hon (née Hodgson; 4 April 1926 – 25 June 2011) was a senior British military officer. She served as Director of the

Women's Royal Army Corps The Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC; sometimes pronounced acronymically as , a term unpopular with its members) was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged from 1949 to 1992, except medical, dental and veterinary officers and cha ...

from 1977 to 1982.

Military career

Field began her military career as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

in the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

(ATS). She had joined the ATS in September 1947, having been exempt from conscription during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

because she had been a university student. Following training, her first posting was as a clerical instructor with the rank of

lance corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually eq ...

. She was selected for

officer training A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally provides education in a military environment, the exact definition depending on the country concerned. ...

and benefited from having instructors that had seen active service during the war. She was commissioned in December 1948 as a second subaltern (equivalent to

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until 1 ...

). Her first posting as an officer was as a

platoon commander {{unreferenced, date=February 2013 A platoon leader ( NATO) or platoon commander (more common in Commonwealth militaries and the US Marine Corps) is the officer in charge of a platoon. This person is usually a junior officer – a second or ...

based in the United Kingdom. On 1 February 1949, the ATS became the

(WRAC). Therefore, she became an officer of the WRAC and, for the first time, became subject to

military law Military justice (also military law) is the legal system (bodies of law and procedure) that governs the conduct of the active-duty personnel of the armed forces of a country. In some nation-states, civil law and military law are distinct bodies ...

. She had applied for overseas service upon her commission. The opportunity came for this during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

(1948 to 1960) and she was posted to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. From 1951 to 1953, she served there as

officer commanding The officer commanding (OC), also known as the officer in command or officer in charge (OiC), is the commander of a sub-unit or minor unit (smaller than battalion size), principally used in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. In other countries, t ...

of the 4th Independent Company, WRAC; a unit of 400 female personnel. She returned to England at the end of her posting to Singapore. In 1953, she attended a six-month course at the WRAC

Staff College Staff colleges (also command and staff colleges and War colleges) train military officers in the administrative, military staff and policy aspects of their profession. It is usual for such training to occur at several levels in a career. For ...

Frimley Park Frimley Park in Frimley, Surrey, England, consists of Frimley Park mansion, a Grade II listed building, and the formal gardens, designed by Edward White in 1920. The house and gardens are all that remain of an estate that once encompassed more ...

. Having completed the course, she was posted to the Staff Duties branch of the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence (MoD ...

. Her next posting were as a

staff officer A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...

of the London University WRAC

Officer Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

, and then as

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

of 317 (Scottish) TA Battalion WRAC. In 1961, she was promoted to major and appointed chief instructor at the WRAC Centre,

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

. In 1963, after two years as an instructor, she was posted as a grade 2 staff officer to HQ

Middle East Command Middle East Command, later Middle East Land Forces, was a British Army Command established prior to the Second World War in Egypt. Its primary role was to command British land forces and co-ordinate with the relevant naval and air commands to ...

in Aden. The British

Colony of Aden Aden Colony ( ar, مستعمرة عدن, ), also the Colony of Aden, was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen. It consisted of the port of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of ). Pr ...

had become the

State of Aden The State of Aden ( ar, ولاية عدن ''Wilāyat ʿAdan'') was a state constituted in Aden within the Federation of South Arabia. Following its establishment on 18 January 1963, Sir Charles Johnston stepped down as the last Governor of A ...

but there was an

insurgency An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...

against British rule that became the

Aden Emergency The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen. Partly insp ...

. She was responsible for the

welfare Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specificall ...

of soldiers and their families based in the region. She made a point of visiting troops in even the most dangerous places, which won her approval from her male colleagues. She had the additional role of notifying the families of casualties and her experience of the conditions that they had faced gave her letters authenticity. After a spell in Germany, she was promoted to colonel in December 1971, and appointed as Commandant of the WRAC College, Camberley. In 1975 she was appointed as Deputy Director WRAC. In 1977 she was promoted to Brigadier and appointed as Director WRAC.

Later life

Having served in Aden in the 1960s during the

, she became patron of the Aden Veterans' Association in 2002 She died on 25 June 2011, aged 85 and is buried in the churchyard of St Kentigern's parish church, Crosthwaite, Keswick, Cumbria.

Personal life

On 17 March 1956, she married Captain Anthony Field (born 1927). He was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

officer who at the time of their marriage was serving in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

with the

British Army of the Rhine There have been two formations named British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). Both were originally occupation forces in Germany, one after the First World War and the other after the Second World War. Both formations had areas of responsibility locate ...

. They did not have any children and divorced in 1961 after five years of marriage.

Honours and decorations

On 1 June 1977, Field was appointed Honorary Aide-de-Camp (ADC Hon) to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. In the 1980

New Year Honours The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark th ...

, she was appointed

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a care ...

(CB). This honour was in recognition of her role as head of the WRAC, but up until ten years previously the directors were made

dames ''Dame'' is an honorific title and the feminine form of address for the honour of damehood in many Christian chivalric orders, as well as the British honours system and those of several other Commonwealth realms, such as Australia and New Zea ...

upon appointment. She was subsequently appointed CBE in the

1996 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1996 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Anne 1926 births 2011 deaths Auxiliary Territorial Service soldiers Auxiliary Territorial Service officers Women's Royal Army Corps officers Companions of the Order of the Bath Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency British military personnel of the Aden Emergency British Army brigadiers