Lieutenant Colonel Cecil Harry "Jiggs" Jaeger,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(29 April 1913 – 27 September 1970) was a British

military band A military band is a group of personnel that performs musical duties for military functions, usually for the armed forces. A typical military band consists mostly of wind and percussion instruments. The conductor of a band commonly bears the ti ...

leader. Jaeger was born in

Elham, Kent Elham (pronounced Eel-um) is a village and civil parish in East Kent situated approximately south of Canterbury and north west of Folkestone in the Elham Valley. At the 2011 Census the population included the hamlet of Ottinge and village of ...

,''England & Wales, Death Index: 1984-2005'' the son of a German father, Heinrich Jaeger, and English mother, Mina Pickering. He joined the

King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry The King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (KOYLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army. It officially existed from 1881 to 1968, but its predecessors go back to 1755. In 1968, the regiment was amalgamated with the Somerset and Cornwall ...

at the age of 14. 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 ...

, he served in Italy, Greece and Austria, as the bandmaster of the

4th Hussars The 4th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. It amalgamated with the 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars, to f ...

. He appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (us ...

'' on 18 November 1968. At that time he was Senior Director of Music in the

Brigade of Guards The Brigade of Guards was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1856 to 1968. It was commanded by the Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and was responsible for administering the guards regiments. After the Second Wor ...

, a post he had held since 1949. He was an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE). He died in

Richmond upon Thames The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames () in southwest London forms part of Outer London and is the only London borough on both sides of the River Thames. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas amalgamated under the London ...

, aged 57.

Bibliography

References

1913 births 1970 deaths People from Elham, Kent Officers of the Order of the British Empire King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry soldiers 4th Queen's Own Hussars officers British Army personnel of World War II British people of German descent British military musicians {{UK-army-bio-stub