Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir Chandos Blair &

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (un ...

(25 February 1919 – 22 January 2011) was a senior

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 An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," ...

who served as General Officer Commanding Scottish Command from 1972 to 1976.

Military career

Born the son of Arthur Blair and educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry ...

, Blair was commissioned as a

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 ...

into the

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw serv ...

on 26 January 1939.''Debrett's People of Today'' (1994) He served in

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 ...

with the 2nd and 7th Battalions of his regiment. Serving with the 2nd Battalion, which formed part of the

51st (Highland) Division The 51st (Highland) Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought on the Western Front in France during the First World War from 1915 to 1918. The division was raised in 1908, upon the creation of the Territorial Force, as ...

, in 1940, the battalion was forced to surrender at

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label= French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of ...

at the

Oflag V-B Oflag V-B was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for officers (''Offizierlager''), in operation from 1940 until 1942. It was located in Biberach in south-eastern Baden-Württemberg. Camp history The camp was originally built as barracks ...

camp at Biberach in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

."Dunkirk POW"
''Glasgow Herald'', 16 May 2010. He escaped to Switzerland and from there to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and to Gibraltar. As such he was the first officer to return home after escaping from a

prisoner of war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military priso ...

.Obituary: Lieutenant-General Sir Chandos Blair KCVO OBE MC & Bar, soldier and GOC Scotland 1972–1976
The Scotsman, 26 January 2011 Blair was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

for his exploits. He later served with the 7th Battalion, Seaforths, which formed part of the 15th (Scottish) Infantry Division, and was with the battalion throughout the campaign in Northwest Europe, landing in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

shortly after D-Day in June 1944 and fighting until

Victory in Europe Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...

almost exactly eleven months later. In 1959, he was appointed

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latit ...

of the 4th Battalion the

King's African Rifles The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a multi-battalion British colonial regiment raised from Britain's various possessions in East Africa from 1902 until independence in the 1960s. It performed both military and internal security functions withi ...

. He was made General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in

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 ...

in 1968 and then became

Defence Services Secretary The Defence Services Secretary is a senior member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Responsibilities The Defence Services Secretary is the senior member of the Royal Household responsible for liaison between the Sove ...

in 1970. His last appointment was as

General Officer Commanding Scotland Scottish Command or Army Headquarters Scotland (from 1972) is a command of the British Army. History Early history Great Britain was divided into military districts on the outbreak of war with France in 1793. The Scottish District was com ...

and Governor of Edinburgh Castle in 1972; in that capacity,

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

dispatched him as a

Special Envoy Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

to secure the release of

Denis Hills Denis Cecil Hills (8 November 1913 – 26 April 2004) was a British author, teacher, traveller and adventurer. He came to international prominence in 1975 while he was living in Uganda and was sentenced to death for espionage and sedition foll ...

, a British subject held on spying charges by President

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...

. Blair retired in 1976.

Family

In 1947 he married Audrey Mary Travers; they went on to have one son and one daughter. His elder brother

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

was a useful amateur golfer and was best-man at the wedding of Chandos and Audrey.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, Chandos 1919 births 2011 deaths British Army lieutenant generals British Army personnel of World War II British escapees British World War II prisoners of war Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst King's African Rifles officers Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Harrow School Military personnel from Edinburgh Recipients of the Military Cross Seaforth Highlanders officers World War II prisoners of war held by Germany