(Thomas Wood) Ingram Cleasby was the

Dean of Chester The Dean of Chester is based at Chester Cathedral in the Diocese of Chester and is the head of the Chapter at the cathedral. List of deans Early modern *1541 Thomas Clerk (first Dean of Chester) *1541–1547 Henry Man (afterwards Bishop of ...

in the latter part of the 20th century.

Biography

Ingram Cleasby was born on 27 March 1920 in Kendal, Westmorland,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, and was educated at

Sedbergh Sedbergh ( or ) is a town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. The 2001 census gave the parish a population of 2,705, increasing at the 2011 census to 2,765. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies about east of Kendal, no ...

and Magdalen College, Oxford. He saw active service with the

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 ...

during the

Second World War 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 ...

, receiving a

commission Commission or commissioning may refer to: Business and contracting * Commission (remuneration), a form of payment to an agent for services rendered ** Commission (art), the purchase or the creation of a piece of art most often on behalf of anothe ...

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

Border Regiment The Border Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, which was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 34th (Cumberland) Regiment of Foot and the 55th (Westmorland) Regiment of Foot. After service in ...

on 14 December 1940, his

service number A service number is an identification code used to identify a person within a large group. Service numbers are most often associated with the military; however, they may be used in civilian organizations as well. National identification numbers ma ...

being 160854. Cleasby was posted to the regiment's 1st Battalion, a

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standi ...

unit. The battalion was one of four which formed part of the 31st Independent Brigade, and in late 1941 was transferred to the airborne forces, with the brigade being redesignated the

1st Airlanding Brigade The 1st Airlanding Brigade was an airborne infantry brigade of the British Army during the Second World War and the only glider infantry formation assigned to the 1st Airborne Division, serving alongside the 1st Parachute Brigade and 4th Par ...

, which now formed part of

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Frederick Browning Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Arthur Montague "Boy" Browning, (20 December 1896 – 14 March 1965) was a senior officer of the British Army who has been called the "father of the British airborne forces". He was also an Olympic bobsle ...

1st Airborne Division 1st Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) *1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) *1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoured Division (Australi ...

. After training throughout 1942 most of the division, now under Major General

George Hopkinson Major General George Frederick Hopkinson OBE MC (14 December 1895 – 9 September 1943) was a senior British Army officer who commanded the 1st Airborne Division during World War II, where he was killed in action in Italy in September 1943. In ...

, departed for

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in t ...

in April 1943, and Cleasby's 1st Airlanding Brigade, under

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 ...

Philip Hicks Brigadier Philip Hugh Whitby Hicks, (25 September 1895 – 8 October 1967) was an officer of the British Army during both the First and Second World Wars. Hicks was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1 ...

, took part in the

Allied invasion of Sicily The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allies of World War II, Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers (Fascist Italy (192 ...

(see

Operation Ladbroke Operation Ladbroke was a glider landing by British airborne troops during the Second World War near Syracuse, Sicily, that began on 9 July 1943 as part of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. The first Allied mission using ...

). The brigade, including Cleasby's battalion, suffered heavily before being withdrawn to North Africa. In September it landed in Italy and fought briefly in the early stages of the Italian Campaign until again being withdrawn, this time to the United Kingdom, arriving there in mid-December. Not involved in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

, the division, now under Major General

Roy Urquhart Major General Robert Elliot "Roy" Urquhart, (28 November 1901 – 13 December 1988) was a British Army officer who saw service during the Second World War and Malayan Emergency. He became prominent for his role as General Officer Commanding th ...

, participated in September 1944 in

Operation Market Garden Operation Market Garden was an Allied military operation during the Second World War fought in the Netherlands from 17 to 27 September 1944. Its objective was to create a salient into German territory with a bridgehead over the River Rhine, ...

. By this time Cleasby was

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 ...

(OC) the Support Company's Machine Gun Group, and during the

Battle of Arnhem The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oosterbeek, the villages Wolfheze and Driel and the vicini ...

he was wounded in action and captured, spending the rest of the war as a

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 ...

(POW) until his release in April 1945, shortly before the

end of World War II in Europe The final battle of the European Theatre of World War II continued after the definitive overall surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies, signed by Field marshal Wilhelm Keitel on 8 May 1945 in Karlshorst, Berlin. After German dictator A ...

the following month. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

in 1954. Initially a

Curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

Huddersfield Parish Church St Peter's Church, also known as Huddersfield Parish Church, is a Church of England parish church in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. There has been a church on the site since the 11th century, but the current building dates from 1836. It is ...

he became

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

to the

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers ...

in 1952. Following this he was Anglican Chaplain to the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

and then

Archdeacon of Chesterfield The Archdeacon of Chesterfield was a senior ecclesiastical officer within the Diocese of Derby until 2022. Until 1927 the archdeaconry of Chesterfield was in the diocese of Southwell. The Archdeacon was responsible for the disciplinary supervision ...

(1963–1978) before his elevation to the

Deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or reside ...

. Described in his Daily Telegraph obituary as a "broad, inclusive, traditional Anglican", he died in Dent, Cumbria, at the age of 88 on 9 February 2009.Issue no 47,825 dated 9 March 2009

Notes

External links

1st British Airborne Division officers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleasby, Ingram 1920 births 2009 deaths Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Alumni of Ripon College Cuddesdon Archdeacons of Chesterfield Border Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War II British World War II prisoners of war Deans of Chester People educated at Sedbergh School People from Kendal World War II prisoners of war held by Germany People from Dent, Cumbria Military personnel from Cumbria