Major-General Sir Robert Edward Laycock, (18 April 1907 – 10 March 1968) was a senior

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 ...

officer best known for his influential role in the establishment and command of

British Commandos The Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the World War II, Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out Raid (military), raids against German-occ ...

during the Second World War.

Early life

Laycock was born in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

on 18 April 1907, the eldest son of Brigadier General Sir Joseph Frederick Laycock (died 1952)—an officer of the

Royal Regiment of Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

knighted for his services during the First World War—by his marriage on 14 November 1902 to Katherine Mary (Kitty) Hare (1872–1959), who was previously married to and divorced by the 6th Marquess of Downshire (died 1918),Anand, Sushila (2008), ''Daisy: The Life and Loves of the Countess of Warwick,''

Piatkus Little, Brown Book Group is a UK publishing company created in 1988, with multiple predecessors. Since 2006 Little, Brown Book Group has been owned by Hachette UK, a subsidiary of Hachette Livre. It was acquired in 2006 from Time Warner of New ...

. and herself a granddaughter of

William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowel William Hare, 2nd Earl of Listowel, (22 September 1801 – 4 February 1856), known as Viscount Ennismore from 1827 to 1837, was an Irish peer and politician. Life Listowel was the eldest son of Richard Hare, Viscount Ennismore, and Catherine Br ...

. Laycock was thus a half-brother of the 7th

Marquess of Downshire Marquess of Downshire is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1789 for Wills Hill, 1st Earl of Hillsborough, a former Secretary of State. Hill had already been created Earl of Hillsborough and Viscount Kilwarlin of County Down ...

; their sister Josephine (died 1958) married Edward Greenall, 2nd Lord Daresbury, and is grandmother of the present Baron. Through his father's relationship with the married

Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick Frances Evelyn "Daisy" Greville, Countess of Warwick (''née'' Maynard; 10 December 1861 – 26 July 1938) was a British socialite and philanthropist. Although embedded in late-Victorian British high society, she was also a campaigning socialis ...

, issue occurring before and during his marriage with Kitty, Robert Laycock was half-brother to the Countess of Warwick's son Maynard Greville (1898–1960), and daughter, Mercy Greville (1904–1968). Laycock was educated at

Lockers Park School Lockers Park School is a day and boarding preparatory and pre-preparatory school for boys, situated in 23 acres of countryside in Boxmoor, Hertfordshire. Its headmaster is Gavin Taylor. History Lockers Park was founded in 1872 by Henry Monta ...

and

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, followed by officer training at the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, from which he emerged as a well-read young man with a scientific bent. He also briefly worked in a factory.

Military career

In 1927, Laycock was commissioned into the

Royal Horse Guards The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, also known as the Blues, or abbreviated as RHG, was one of the cavalry regiments of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry. In 1969, it was amalgamated with the 1st The Royal Dragoons to form the ...

.Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
/ref> After the

Second World War 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 ...

broke out he raised and trained the

commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

unit No. 8 (Guards) Commando (8 Commando). This unit of 500 officers and men was to prove influential: one its sections, encouraged by Laycock, was an experimental marine section, known as the "

Folboat A folding kayak is a direct descendant of the original Inuit kayak made of animal skins stretched over frames made from wood and bones. A modern folder has a collapsible frame made of some combination of wood, aluminium and plastic, and a skin m ...

Section", which ultimately developed into the

Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roy ...

; and one of its officers,

David Stirling Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British Army and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). Under his leadership, the SAS carried out hit-and ...

, would go on to found the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling, and in 1950 it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terr ...

. Laycock was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and appointed leader of the eastern Mediterranean

force "

Layforce Layforce was an ad hoc military formation of the British Army consisting of a number of commando units during the Second World War. Formed in February 1941 under the command of Colonel Robert Laycock, after whom the force was named, it consisted ...

", named after him. This combined

force, which included 8 Commando and four other

units, operated from February to August 1941, and saw action in Libya (

Bardia Bardia, also El Burdi or Bardiyah ( or ) is a Mediterranean seaport in the Butnan District of eastern Libya, located near the border with Egypt. It is also occasionally called ''Bórdi Slemán''. The name Bardia is deeply rooted in the ancient ...

and

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, and Vichy Syria. It had mixed results, but developed commando warfare. In the

Battle of Crete The Battle of Crete (, ), codenamed Operation Mercury (), was a major Axis Powers, Axis Airborne forces, airborne and amphibious assault, amphibious operation during World War II to capture the island of Crete. It began on the morning of 20 May ...

Laycock was one of the last officers to leave the island (along with his intelligence officer

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

), when it was evacuated by British forces at the conclusion of the battle in May 1941. The main role of the commando force on Crete had been (atypically) to cover the evacuation of the rest of the British army, and much of the Layforce unit of 800 men was itself unable to get away: 600 of them were captured by the German army.

was an admirer of Laycock, and later dedicated his novel ''

Officers and Gentlemen ''Officers and Gentlemen'' is a 1955 novel by the British people, British novelist Evelyn Waugh. ''Sword of Honour'' trilogy ''Officers and Gentlemen'' is the second novel in Waugh's ''Sword of Honour'' trilogy, the author's look at the Second W ...

'', which is set in this period and theatre, to him. Laycock commanded the Middle East Commando from August 1941 to August 1942, in

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

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He then returned to the United Kingdom, was promoted to

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 (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

, and from 1942 to 1943 commanded the

Special Service Brigade The Special Service Brigade was a formation of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940, after the call for volunteers for Special Service who eventually became the British Commandos. Background In 1940, volunteers w ...

, which organised and trained all commandos in the United Kingdom. In 1943 he was promoted to major-general, and became Chief of Combined Operations, succeeding

Louis Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman, Royal Navy of ...

. He held that position until 1947. British Generals 1939-1945 H39029

Governor of Malta

In 1954, his old friend,

Antony Head Antony Henry Head, 1st Viscount Head, (19 December 1906 – 29 March 1983) was a British soldier, Conservative politician and diplomat. Background and education Head was born in London on 19 December 1906, the son of Geoffrey Head and Ethel D ...

, now

Secretary of State for War The secretary of state for war, commonly called the war secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The secretary of state for war headed the War Offic ...

appointed Laycock to the position of Commander-in-Chief and Governor of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

. This was during a period of tensions surrounding a drive for independence, with Prime Minister

Dom Mintoff Dominic Mintoff ( ; often called ''il-Perit'', "the Architect"; 6 August 1916 – 20 August 2012) was a Maltese socialist politician, architect, and civil engineer who was leader of the Labour Party (Malta), Labour Party from 1949 to 1984 ...

leading a campaign for "Integration (with Britain) or Self-Determination", and the Nationalist Party looking for a "Quasi-Dominion Status. Prior to his assuming the position of Governor, Queen Elizabeth knighted Laycock in the drawing room of Sledmere House, Yorkshire whilst staying as fellow house guests of Sir Richard Sykes, Baronet. Laycock served until 1959, having had his term extended twice.

Later years

From 1960 Laycock held the honorary positions of Colonel Commandant of the

and Colonel of the

Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry The Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry (SRY) was a British Yeomanry regiment. In 1967 it was amalgamated with other units to form the Royal Yeomanry (RY), a light cavalry regiment of the Army Reserve. Originally raised as the Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Cav ...

. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire in 1962. A noted horseman, yachtsman and historical book collector, his interests made him a man who could enjoy life. It was said by many he had no enemies. He suffered from severe circulatory problems, which meant constant pain in one leg. He died at

Wiseton Wiseton is a small village, country estate and civil parish, Nottinghamshire, England, situated between the villages of Gringley-on-the-Hill and Everton, approximately southeast of Bawtry and west of Gainsborough. There is also a nearby ha ...

on 10 March 1968. His estate was

probate In common law jurisdictions, probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased; or whereby, in the absence of a legal will, the e ...

d at £279,910.

Family

Laycock married Claire Angela Louise Dudley Ward (1916–1999) on 24 January 1935 at

St Margaret's, Westminster The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret the Virgin, Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Pal ...

. Dudley Ward was the younger daughter of

William Dudley Ward William Dudley Ward PC (14 October 1877 – 11 November 1946) was an English sportsman and Liberal Party politician. Early life Dudley Ward was born in London, the son of William Humble Dudley Ward and the great-grandson of William H ...

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

MP for

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

by his wife Freda Dudley Ward, granddaughter of Sir Thomas Isaac Birkin, 1st Baronet. Laycock and Dudley Ward had two sons and three daughters.

Children

#Edwina Ottilie Jane Laycock (born 1936) has been twice married, and has children from both marriages. #Joseph William Peter Laycock (1938 – bef. 16 December 1980), accidentally drowned with his eight-year-old daughter Flora in a boating accident on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

, and was survived by two children. He married 1971 Eve Lucinda Fleming (born 15 May 1947), better known as the actress

Lucy Fleming Eve Lucinda "Lucy" Fleming (born 15 May 1947) is a British actress. Early life and ancestry Fleming was born in Nettlebed, England. She is the second daughter of actress Celia Johnson and writer Peter Fleming, the brother of ''James Bond'' ...

, younger daughter of Peter Fleming, otherwise Lt. Col. (Robert) Peter Fleming,

OBE 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 ...

(1907–1971) by his wife Dame Celia Johnson, actress (1908–1982). Lucy Fleming is a niece of

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

, creator of "

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

", and has remarried. # Benjamin Richard Laycock (born 1947); married 1971, and has issue 1 son and 2 daughters. #Emma Rose Laycock, now Lady Temple (born 1943), married 1964 Sir Richard Chartier Carnac Temple, 5th Bt. (born 1937), elder son and heir of Sir Richard Antony Purbeck Temple, 4th Bt., of The Nash, MC (1913 – 5 December 2007) by his first wife Lucy Geils de Lotbinière, dau of Alain Joly de Lotbinière, of Montreal; they have issue, three daughters. # Katherine Martha Laycock (born 1949); married 1969 David Mlinaric (born 1939), interior designer and decorator,Portrait of David Mlinaric

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

. Mlinaric notably redecorated

Spencer House Spencer House may refer to: * Spencer House, Westminster, Greater London, England United States

* Spencer House (Hartford, Connecticut), listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in Hartford County * Spencer House in Columbus, ...

( Princess Diana's ancestral home in London) as well as all of Lord Rothschild's private residences. See Christopher Bagley
"The Rothschilds
photographs by Derry Moore, W Magazine, January 2008, p. 2 has three children.

References

Bibliography

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

* * * * *

External links

*Leo Van Der Pas
Robert Laycock's Descendants
for an incomplete version of Laycock's descendants. Last accessed 18 January 2008.

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Laycock, Robert 1907 births 1968 deaths Military personnel from Westminster People educated at Eton College People educated at Lockers Park School Royal Horse Guards officers Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley British Army Commandos officers British Army generals of World War II Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights of the Order of St John Lord-lieutenants of Nottinghamshire Commanders of the Legion of Merit Commanders of the Legion of Honour Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau Governors and governors-general of Malta British Army major generals