Geoffrey Beresford Heywood MBE DL (July 12, 1914 – June 15, 2006), known as Tim Heywood, 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 Gurk ...

officer and bureaucrat. He served as the chief signals officer of the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG). Later, he was president of the Country Landowners' Association (CLA) and founder president of the European Landowners' Association. Heywood was born in Newcastle. His father was a stockbroker. He was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

, where he built radios in his spare time. He became an accountant, and was commissioned into the

Royal Corps of Signals The Royal Corps of Signals (often simply known as the Royal Signals – abbreviated to R SIGNALS or R SIGS) is one of the combat support arms of the British Army. Signals units are among the first into action, providing the battlefield communi ...

(

Middlesex Yeomanry The Middlesex Yeomanry was a volunteer cavalry regiment of the British Army originally raised in 1797. It saw mounted and dismounted action in the Second Boer War and in World War I at Gallipoli, Salonika and in Palestine, where one of its office ...

) in 1939. His regiment was sent to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

with the 1st Cavalry Division in 1940. He volunteered to join the Long Range Desert Group and was interviewed by Major

Ralph Bagnold Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold, OBE, FRS, (3 April 1896 – 28 May 1990) was an English 20th-century desert explorer, geologist and soldier. In 1932, he staged the first recorded East-to-West crossing of the Libyan Desert. His work in the fi ...

and Captain Bill Shaw in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. He joined the LRDG and became its chief signals officer in August 1941, in charge of its special radio equipment, its codes, and the communications group at the Group's headquarters. Heywood was demobilised as a Major, and awarded the MBE. He attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, and became a

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

, and became active in landowners' representative associations. He served as a governor, chairman of the governors (1980-1985), and vice-president of the Royal Agricultural College. During his time as president, the College was approved to award academic

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

s, and admitted the first women. He was awarded the College's Bledisloe Gold Medal in 1989 for services to agriculture. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, district commissioner of the

Boy Scouts Boy Scouts may refer to: * Boy Scout, a participant in the Boy Scout Movement. * Scouting, also known as the Boy Scout Movement. * An organisation in the Scouting Movement, although many of these organizations also have female members. There are ...

, and a

general commissioner A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...

He married twice, first in 1946 (later divorced) and again in 1977. He was survived by his second wife, and a son and two daughters from his first marriage.

References

Obituary
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 24 July 2006
Obituary
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 26 July 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Heywood, Tim 1914 births 2006 deaths People educated at Eton College British Army personnel of World War II British Yeomanry officers Royal Corps of Signals officers Alumni of the Royal Agricultural University Middlesex Yeomanry officers