Douglas Brownrigg

Sir

Douglas Brownrigg
Sir; Douglas Brownrigg
Born	21 April 1886; Chelsea, London, England
Died	7 February 1946 (aged 59); South Kensington, London, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1905–1940
Rank	Lieutenant general
Service number	23103
Unit	Sherwood Foresters
Commands	159th (Welsh Border) Infantry Brigade; 51st (Highland) Division
Battles / wars	World War I; World War II
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath; Distinguished Service Order; Mentioned in dispatches (6)

Lieutenant General Sir Wellesley Douglas Studholme Brownrigg KCB DSO (21 April 1886 – 7 February 1946) was a senior British Army officer who became Military Secretary.

Military career

Brownrigg was educated at Mulgrave Castle and later entered and then graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was commissioned into the 1st Battalion, the Sherwood Foresters in 1905.^[1]^[2] He became adjutant of his regiment in 1910.^[2]

He served in the First World War in the 13th Division and fought at Gallipoli in 1915 and then in Mesopotamia during the remaining years of the war.^[2] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916. He ended the war in 1918 as a lieutenant colonel, and had also been mentioned in dispatches six times.^[1]

After the War he became deputy assistant adjutant general at the War Office and, after attending the Staff College, Camberley, from 1920 to 1921, then became an instructor at the Royal Military College Sandhurst.^[2]^[1] He returned to the War Office as a general service officer in 1923 and became assistant adjutant and quartermaster general for the Shanghai Defence Force in China in 1927.^[2] He was placed in charge of Administration for the North China Command in 1928.^[2] He was appointed commander of 159th (Welsh Border) Infantry Brigade in 1933 and general officer commanding 51st (Highland) Division in 1935.^[2]

He became Military Secretary in 1938 and director general of the Territorial Army in 1939.^[2]

He took part in World War II as adjutant-general of the British Expeditionary Force in 1939. He was subjected to some criticism for his erratic orders during the defence of Calais,^[3] and was involuntarily retired in 1940.^[2]

He was a sector and zone commander for the Home Guard for the rest of the war.^[2] In late 1942, Brownrigg was employed as the military advisor for the British film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. The film was about an officer called Major-General Wynne-Candy, whose fictional career was rather similar to Brownrigg's, as he had served with distinction in the First World War, was forcibly retired after Dunkirk and then had taken a senior role in the Home Guard.^[4]

Personal life

In 1919 he married Mona Jeffreys.^[5] Sir Douglas and Lady Brownrigg were keen dog breeders who imported two of the first Shih Tzus into the United Kingdom from China.^[6] His memoirs; Unexpected (a book of memories), were published in 1942.^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Smart 2005, p. 47.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j "Brownrigg, Douglas". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ Neave, Airey (1972). The Flames of Calais. Holder and Stoughton.
^ Penny, Summerfield; Peniston-Bird, Corinna (2007). Contesting Home Defense: Men, Women, and the Home Guard in the Second World War. Manchester University Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-0719062025.
^ "Douglas Brownrigg". Unit Histories. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
^ "Early days with Lady Brownrigg". Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
^ Brownrigg, Douglas (1942). Unexpected (A Book of Memories). Hutchinson.

Bibliography

Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.

External links

Military offices
Preceded by Sir James Burnett	GOC 51st (Highland) Division 1935–1938	Succeeded by Victor Fortune
Preceded by Viscount Gort	Military Secretary 1938−1939	Succeeded by Sir George Giffard