Alfred Dudley Ward

Sir Dudley Ward
Lieutenant-General Sir Dudley Ward (centre) visiting the Netherlands in 1959.
Born(1905-01-27)27 January 1905
Avenue Road, Wimborne, Dorset, England[1]
Died28 December 1991(1991-12-28) (aged 86)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service / branchBritish Army
Years of service1926–1965
RankGeneral
Service number41238
UnitDorsetshire Regiment
King's Regiment (Liverpool)
CommandsGibraltar (1962–65)
Near East Command (1960–62)
British Army of the Rhine (1957–59)
I Corps (1951–52)
Staff College, Camberley (1948–51)
4th Infantry Division (1944–45)
17th Infantry Brigade (1943–44)
231st Infantry Brigade (1943)
43rd (Wessex) Reconnaissance Regiment (1941–42)
Battles / warsSecond World War
AwardsKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Mentioned in Despatches
Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)
Other workDeputy Lieutenant of Suffolk
Hon. Colonel University Training Corps (Liverpool) (1951–57)[2][3]
Colonel Commandant, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (1958–63)[4][5]
Colonel, King's Regiment (Liverpool) (1957)[6]

General Sir Alfred Dudley Ward, GCB, KBE, DSO, DL (27 January 1905 – 28 December 1991), commonly known as Sir Dudley Ward, was a senior British Army officer who saw distinguished active service during the Second World War and later became Governor of Gibraltar. Serving as an ordinary soldier for three years before being sent for officer training in 1926, slow peacetime career progression saw Ward achieving the rank of captain only in 1937. However, the Second World War, which began just two years later, allowed him to demonstrate his high ability as both a staff officer and a commander of troops in the field. Receiving command of the 4th Infantry Division at the unusually young age of 39 years and 3 months old, he led the division in Italy and Greece from 1944 to 1945. After the war ended in 1945, Ward went on to hold several staff and field appointments at the highest levels, including Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff (DCIGS) and Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine, retiring as a full general in 1965.

  1. ^ Warner, Philip (2004). "Ward, Sir (Alfred) Dudley (1905–1991), army officer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50667. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ "No. 39179". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 March 1951. p. 1561.
  3. ^ "No. 40995". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 February 1957. p. 870.
  4. ^ "No. 41331". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 March 1958. p. 1587.
  5. ^ "No. 42920". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 February 1963. p. 1401.
  6. ^ "No. 41034". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 March 1957. p. 1945.