Francis Hoare | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Francis Richard Gurney Hoare |
| Born | 14 December 1879 Frognal, Hampstead, London |
| Died | 31 May 1959 (aged 79) Pretoria, Transvaal, Union of South Africa |
| Allegiance | South Africa |
| Service | South African Air Force |
| Years of service |
|
| Rank | Major General |
| Commands | Director-General of Technical Services |
| Wars | World War I |
| Awards |   |
Major General Francis Richard Gurney Hoare CB CBE (14 December 1879 – 31 May 1959) was a South African military commander.
Born in Frognal, Hampstead, London, he was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge.[1] He joined the British Army in 1894.[2] He served in the Anglo-Boer War, after which he settled in the Transvaal as a civil servant. [2][3]
He joined the Transvaal Horse Artillery in 1912. Shortly after the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he was seconded to the British Army as an officer in the Army Ordnance Department. From there he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917.[2]
Lt Col Hoare returned to South Africa after the war, and became a founder member of the South African Air Force on its formation in 1920. He was Staff Officer for Air Equipment at Defence Headquarters from 1921 to 1933.[4]
From 1933 to 1937, he served as the Union Defence Forces' Director Of Technical Services, and was briefly Director of Air and Technical Services (with the rank of colonel) before retiring in 1937.[2]
He returned to active duty in 1939 and served as Director-General of Technical Services again from 1939 to 1940. For the rest of World War II, he was involved in arms production and procurement.[5] He retired again at the end of the war.
- ^ "Hoare, Francis Richard Gurney (HR898FR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b c d Poel, Jean van der (2007). Jean van der Poel (ed.). Selections from the Smuts papers, vol. VII (Digitally printed 1. pbk. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. p. 402. ISBN 9780521033701. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
- ^ "National Archives of South Africa".
- ^ List of Officers of the Union Defence Forces (1921).
- ^ Orpen, N.; Martin, H.J. South Africa at War.