Adrian Gore (British Army officer)

Brigadier Adrian Clements Gore DSO (14 May 1900 − 7 June 1990 in Horton Priory, Kent) was a British Army officer who served with distinction in World War II. He won fame as a schoolboy cricketer for Eton College and was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1919.

Gore was a fast-medium bowler with a devastating late in-swing who demolished both adult and other schoolboy cricketers in 1918, having apparently not played the sport before. He took 51 wickets in all that season, at an average of 7.51 runs per wicket. With no first-class cricket played in the season, Wisden picked Gore and four other public school cricketers for its regular five Cricketers of the Year feature the following year. From 1921 to 1932, he played occasional first-class games for services and other amateur teams, finishing with 52 first-class career wickets at the respectable average of 21 runs apiece.

Military career

Born in Dunoon, Scotland, on 14 May 1900, Adrian Clements Gore was educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Upon passing out from the latter, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) on 17 December 1919.[1] He served during most of the interwar period with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment, initially in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence.[2]

By the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Gore was training officer for the Rifle Brigade and was serving at the regimental depot at Winchester.[2] In 1941 he was selected to command the Green Jackets Officer Cadet Training Unit (OCTU). The Rifle Brigade, along with the King's Royal Rifle Corps (KRRC), provided the motorised infantry battalions for the British Army's armoured divisions.[3]

He remained in this role until the following year when he was given command of the 10th Battalion, Rifle Brigade.He rose to the rank of Brigadier during World War II, successively commanding the 7th Motor, 2nd Infantry and 61st Infantry Brigades. He also briefly commanded the 6th Armoured Division while the division was on occupation duty in Austria.

References

  1. ↑ "No. 31754". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 January 1920. p. 1087.
  2. 1 2 Doherty, p. 176
  3. ↑ Doherty, p. 177

Bibliography

  • Irish Generals in the Second World War, Richard Doherty ( ISBN 0862813956)
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