Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart

Major General Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart CB, DSO, MC, KStJ (22 August 1919 – 15 June 1999), styled Lord Greenock until 1927, was a British Army officer who served as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin from 1970 until his retirement in 1973.

The Earl Cathcart
Born(1919-08-22)22 August 1919
Died15 June 1999(1999-06-15) (aged 79)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1939–1973
RankMajor General
Commands heldBritish Forces in Berlin (1970–73)
Yorkshire District (1969–70)
152nd Infantry Brigade (1965–66)
1st Battalion Scots Guards (1957–59)
Battles/warsSecond World War
AwardsCompanion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross
Mentioned in Despatches
Knight of the Order of St. John

Military career

Educated at Eton College and Magdelene College, Cambridge,[1] Cathcart was commissioned into the Scots Guards in 1939.[2]

He served in the Second World War and went on to be Adjutant at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst after the war.[3] He was made Adjutant of the Scots Guards in 1951 and Brigade Major for 4th Guards Brigade in 1954.[3] He then went on to be Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion Scots Guards in 1957.[3]

He was posted to Scottish Command in 1962 and became Commander of 152nd Infantry Brigade in 1965.[3] He next transferred to the Operations Division of Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in 1967 and then became General Officer Commanding Yorkshire District in 1969.[3] Finally he was appointed Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1970: he retired in 1973.[3]

In retirement from the British Army he became a Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords.[3]

Family

In 1946 he married Rosemary Clare Marie Gabrielle Smyth-Osborne: they went on to have one son and two daughters.[1] Following the death of his first wife, he married Marie Isobel Weldon in 1984.[1] She died in 2015.[4]

References

  1. Debrett's People of Today 1994
  2. "No. 34745". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 December 1939. p. 8088.
  3. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  4. Mariebelle Countess Cathcart (died 2015)
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir James Bowes-Lyon
Commandant, British Sector in Berlin
1970–1973
Succeeded by
Sir David Scott-Barrett
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
George Cathcart
Earl Cathcart
1927–1999
Succeeded by
Charles Cathcart
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