Clement Arthur West

Major-General Clement Arthur West (13 August 1892 – 4 April 1972) was a senior British Army officer who fought in the First World War and the Second World War.

Military career Clement Arthur West was born on 13 August 1892 in Manmad, British India, the only son of Clement West. He went to England where he was educated at The King's School, Canterbury and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. After passing out from Woolwich, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Engineers of the British Army on 19 July 1912. Noel Martin, Colin Jardine, Harold Price-Williams and Bernard Young, all future general officers, were among his fellow graduates.

He first saw active service on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918, during which he was wounded, received the Military Cross and was twice mentioned in dispatches. Promoted to lieutenant on 27 August 1914, he ended the war with the rank of captain, having been promoted to that rank on 26 June 1917.

Between October 1934 and January 1936 West was Deputy Assistant Military Secretary at the War Office. In 1936 he attended the Imperial Defence College in London. (made temporary on 4 December 1943) between April 1943 and 1945 he served as a major-general on the Imperial General Staff in numerous positions. From 1945 until his retirement in 1946, West was major-general in charge of Administration, Southern Command.