Edmund Hakewill-Smith

Major-General Sir Edmund Hakewill-Smith, (17 March 1896 – 15 April 1986) was a senior British Army officer who served in both the First and Second World Wars.

Military career Hakewill-Smith was born in Kimberley, Cape Colony, on 17 March 1896. He was educated at the Diocesan College ("Bishops") in Rondebosch, Cape Town, and, during the First World War, he went to England to attend the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Scots Fusiliers, a line infantry regiment of the British Army, on 16 June 1915. He served with the 2nd (Regular) Battalion of his regiment on the Western Front, where he was wounded twice and, during the final Hundred Days Offensive in the latter half of 1918, was awarded the Military Cross. The citation for the award read: quote|For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during the nine miles' advance east of Ypres on 28th, 29th and 30th September, 1918. On the 28th he successfully filled a gap in the front line at a critical moment. On the 29th, when he was the only platoon officer left in his company, he took command of two platoons, and showed admirable coolness and determination in dealing with machine-gun nests, which were holding up the company on his right. He later served on the staff of the War Office from 1934 to 1936. He then became Director of Organization at the War Office, before assuming command of the 155th Infantry Brigade in mid-February 1943. On 26 December, after his major-general's rank was made temporary, he assumed command of the mountain warfare-trained 52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division from Major General Neil Ritchie as its General Officer Commanding (GOC). He commanded the 52nd Division during the last few months of the campaign in North-West Europe from October 1944 until May 1945. He served as the Honorary Colonel of the Royal Scots Fusiliers from 1946 to 1957. later being appointed Lieutenant Governor of the castle (1964–1972) and was created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1967. He died in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey in 1986 at the age of 90.