Eric Goddard

Lieutenant-General Eric Norman Goddard CB CIE CBE LVO MC and bar (6 July 1897 – 11 June 1992) was a regular soldier of the Indian Army who rose to the position of General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command, India.

Early life The third son of Arthur Goddard, a London Chartered accountant, by his marriage to Isabel Catherine Roberts, he was born in London, educated at Dulwich College, then attended Quetta Cadet College in India and was commissioned into the Unattached List for the Indian Army 15 November 1915 and was admitted to the Indian Army 18 November 1915 and was posted to the 107th Pioneers.

Military career From October 1916 he was attached to the 128th Pioneers, with whom Goddard saw active service in Mesopotamia, Persia and Kurdistan between 1916 and 1919, being twice mentioned in despatches, made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire and receiving the Military Cross.

He was a General Staff Officer 3 grade at Army Headquarters, India, from 1923 to 1925. In March 1929 he joined the 3rd Battalion, 12th Frontier Force Regiment. He passed the Staff College, Quetta, in 1928–29, where his fellow students were John Crocker, Colin Gubbins, Douglas Gracey, Lionel Cox, Harold Lewis and Henry Davies, all future generals. After this he was posted as brigade major to the Nowshera Brigade from 1932 to 1934, seeing active service in the Chitral relief operation of 1932 (when he was again mentioned in despatches and gained a bar to his MC) and in the Mohmand operations of 1933 (again mentioned in despatches). He was promoted brevet major in 1933 and from April 1934 to April 1936 was a general staff officer grade 2 in Eastern Command. Appointed officer in command the King's Indian Orderly Officers, 1936, when he was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (4th class) and in December became commandant of the 4th Battalion, 15th Punjab Regiment.

In April 1939 he was promoted brevet colonel and colonel in command of administration, Burma Army, then in November 1940 brigade commander of the Landi Kotal Brigade.

On his retirement from the Indian Army and the Southern Command in 1948, Goddard was succeeded by Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja, the first Indian officer to take on the post.

Later career Goddard returned to Europe from India and next took on a special appointment to the Control Commission for Germany, serving from 1949 to 1953. He was director of Civil Defence for the North-Western Region of England, based in Manchester, from 1955 to 1963.

Honours Officer of the Order of the British Empire, 1919 Military Cross, January 1920 Member of the Royal Victorian Order, 4th Class (MVO) 1936 - regraded as Lieutenant (LVO) in 1984 Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 1942 Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, 1944 Companion of the Bath, 1947