Francis Davidson

Major-General Francis Henry Norman Davidson, (1 April 1892 – 15 January 1973) was a British Army officer who served as the Director of Military Intelligence for much of the Second World War.

Military career Born on 1 April 1892, Francis Davidson was educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. From Woolwich he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Artillery on 23 December 1911. He saw active service in the First World War, during which he was wounded, mentioned in despatches four times, and was awarded the Military Cross and Bar. He was also awarded the Distinguished Service Order. That same year he became the Director of Military Intelligence, a position he held until 1944. He was subsequently on the British Army Staff in Washington, D.C. until his retirement from the regular army in 1946. He was made a Commander of the Legion of Merit in 1948.

Between 1952 and 1960 Davidson served as the Colonel Commandant of the Intelligence Corps. He spent his final years in Chelsea, London, where he died on 15 January 1973, at the age of 80.