Harold Franklyn

General Sir Harold Edmund Franklyn, (28 November 1885 − 31 March 1963) was a British Army officer who fought in both the First and the Second World Wars. He is most notable for his command of the 5th Infantry Division during the Battle of France in May/June 1940.

Early life and First World War Harold Edmund Franklyn was born in Cork, County Cork, Ireland, on 28 November 1885, the son of William Franklyn, a British Army officer who later became a lieutenant general. where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into his father's regiment, the Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment) on 16 August 1905. Promoted to lieutenant on 16 January 1908, he married Monica Belfield, daughter of Lieutenant General Herbert Belfield, in 1913; they had one daughter and one son. By 1914, the year of his father's death and the outbreak of the First World War, he was attending the Staff College, Camberley.

Franklyn served in the First World War, mainly on the Western Front and as a staff officer. After having served as a General Staff Officer Grade 3 and a brigade major, Franklyn was promoted to brevet major on 3 June 1916, and served on the operations staff of the 21st Division, also a Kitchener's Army unit, and was involved in the division's preparations for the Battle of the Somme. and served at the Staff College, Camberley, as Deputy Assistant Adjutant General (DAAG) from 31 August 1925 until 31 August 1928. he became Commanding officer of the regiment's 1st Battalion in 1930, and transferred to the Sudan Defence Force in 1933, initially as a General Staff Officer and then from 1935 until 1938 as Commandant. on his forty-eighth birthday, he was, on 29 January 1938, promoted to major general (with seniority backdated to 1 January 1938). In December 1938, he returned to Britain where he was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 5th Infantry Division. The division was stationed in and around Catterick in North Yorkshire under the control of Northern Command, but was severely understrength having recently returned from Palestine. In late 1939, he was appointed a Grand Officer of the Order of the Nile in recognition of his service in Sudan.

Second World War France and Belgium When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the division was not fully formed and arrived piecemeal in France over the next few weeks and months as independent formations where it became part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The divisional HQ only arrived in France in mid-December. Although the 15th Brigade saw contact with the enemy on the Saar front in January and February, the division, as a whole, saw little action, and time was spent digging defensive positions in expectation of a repeat of the trench warfare of the First World War. In April, the 15th Brigade was detached from the division for participation in the disastrous Norwegian campaign, leaving Franklyn's 5th Division with just two infantry brigades.

The War Office in London had intended for the 5th Division to return to the United Kingdom as a reserve. On 19 July, Franklyn relinquished command of the 5th Division, was promoted to acting lieutenant general on 19 July, and ordered to establish a new VIII Corps. With fears throughout the country of a German invasion, Franklyn was responsible for the defence of the counties of Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, a very long line of coast to defend, but one which was considered a less likely invasion target.

In May 1941, Franklyn was appointed as C-in-C of Northern Ireland and left VIII Corps. and permanent on 30 September. Franklyn was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 1 January 1943, and remained in his post as C-in-C Northern Ireland until 23 July 1943 when he was promoted to the rank of full general and became Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces. In May 1946, he was appointed chairman of the Battles Nomenclature Committee for the Second World War. He retired to Newbury, Berkshire, where he died on 31 March 1963, four years after the death of his wife, at the age of 77, from a heart attack.