Horace Birks

Major-General Horace Leslie Birks, (7 May 1897 – 25 March 1985) was a senior officer of the British Army who saw active service during both the First World War and the Second World War, where he commanded the 10th Armoured Division.

Military career Educated at University College School, Birks volunteered for military service in the British Army, joining the London Rifle Brigade in 1915 during the First World War and, after serving on the Western Front, was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Machine Gun Corps Heavy Branch in 1917 and fought at the Battle of Cambrai later that year.

Birks remained in the army after the war and was appointed an instructor at the Royal Tank Corps Schools in 1919. He was promoted to lieutenant in the Tank Corps in September 1923, with seniority dates back to July 1919.

After service in India and then as a General Staff Officer, grade 2 (GSO2) back in the United Kingdom at the War Office, he became an instructor at the Staff College, Quetta, in 1937.