Ivan de la Bere

Brigadier Sir Ivan de la Bere, (25 April 1893 – 27 December 1970) was a senior British Army officer, who played a prominent part in the Siege of Malta during the Second World War. He was later an official in the Royal Household.

Early life Ivan de la Bere was born on 25 April 1893, the son of John de la Bere of Battledown Manor, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Military career In 1913, de la Bere joined the British Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Dorsetshire Regiment. During the First World War he served two spells of duty in France and Belgium in 1914–15 and 1915–16, including a period attached to the Connaught Rangers, and was wounded. In 1916 he was seconded in the rank of captain to the Royal Flying Corps. In January 1918 de la Bere received a special staff appointment as a Conducting Officer in France, escorting visitors to the armies, and became an Assistant Press Officer in May 1918, retaining that appointment in the British Army of the Rhine after the Armistice with Germany.

Later career De la Bere retired from the army with the rank of brigadier after the Second World War and in 1947 was appointed Secretary-General of the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, an office within the Royal Household at St James's Palace responsible for administering a large part of the British Honours system. He was the author of The Queen's Orders of Chivalry (1961). He retired in 1960 and the following year was appointed an Extra Gentleman Usher to the Queen, a post that he held until his death.

Family On 7 October 1922, at All Soul's Church, St Marylebone, London, de la Bere married Marjorie Minton Haines, daughter of Noel Alexander Minton Haines. They had one child, a daughter, Elizabeth Ann de la Bere who predeceased him aged 18 years. Ann was aboard the MV Abosso (1 of 10 civilian casualties) when she was sunk by on 29 October 1942, in the Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and British Isles. De la Bere died on 27 December 1970.

Awards Sir Ivan's coat of arms is displayed on a stall plate at Westminster Abbey. During his life de la Bere received the following British and Foreign honours and awards: Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 1934, advanced to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1944. Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) 1950, advanced to Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in 1959. Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) 1957. Commander of the Order of St John Commander of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Commander of the Order of the White Elephant (Thailand) Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands) Officer of the Order of Radifan (Iraq) Officer of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark) Officer of the Order of the Polar Star (Sweden) Personal Order of the Shah of Persia