John Fullerton Evetts

Lieutenant-General Sir John Fullerton Evetts, (30 June 1891 – 21 December 1988) was a senior British Army officer.

Early life and First World War Born in 1891 in Naini Tal, West Bengal, India, John Fullerton Evetts was educated at Lancing College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Upon passing out from Sandhurst, Evetts was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) on 19 September 1911. Among his fellow graduates were three future general officers, Kenneth Anderson, Eric Nares and Montagu Stopford.

Evetts, promoted on 1 July 1913 to lieutenant, fought on the Western Front during the First World War. Promoted to the temporary rank of captain on 10 August 1915, and captain on 1 October 1915, he was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in January 1918 and was mentioned in despatches while serving with the Machine Gun Corps (MGC). Serving from April 1917 as a brigade major with the 26th Brigade, part of the 15th (Scottish) Division, a Kitchener's Army formation, he ended the war as a temporary major, having been promoted to that rank on 9 February 1916.

Between the wars Reverting to the Cameronians after the MGC was disbanded, Evetts returned to England to attend the Staff College, Camberley from 1922 to 1923. Several fellow students were to become general officers, such as Charles Fullbrook-Leggatt, Thomas Hutton, Keith Simmons, and Gerald Smallwood.

He was seconded to the Iraqi Army from 1925 to 1928 and was Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG) at the War Office from 1932. In 1934 he transferred from the Cameronians to the Royal Ulster Rifles and was Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion of his new regiment from 1934. he commanded the 16th Infantry Brigade, He was appointed mayor of Nablus shortly after this.

He was rare for being popular both among Arab civilians and among Jewish communities he was tasked with protecting. Both groups "regarded him as fair". However, he was also personally sympathetic towards the aspirations of the Jewish settlers and "greatly disheartened" by the fact they were coming under attack.

For his services there he was mentioned in despatches in April 1939, and made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in April 1938.

Second World War During the Second World War Evetts was a Brigadier on the General Staff of Northern Command in India from 1939 and then he commanded the Western (Independent) District in India from 1940. He was Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff (ACIGS) from 1943