John Noble Kennedy

Major-General Sir John Noble Kennedy, (31 August 1893 – 15 June 1970) was a senior British Army officer who served as Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War.

Early life Kennedy was born on 31 August 1893 in Portpatrick, the son of the Minister James Russell Kennedy and his wife Sarah.

Military career Kennedy joined the Royal Navy in 1911 and then, after attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery in July 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. He saw action in France, Flanders and Egypt. He was awarded the Military Cross during his service, the citation for which reads:

Kennedy then served with the British Military Mission in South Russia during the Russian Civil War, for which he was mentioned in despatches.

After attending the Staff College, Camberley, from 1921 to 1922 (returning there as an instructor from 1931 to 1934), Kennedy, after relinquishing his post of GSO2 at the War Office in London on 22 October 1936, was appointed Deputy Director of Military Operations at the War Office in 1938. He was Governor of Southern Rhodesia from 1947 to 1953. Kennedy married Catherine Fordham (1905–1969) in 1942; on 2 January 1939 Fordham had been appointed lady-in-waiting to Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1870–1948).