Walter Venning

General Sir Walter King Venning, (17 January 1882 – 19 June 1964) was a British Army officer and administrator who served in both World Wars. Known for his competency as an administrator, he served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 1939 to 1942 and Director General of the British Supply Mission in Washington, D.C. from 1942 to 1945. He saw service with the West African Frontier Force from 1907 to 1910.

Venning saw active service in the First World War, earning the Military Cross in the King's 1915 Birthday Honours. He was promoted to deputy assistant adjutant general at the General Headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force, and then to Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office.

In 1934 he returned to the British Army as director of movements and quartering at the War Office.

In the Second World War, Venning served as Quartermaster-General to the Forces from 2 February 1939 to 1942; in this capacity he had responsibility for the War Office Fleet, which he despatched to Dunkirk in 1940 to evacuate Allied forces. According to The Times, "It was due to the superb organization which [Venning] created and directed that the mobilization of the Regular Army in 1939, the embodiment of the Territorial Army and the embarkation of the expeditionary force were carried out with such astonishing smoothness." Venning retired from the army at the age of 60 and as a civilian served as Director General of the British Supply Mission in Washington, D.C., from 1942 to 1945.