Who's this - Sir Ronald Forbes ADAM

Picture of a British Lieut General(?), taken at St James footbal ground, Newcastle.

 

Just a stab at this point (I'll dig more later) and my guess is Sir Ronald Adam. He was GOC Northern Command in 1940-41 then Adjutant General 1941-46.

 

from the National Portrait Gallery
http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw108819/Sir-Ronald-Forbes-Adam-2nd-Bt

 

Looks a bit like John Harding to me.

FdeP

 

This is Harding; I'm sticking with Adam.

 

Yes, I think that you are right about Sir Ronald Adam - who was quite the unsung hero of the war too. He took on the military establishment in an effort to improve the quality of British Officers and his War Office Selection Board is still largely the same process as his vision created in 1941. That is some achievement.

Regards

FdeP

 

Sir Ronald Adam - is this what you are after?? pictures are available via the link, they have not pasted into this posting.
TD

http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_A04.html


Adam,
Sir Ronald Forbes
"Bill";
2nd Baronet



Eldest son (with two brothers and one sister) of Sir Frank Forbes Adam, 1st Bt (1846-1926), and Rose Frances Kemball (1863-1944), of Pownall House, Wilmslow, Cheshire.
Succeeded father, 22.12.1926.
Married (07.01.1915, Maidenhead district, Berkshire) Anna Dorothy Pitman (04.08.1892 - 02.05.1972), daughter (with one sister) of Frederick Islay Pitman (1862-1942), and Helen Isabel Jamieson (1866?-1944), of Braymead, Bray, Berkshire; four daughters.


30.10.1885
Bombay, India
-
26.12.1982
Faygate, Sussex
[buried at St Mary Magdalene churchyard, Rusper, near Horsham, Sussex] 2nd Lt. 27.07.1905 [1632] Lt. 27.07.1908 Capt. 30.10.1914 Maj. 14.11.1916 T/Lt.Col. 01.01.1923-30.12.1925 Bt. Lt.Col. 01.07.1926 Col. 09.10.1932, seniority 01.07.1930 T/Brig. 01.10.1936-23.09.1937 T/Maj.Gen. 24.09.1937-17.12.1937 Maj.Gen. 18.12.1937 T/Lt.Gen. 03.01.1938-23.10.1938 Lt.Gen. 24.10.1938 Gen. 12.04.1942 (supernumerary 30.10.1945) (retd 15.07.1946) GCB 01.01.1946 New Year 46 KCB 01.07.1941 HM's birthday 41 CB 02.01.1939 New Year 39 DSO 03.06.1918 Italy OBE 03.06.1919 HM's birthday 19: North Russia MID 30.05.1918 ? MID 06.01.1919 ? MID 05.06.1919 ? MID 20.12.1940 France 03-06.40 1914 Star & Clasp; British War Medal; Victory Medal Education: Fonthill, East Grinstead, Sussex; Eton College (1898.3-1902.3); Royal Military Academy, Woolwich; Staff College, Camberley (1920-1921); Hon. LLD (Aberdeen); idc. psc. 27.07.1905 commissioned, Royal Regiment of Artillery 1914 - 1918 served World War I (France & Belgium 26.09.1914-05.09.1916 & 11.05.1917-10.11.1917, Italy 11.11.1917-04.11.1918) (despatches, DSO, OBE) 08.07.1915 - 18.10.1915 Adjutant, ... 11.03.1918 - 17.04.1918 Brigade Major (Staff Officer RA) (Italy) 18.04.1918 - 08.10.1918 Brigade Major, RA (Italy) 09.10.1918 - 26.04.1919 General Staff Officer, 2nd grade (GSO2), RA (Italy) 21.06.1919 - 15.01.1920 Brigade Major, RA (Bordon) 01.04.1922 - 31.12.1922 General Staff Officer, 3rd grade (GSO3), War Office (London) 01.01.1923 - 30.12.1925 General Staff Officer, 2nd grade (GSO2), Staff College, Camberley 19.01.1927 - 18.01.1931 General Staff Officer, 2nd grade (GSO2), War Office (London) 09.10.1932 - 18.01.1935 General Staff Officer, 1st grade (GSO1) [Instructor], Staff College, Camberley 19.01.1935 - 30.09.1936 General Staff Officer, 1st grade (GSO1), War Office (London) 01.10.1936 - 13.11.1936 Deputy Director of Military Operations, War Office (London) 14.11.1936 - 23.09.1937 Commander Royal Artillery, 1st Division (Aldershot Command, UK) 24.09.1937 - 02.01.1938 Commandant (Major-General, General Staff), Staff College, Camberley 03.01.1938 - 24.10.1939 Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff, War Office (London) 25.10.1939 - 07.06.1940 General Officer Commanding, III Corps (UK, France & Belgium) 08.06.1940 - 02.06.1941 General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command (UK, [York]) 03.06.1941 - 1946 Adjutant-General to the Forces, War Office (London) Colonel Commandant, Royal Army Dental Corps (Representative 1950), 1945-1951. Colonel Commandant, Royal Artillery, 05.09.1940-1950. Colonel Commandant, Army Educational Corps, 23.10.1940-1950. Honorary Fellow, Worcester College, Oxford; President, United Nations Association.
President: MCC, 1946-47; Library Association, 1949; National Instititute of Adult Education, 1949-64; Chairman: Linoleum Working Party, 1946; National Institute Industrial Psychology, 1947-52; Council, Institute of Education, London University, 1948-67; Member, Miners Welfare Commission, 1946-52; Chairman and Director-General, British Council, 1946-54; Executive Board UNESCO, 1950-54, Chairman, 1952-54; Principal, Working Men's College, 1956-61.

 

I've just reviewed Roger Broad's biography of Adam ('The Radical General') for the National Army Museum, and indeed he was acutely aware that this was a citizen Army of temporary soldiers for the duration, not a recruitment pool for a post-war Army - and shook up selection procedures to make sure that skills fitted need (even if the individual didn't know it). There was a music hall joke in 1940.... "They asked me what I did in civvy street... I said I was a plumber, so they asked me to weld some pipes. I did; they said they were the best they'd ever seen.... so they made me a cook"

Churchill tried to sack him three times; on the last attempt Alanbrooke said that he would remain CIGS for as long as Adam was AG. Point taken. Adam's professional and personal friendship with Brooke was critical...

Mind you, one proposal he made really upset the Army; that the soldiers of a battalion should be allowed to nominate candidates from amongst the NCOs for officer training. How.... how.... socialist!

Bernard Paget, no slouch as a trainer himself and friendly towards Adam personally, described him as 'a menace to morale.'

 

Thanks for all the replies. I agree its Sir Ronald Adam.

I found the link to the National Portrait museum, about half an hour after I'd posted the thread,

going down the possible GOC Northern Command candidates, and was unable to delete the thread.

Thanks again