Lieutenant General Sir Bertie Drew Burdett Fisher, KCB, CMG, DSO (13 July 1878 – 24 July 1972) was a British Army general during the Second World War.
Military career
Fisher was commissioned into the 17th Lancers as second lieutenant on 23 May 1900,[2] and served in the Second Boer War, during which he was promoted to lieutenant on 29 July 1901.[3] Following the end of the war, he returned from Cape Town to England in the SS Maplemore in August 1902.[4]
Fisher went to the Staff College in 1911.[2] In 1913 he learned to fly,[5] and became a General Staff Officer in the Military Aeronautics Department at the War Office.[2] He served in the First World War, initially as a brigade major in the 6th Cavalry Brigade, which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force,[2] and then, after serving as commander of the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1915, as general staff officer, grade 1 (GSO1), essentially chief of staff, of the 1st Cavalry Division, holding this post from August 1915 until January 1918.[2][6] He was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel while holding his appointment.[7] He was then appointed commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade later in the year.[2]
After the war, Fisher was the commander of the 17th Lancers at the time of their amalgamation with the 21st Lancers in 1922.[2] He took command of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in 1923 and was the commandant of the Senior Officer School in 1927.[2] He was then a Brigadier on the General Staff at Aldershot Command from 1930 and Director Recruiting and Organisation at the War Office from 1932.[2] He became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1934 and retired in 1938.[2] He had been promoted to lieutenant general in June 1931.[8]
Fisher was recalled from retirement during the Second World War to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Southern Command from 1939 to 1940, when he retired again.[2] He lived in Basingstoke in Hampshire.[9]
Family
Fisher married Majorie Frances Boyd; they had two sons.[9]
References
- ^ "No. 35418". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 January 1942. p. 273.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Fisher, Bertie Drew". Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
- ^ "No. 27369". The London Gazette. 29 October 1901. p. 6982.
- ^ "The Army in South Africa – Return of Troops". The Times. No. 36847. London. 15 August 1902. p. 4.
- ^ The Royal Aero Club – Notices Flight Global, 6 September 1913
- ^ "No. 29177". The London Gazette. 1 June 1915. p. 5214.
- ^ "No. 29307". The London Gazette. 24 September 1915. p. 9435.
- ^ "No. 33726". The London Gazette. 16 June 1931. p. 3916.
- ^ a b Boyd Archived October 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
Bibliography
- Davies, Frank (1997). Bloody Red Tabs: General Officer Casualties of the Great War 1914–1918. London: Pen & Sword Books. ISBN 978-0-85052-463-5.
- Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 1844150496.
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