Allegiance United Kingdom Died 1963 Years of service 1914-1954 Service/branch British Army | Service number 8634 Rank Lieutenant-general Name Arthur Dowler | |
Commands held 1st Bn East Surrey Regiment
2nd Infantry Brigade
38th (Welsh) Division
East Africa Command Battles/wars First World War
Second World War Education Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Awards Order of the Bath, Order of the British Empire | ||
Battles and wars World War I, World War II | ||
Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur (Arnhold Bullick) Dowler KCB KBE DL (16 July 1895 – 14 November 1963) was a senior British Army officer who was General Officer Commanding (GOC) East Africa Command.
Military career
Educated at Tonbridge School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Dowler was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the East Surrey Regiment in 1914. He served in the First World War with the 2nd Battalion, East Surreys in France and Belgium.
Attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1931−1932, alongside Brian Horrocks, Sidney Kirkman, Cameron Nicholson and Thomas Rees, Dowler also saw active service in the Second World War, initially in 1939 as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and then as a General Staff Officer (GSO) with the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. In 1940 he was promoted to Brigadier on the General Staff of V Corps and subsequently commanded the 2nd Infantry Brigade. He was involved in the Narvik expedition in 1940, part of the Norwegian Campaign. In 1942 he was made General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division and then Major-General in charge of Administration of Southern Command. He was put in charge of Administration for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF) in 1944.
After the war he was appointed Chief of Staff of the British Army of the Rhine, before becoming Director of Infantry at the War Office in 1947. He was GOC East Africa Command from 1948 to 1951 and subsequently Colonel of the East Surrey Regiment until his resignation in 1954. In May 1958 he became Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey.