Years of service 1938 - 1973 Battles and wars World War II Battles/wars Second World War | Name James Bowes-Lyon Rank Major-general Allegiance United Kingdom | |
Commands held 2nd Bn Grenadier Guards157th Lowland Brigade52nd Lowland Division DistrictBritish Forces in BerlinLondon District Awards Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian OrderCompanion of the Order of the BathOfficer of the Order of the British EmpireMilitary Cross and Bar | ||
Major General Sir Francis James Cecil Bowes-Lyon, KCVO, CB, OBE, MC & Bar (19 September 1917 – 1977) was a senior British Army officer who served as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin from 1968 to 1970.
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Military career
Bowes-Lyon was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in 1938, and served in the Guards Armoured Division during the Second World War.
In 1955 he became Commandant at the Guards Depot and in 1957 he was made Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion Grenadier Guards. He was appointed Military Assistant to Field Marshal Sir Francis Festing, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, in 1960 and Commander of 157th Lowland Brigade in 1963.
He went on to be General Officer Commanding 52nd Lowland Division District in 1966 and Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1968. In 1971 he was appointed Major-General commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District. He retired in 1973.
Personal life
Bowes-Lyon married Mary de Trafford, daughter of Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 4th Baronet. The couple had three children, two sons, John and David, and a daughter, Fiona. The family lived at Sennicotts in West Sussex.
A descendent of the 13th Earl of Strathmore, he was a Gentleman Usher to the Royal Household and a paternal first cousin of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.