Died 1960 (aged 75 or 76) Service/branch British Army Name Michael Barker | Allegiance United Kingdom Rank Lieutenant-General | |
Unit Second Boer War
World War I
World War II Commands held 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment
British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan
I Corps
Aldershot Command | ||
Lieutenant-General Michael George Henry Barker CB, DSO (1884 – 1960) was a British Army general.
Military career
Barker was born 1884 in Wells District, Somerset. He joined the army as a second-lieutenant in the 4th (Militia) Battalion, the East Surrey Regiment on 28 February 1902, before accepting a commission in The Lincolnshire Regiment in 1903. He served throughout the First World War with the Lincolnshire Regiment and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1917. He commanded the 2nd Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment from 1927 to 1931 before being promoted to Brigadier as a staff officer at Eastern Command. He became Director of Recruiting and Organization at the War Office in 1936 and British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan in 1939.
He served as commander of I Corps in 1940, before being replaced by Lieutenant-General Harold Alexander. His performance there was undistinguished; his subordinate Montgomery remarked that "only a madman would give a corps to Barker." His active military service was finished, and he served for a year as head of Aldershot Command before retiring from the army later that year.
Barker died in 1960 in Colchester, Essex.