Noel Irwin

Early life and family

Noel Irwin was the eldest son of William Stuart Irwin of Motihari, Bihar and Orissa, India. He was educated at Marlborough College, before entry into the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

He was married twice; first in 1918 to Margaret Maud Bavin who died in 1963, and in 1966 to Mrs Elizabeth Collier (née Fröhlich). He had one son by his first wife.

First World War

Irwin graduated from Sandhurst in 1912 and was appointed as a second lieutenant in the Essex Regiment. During the later years of the First World War, Irwin saw action in France, serving as the commanding officer of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Lincolnshire Regiment and the 8th Battalion of the Leicestershire Regiment.

Between the wars

Following the end of the war, Irwin attended the Staff College, Camberley as a student from 1924 to 1925, his fellow students including Reade Godwin-Austen, Ivor Thomas, Douglas Graham, Noel Beresford-Pierse, Archibald Nye and Willoughby Norrie, Vyvyan Pope and Otto Lund. Following this, he served on the staff of the British Army of the Rhine . Between 1920 and 1932, he served in regimental and depot duties. In 1933, he was appointed as Chief Instructor at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst serving for three years.

In 1937, he served briefly as General Staff Officer, Grade 1 (GSO1) for British troops stationed in China.

Second World War

At the start of the Second World War, Irwin headed the 6th Infantry Brigade, part of the 2nd Division. On 20 May 1940, he took command of the division during the retreat to Dunkirk in the Battle of France.

Following the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940, Irwin commanded the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division in Britain. From November 1941 he commanded the XI Corps, which was based in East Anglia and had substantial responsibilities for the defence of Britain in the event of a German invasion.

He was transferred to the Middle East in 1942, to command of the IV Corps in Iraq. The Corps HQ was subsequently transferred to India after the Japanese conquest of Burma. Irwin became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Army in India in July 1942. Eastern Army had wide responsibilities for defending eastern frontier of India against the Japanese, and maintaining security in large areas of India.

For the minor attack in Arakan late in 1942, Irwin and Eastern Army HQ bypassed XV Corps HQ after disagreements with the local commander, Bill Slim, and took command of the operation. The attack failed, with severe effects on Allied morale and prestige. On 6 April 1943, Irwin gave a press conference in which he criticised the equipment, training and motivation of the Allied armies in India. Although his observations were admitted to be largely correct, Irwin's refusal to admit that any blame attached to himself and his staff was resented. He was relieved of his appointment and returned to Britain on sick leave.

In 1944, he was appointed the General Officer Commanding East Scotland District in his substantive rank of major general (a significant step-down from his previous three jobs), and remained in this post until the end of the war. After three years as Commander-in-Chief of British forces of the West Africa Command, during which time he was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant general, he retired to private life in 1948.

Honours and awards

During his military career, Irwin was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, was awarded the Military Cross and the Distinguished Service Order with two Bars. He was Mentioned in Despatches four times but significantly, he never received the knighthood which would normally be expected to accrue to an officer of substantive lieutenant general rank.