Years of service 1896 - 1940 Died 1949 Rank General Battles and wars World War I, World War II | Name Walter Kirke Service/branch British Army Allegiance United Kingdom | |
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Commands held 5th Infantry Division
Western Command
Territorial Army
Home Guard Battles/wars World War I
World War II Awards Order of the Bath, Order of St Michael and St George, Distinguished Service Order | ||
General Sir Walter Mervyn St George Kirke GCB CMG DSO (19 January 1877 – 2 September 1949) was the Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces during the Second World War.
Military career
Born the second son of Colonel St.George Mervyn Kirke RE and his wife Sarah, Walter Kirke was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1896. He served in Waziristan on the North West Frontier of India between 1901 and 1902.
He served in World War I as a General Staff Officer at GHQ in France and Belgium. In 1918 he became Deputy Director of Military Operations at the War Office and was then moved to Aldershot in 1922. In 1924 he was appointed Head of the British Military Mission to Finland and in 1925 President of Inter-Allied Commission of Investigation for Hungary.
Then in 1926 he became Deputy Chief of the General Staff for India moving on to be General Officer Commanding 5th Division in 1929. In 1933 he was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Western Command and in 1936 he became Director-General of the Territorial Army.
He served in World War II initially as Inspector-General of Home Defence and then as Commander in Chief of the British Home Guard: in that role he always thought that the threat of a German invasion was exaggerated. He retired in 1940.
He was also an Aide-de-Camp General to the King from 1937 to 1940.