Allegiance United Kingdom Died 1989 Battles/wars World War II Battles and wars World War II | Name William Stratton Service/branch British Army Role British Army officer Rank Lieutenant-general | |
Commands held 169th Infantry Brigade
42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division
Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong Awards Order of the Bath, Royal Victorian Order, Order of the British Empire, Distinguished Service Order | ||
Lieutenant General Sir William Henry Stratton KCB, CVO, CBE, DSO (1903–1989) was a senior British Army officer who was Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong from 1955 to 1957.
Military career
Stratton was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1924. He was deployed to the Gold Coast before becoming Assistant Instructor at the Royal School of Military Engineering in 1933.
He served in the Second World War as a brigadier on the General Staff of General Headquarters Home Forces and then of the General Staff of the 8th Army in Italy. In 1944 he was appointed Commander of 169th Infantry Brigade.
After the war he was appointed Chief of Staff at British Army of the Rhine, a post he held until 1949 when he became Commandant of the Joint Services Staff College. In 1952 he became Head of the British Army Staff in Washington, D.C. He went on to be General Officer Commanding 42nd (East Lancashire) Infantry Division in 1953 and Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong in 1955. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1957 New Year Honours. His last post was Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1957; he retired in 1960.
He was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers from 1960 to 1968.