Charles Loyd

Born on 12 February 1891 in Belgravia, Westminster, London, the son of Edward Henry Loyd, Charles Loyd was educated at Eton[2] and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Coldstream Guards as a second lieutenant on 3 September 1910. Another future general, Arthur Smith, was among his fellow graduates.[3]

He served on the Western Front during the First World War with the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, then part of the 4th (Guards) Brigade of the 2nd Division, and was wounded in action four times, thrice mentioned in despatches, including on 1 January 1918,[4] awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO),[5] the Military Cross in 1915[6] and the French Croix de guerre.[7][8][9] He was also, by war's end, a brevet lieutenant colonel and, as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, one of the youngest battalion commanders in the British Army.[9]

After the war Loyd was selected for the first postwar course at the Staff College, Camberley from 1919–1920.[9][8] In 1922 he married Lady Moya Brodrick, the youngest daughter of the St John Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton; they had two children, a daughter, Lavinia Gertrude Georgiana, born on 21 December 1923, and a son, Julian St. John, born on 25 May 1926.[10][8] In 1925 he returned to the Staff College, this time as an instructor, until 1926 when he was appointed CO of the 3rd Battalion, Coldstream Guards.[9]

He was promoted to regimental commander, commanding the Coldstream Guards regimental district, in 1932.[11] In 1934, he became a staff officer at the War Office, moving on to be a brigadier on the General Staff of British Troops in Egypt in 1936.[11] In 1938, he was appointed commander of the 1st (Guards) Brigade, then part of the 1st Infantry Division.[11][8] In June 1939 he was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 2nd Infantry Division, three months before the outbreak of the Second World War.[12]

His division, comprising the 4th, 5th and 6th Infantry Brigades and supporting units, was sent to France soon after war began, where it formed part of Lieutenant General Sir John Dill's I Corps of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). The division fought in the Battle of France and the subsequent retreat to Dunkirk where it was withdrawn to England in the Dunkirk evacuation. However, on 16 May 1940, Loyd fainted during a conference and was evacuated to England, with command of the 2nd Division passing to Brigadier Noel Irwin, commander of the 6th Brigade.[9]

In 1941, after serving as Director of Infantry at the War Office in succession to Major General Henry Willcox, he became Chief of the General Staff (CGS) to General Sir Alan Brooke, the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces, who had been a fellow student at the Staff College shortly after the First World War and thought highly of "Budget" Loyd, before moving on to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Southern Command in March 1942.[12][9] Knighted the following year, his last appointment was as Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and GOC London District in March 1944, a post which he held until he retired from the army, after the war, in 1947, after receiving a promotion to full general in 1946.[12][9]

Grave of General Sir Charles Loyd in Peper Harow, Surrey.

In retirement he was a Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk.[13] He lived at Geldeston Hall in Norfolk.[13] He was a Justice of the Peace for the county in 1954, and from 1945 to 1966 he served as Colonel of the Coldstream Guards, after having his knighthood enhanced in 1965.[9]

• Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.

• British Army Officers 1939−1945
• Generals of World War II