Francis Nosworthy

Lieutenant General Sir Francis Poitiers Nosworthy KCB DSO MC (21 September 1887 – 9 July 1971) was a British Army officer who became Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command during World War II.

Sir Francis Nosworthy
Born(1887-09-21)21 September 1887
Jamaica[1]
Died9 July 1971(1971-07-09) (aged 83)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1907−1945
RankLieutenant General
UnitRoyal Engineers
Commands held5th Infantry Brigade
IV Corps
IX Corps
West Africa Command
Battles/warsWorld War I
Third Anglo-Afghan War
World War II
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross

Military career

Educated at Exeter School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Nosworthy was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907.[2] He took part in the Abor and Mishmi expedition to India in 1912 and served in World War I as a General Staff Officer in France.[2] After taking part in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, he attended the Staff College, Quetta from 1919 to 1920,,and was appointed second-in-command (2IC) of the Sudan Defence Force in 1926, followed by attendance at the Imperial Defence College in 1931, he commanded the 5th Infantry Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1935 and Deputy Chief of the General Staff at Army Headquarters in India in 1938.[2]

He served in World War II as Commander of IV Corps from 1940: after the Norwegian Campaign ended, the Corps commanded most of the armoured reserves preparing to face the proposed German invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion), while the other corps headquarters which had been evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo were reorganised. Under Nosworthy's command IV Corps was envisaged as a counter-attack force.[3] He continued as Commander of IX Corps in Tunisia from 1942 and as Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command from 1943.[2] He retired in February 1945.[4]

References
  1. Smart, p. 236
  2. Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  3. Bryant: Alanbrooke diary 18 September 1940
  4. British Military History

Bibliography
  • Alanbrooke, Field Marshal Lord (2001). Danchev, Alex; Todman, Daniel (eds.). War Diaries 1939–1945. Phoenix Press. ISBN 1-84212-526-5.
  • Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
Military offices
Preceded by
Claude Auchinleck		 GOC IV Corps
1940–1941		 Succeeded by
Thomas Corbett
Preceded by
Edwin Morris		 GOC IX Corps
February–September 1942		 Succeeded by
John Crocker
Preceded by
George Giffard		 GOC West Africa Command
1943–1945		 Succeeded by
Brocas Burrows
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