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Ronald Weeks, 1st Baron Weeks

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Lord Weeks
Born(1890-11-13)13 November 1890
Durham, County Durham, England[1]
Died19 August 1960(1960-08-19) (aged 69)
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
RankLieutenant-General
Service number51084
Battles / warsWorld War I
World War II
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross & Bar

Lieutenant-General Ronald Morce Weeks, 1st Baron Weeks KCB, CBE, DSO, MC & Bar, TD (13 November 1890 – 19 August 1960) was a British Army general during the Second World War.

Military career

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Lady Weeks, wife of Lieutenant General Sir Ronald Weeks, Deputy Chief of Imperial Staff, walking with Commander E R Micklem, CBE, Managing Director of Vickers Armstrong, at the Vickers Armstrong Yard in Barrow-in-Furness.

Weeks was commissioned into the South Lancashire Regiment of the Territorial Army in 1913.[2] He served in the Rifle Brigade during the First World War and then retired from military service in 1919.[2]

He was re-employed during the Second World War, initially as Chief of Staff for the Territorial Division and then as a brigadier on the General Staff of Home Forces in 1940.[2] He was promoted to acting major-general on 17 March 1941[3] and was appointed Director General of Army Equipment in 1941 and Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1942.[2] He then became Deputy Military Governor and Chief of Staff of the British Zone for the Allied Control Council in Germany in 1945; in that capacity he was involved in negotiations to avoid the Berlin Blockade.[4] He retired from the British Army later that year.[2]

He was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in 1917,[5] and a Bar to the MC in 1918. The citation for his MC reads:[6]

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during lengthy operations. It was largely due to his courage and able leadership that the counter-attack of two battalions against a hostile position was successful. During a subsequent withdrawal he carried out some very valuable and gallant reconnaissance work.

He was appointed to the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1918,[7] made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1939[8] and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1943.[9] He was also mentioned in dispatches three times for his service during the First World War.[1]

Later life

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After the war, Weeks became Chairman of Vickers.[10] In 1956 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Weeks, of Ryton in the County Palatine of Durham.[11]

Marriages and children

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Weeks married Evelyn Elsie Haynes on 21 April 1922. They were divorced in 1930. On 3 February 1931, he married Cynthia Mary Irvine. With his second wife he had two daughters:[12]

Weeks died on 19 August 1960, aged 69, when, in the absence of male heirs, the barony became extinct.

References

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  1. ^ a b Smart 2005, p. 327.
  2. ^ a b c d e Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  3. ^ "No. 35118". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 March 1941. p. 1783.
  4. ^ Berlin Airlift: The Salvation of a City By Jon Sutherland, Diane Canwell, Page 11 Pelican, 2008, ISBN 978-1-58980-550-7
  5. ^ "No. 29886". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1917. p. 43.
  6. ^ "No. 30813". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 July 1918. p. 8767.
  7. ^ "No. 30450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1918. p. 27.
  8. ^ "No. 34585". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 January 1939. p. 8.
  9. ^ "No. 36033". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1943. p. 2419.
  10. ^ Rotol-Messier Apprentices Rewarded Flight, 20 May 1955
  11. ^ "No. 40827". The London Gazette. 10 July 1956. p. 4025.
  12. ^ "Lord Weeks". The Peerage. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  13. ^ "Obituary of Henry Walter Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax". Daily Echo. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2018.

Bibliography

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  • Smart, Nick (2005). Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 1844150496.
[edit]
Military offices
Preceded by
None
 Deputy Chief of the Imperial General Staff
1942–1945 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Weeks
1956–1960 		Extinct
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