Major-GeneralSir Ivor Thomas Percival Hughes,KCVO, CB, CBE, DSO, MC, DL (21 December 1897 – 16 August 1962) was a seniorBritish Army officer who fought in both theworld wars. During theSecond World War he commanded the44th (Home Counties) Division during theBattle of Alam el Halfa and theSecond Battle of El Alamein in late 1942 and later becameSerjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons.

Ivor Hughes was born inSussex, England, on 21 December 1897, the son of Revt. F. G. Hughes and was educated atWellington College, Berkshire.^[2] He joined theBritish Army during theFirst World War and, after entering theRoyal Military College, Sandhurst, graduated on 16 August 1916,^[3] beingcommissioned as asecond lieutenant into theQueen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment).^[4] Soon afterwards he was sent to theWestern Front, where he joined the 1st Battalion of his regiment, then serving in the100th Brigade of the33rd Division, later transferring to the19th Brigade. He was to remain with the battalion for the rest of the war. During his service in Belgium and France he was, in addition to being twice wounded,mentioned in despatches and awarded theMilitary Cross (MC).^[4][2] The citation for his MC reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. After his company commander had been wounded, he led the company with great determination and pluck until severely wounded, and was responsible for several enemy attacks being repulsed with considerable enemy loss. Throughout he set a fine example to his men.^[5]

Remaining in the army during theinterwar period, Hughes was posted to the 2nd Battalion, Queen's in 1919 and, by now alieutenant, went with the battalion toIndia, where he became the battalion's assistantadjutant.^[4] During his time serving on theNorth-West Frontier he was mentioned in despatches and awarded theIndian General Service Medal.^[4] Hughes was appointed as adjutant to the battalion in 1925 and returned with the battalion to England in 1927.^[4] Hughes, by now acaptain,^[6] then attended theStaff College, Camberley from 1929 to 1930,^[7] where his fellow students included numerous futuregeneral officers, such asNeil Ritchie,Herbert Lumsden andGeorge Erskine,Reginald Denning,Hugh Stable,Kenneth Crawford,Temple Gurdon,Neil McMicking,I. S. O. Playfair,Harold Redman,James Elliott, andHarold Freeman-Attwood.^[2]

After returning to his regiment, this time with the 2nd Battalion, for a year, he was posted toScottish Command as astaff officer, from 1932 to 1934, later being sent toDover, Kent as abrigade major to the12th Brigade until 1935.^[2] He then left the army and became AssistantSerjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons from 1935 to 1939. In 1937 he becamesecond-in-command (2IC) of the 4th Battalion, Queen's, aTerritorial Army (TA) unit, and in 1938 commanded the battalion, later overseeing its conversion to a searchlight regiment of theRoyal Artillery, whereupon it was redesignated63rd (Queen's) Searchlight Regiment, Royal Artillery. However, his duties atWestminster forced him to relinquish command in early 1939.^[4]

Hughes rejoined the army in November 1939, two months after theSecond World War began, and soon becameCommanding officer (CO) of the 1/6th Battalion, Queen's, another TA unit, then serving as part of the131st Infantry Brigade of the44th (Home Counties) Infantry Division, then commanded byMajor GeneralEdmund Osborne.^[4] After several months of training inDorset, the battalion was sent overseas to France, arriving there in early April 1940 where it became part of theBritish Expeditionary Force (BEF).^[4] Only a few weeks later theGerman Army launched itsattack in the West, and the battalion moved up to theRiver Escaut and was ordered to hold the line there. The Germans attacked in force and Hughes' battalion met them and were, for 36 hours, engaged in severe fighting, which resulted in the Germans breaking through on the battalion's flanks, forcing Hughes to order his battalion to retreat to avoid complete encirclement.^[8] The greatly depleted battalion eventually, along with most of the rest of the BEF, made their way back toDunkirk, and were subsequentlyevacuated to England.^[4] Hughes, for his leadership of the battalion in France, was awarded theDistinguished Service Order (DSO).^[2]

Soon afterwards the battalion, along with the rest of the brigade and the division, now commanded by Major GeneralArthur Percival, reorganised inOxford, later being sent toLincolnshire, and began anti-invasion duties in the event of aGerman invasion.^[8] Hughes, in late October, was promoted tobrigadier and given command of the219th Independent Infantry Brigade (Home), one of the many newly raised units composed almost entirely ofconscripts, most of whom were civilians with little to no previous military experience, created specifically for static beach defence. The brigade, woefully short of basic weaponry, served inKent under various divisions. Hughes remained with the brigade until early May 1941 when he returned to the 44th Division, then commanded by Major GeneralNoel Mason-MacFarlane (but replaced in late June by Major GeneralBrian Horrocks) and serving in Kent, this time to command the 131st Brigade, fulfilling much the same role as the 219th Brigade had, that of beach defence.^[4] Hughes remained with the brigade until mid-March 1942 when he was promoted to major general^[9] and becameGeneral Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 44th Division, succeeding Major General Horrocks, who received another appointment to become GOC of the9th Armoured Division.^[4] Horrocks later wrote in his autobiography that he, "hated having to leave this [44th] division, which I had been training for nine months, though it was some consolation to know that I was to be succeeded by Ivor Hughes, a 'Queensman' himself, who had been commanding the 131st Queens Brigade. He was the perfect choice, and he would, I knew, be very popular."^[10]

The 44th Division – comprising the 131st,132nd,133rd Infantry Brigades and supporting divisional troops – was serving in Kent as part ofLieutenant GeneralJames Gammell'sXII Corps, part ofSouth-Eastern Command under Lieutenant GeneralBernard Montgomery, and, soon after Hughes took command, was ordered to prepare for overseas service.^[4] The division, destined for North Africa, moved toGlasgow,Scotland, in late May and, after being at sea for almost two months, finally arrived inEgypt in late July and, moving some 60 miles east ofCairo, commenced training fordesert warfare.^[4][11]

However, in mid-August, the division was ordered byGeneralSir Harold Alexander, the newly appointedCommander-in-chief (C-in-C)Middle East Command, to join theBritish Eighth Army atEl Alamein.^[4][12] Lieutenant GeneralBernard Montgomery, the new GOC Eighth Army, who knew the division well after having it under his command in England, had specifically requested that the 44th Division be sent forward. Arriving on 15 August, the division was assigned toXIII Corps, under Lieutenant General Brian Horrocks, Hughes' predecessor as GOC of the 44th Division, and began relieving elements of the5th Indian Infantry Division on the Alam Halfa Ridge, and the 132nd Brigade was temporarily detached to Lieutenant GeneralBernard Freyberg's2nd New Zealand Division.^[4] The division's first engagement came over two weeks later, during theBattle of Alam el Halfa, which saw the detached 132nd Brigade under BrigadierLashmer "Bolo" Whistler, taking part in Operation Beresford, suffer almost 700 casualties, with the rest of the division's losses being relatively light.^[12]

Soon afterwards the much depleted 132nd Brigade returned to command of the division, bringing it up to full strength of three brigades again, only for the 133rd Brigade to be transferred to Major General"Alec" Gatehouse's10th Armoured Division, again reducing Hughes' division to just two brigades.^[12] Towards the end of September, the 131st Brigade suffered heavily inOperation Braganza and, in late October the division, still with just two brigades, fought in theSecond Battle of El Alamein and, still under Lieutenant General Horrocks's XIII Corps, played a relatively minor role as a result.^[2] Hughes' division was further weakened when he lost the 131st Brigade in early November to the7th Armoured Division, under Major GeneralJohn Harding.^[13] Although trying to retain his division, the 44th was disbanded soon after (officially on 31 January 1943), due to a shortage of infantry in North Africa and the Middle East, and most of the division's units were posted to other divisions, the 131st Brigade remaining with the 7th Armoured Division for the rest of the war, the 132nd Brigade being broken up, its battalions posted away toIndian Army units, and the 133rd Brigade also being broken up.^[13]

In the aftermath of his division's disbandment, Hughes was promoted to the acting rank of lieutenant general and became GOC ofXXV Corps, then comprising only the8th Indian Infantry Division, inCyprus.^[4] He was then, from 1944 to 1945, a member of the Military Liaison Mission toGreece,Yugoslavia, andAlbania, and retired from the army, with the honorary rank of major general, in 1945.^[2][14]

After retirement from the army, Hughes returned to his duties at Westminster which the war had forced him to abandon, and became Chairman of the Surrey Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association from 1947 to 1949 before becomingDeputy Lieutenant ofSurrey.^[15] From 1957 until his sudden death on 16 August 1962 – exactly 46 years since he received his commission – he wasSerjeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons.^[15]

• Smart, Nick (2005).Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War. Barnesley: Pen & Sword.ISBN 1844150496.
• Horrocks, Sir Brian (1960).A Full Life. Barnsley: Leo Cooper.ISBN 0-85052-144-0.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

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