The Lord Carver | |
|---|---|
 Sir Michael Carver, then a full general, in 1967 | |
| Nickname | "Mike"[1] |
| Born | (1915-04-24)24 April 1915 Bletchingley,Surrey, England |
| Died | 9 December 2001(2001-12-09) (aged 86) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | British Army |
| Service years | 1935–1976 |
| Rank | Field Marshal |
| Service number | 64649 |
| Unit | Royal Tank Regiment |
| Commands | Chief of the Defence Staff Chief of the General Staff Southern Command Far East Command 3rd Infantry Division 6th Infantry Brigade 4th Armoured Brigade 1st Battalion, Royal Tank Regiment |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order &Bar Military Cross Mentioned in Despatches |
| Other work | |
| Member of theHouse of Lords | |
| Life peerage 15 July 1977 – 9 December 2001 | |
| Personal details | |
| Party | Crossbencher |
Field MarshalRichard Michael Power Carver, Baron Carver,GCB, CBE, DSO &Bar, MC (24 April 1915 – 9 December 2001) was a seniorBritish Army officer. Lord Carver served as theChief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, and then as theChief of the Defence Staff (CDS), the professional head of theBritish Armed Forces. He served with distinction during theSecond World War and organised the administration of British forces deployed in response to theMau Mau Uprising in Kenya and later in his career provided advice to theBritish government on the response to the early stages ofThe Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Carver was born in April 1915, during theFirst World War, the son of Harold Power Carver, a cotton merchant, and Winifred Anne Gabrielle Carver (née Wellesley)[2] He was educated atWinchester College and theRoyal Military College at Sandhurst, where he was awarded the King's Medal, which went to the highest-ranking gentlemen cadet in the order of merit.[1] From Sandhurst, Carver wascommissioned as asecond lieutenant into theRoyal Tank Corps of theBritish Army on 1 February 1935.[3] After receiving special-to-arm training at theTank Corps Depot in Bovington,Dorset, he joined the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Tank Corps atFarnborough, Hampshire, in October.[1] He then attended a short course at theRoyal Military College of Science before returning to his battalion. He was promoted tolieutenant on 31 January 1938.[1][4] Soon after this promotion he went toEgypt with the 1st (Light) Battalion of his regiment, which, with the formation of theRoyal Armoured Corps (RAC) in April 1939, became the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR), with Carver's battalion becoming the 1st Royal Tank Regiment.[1]
He served in theSecond World War, which began in September 1939, with Carver still serving in Egypt. In late December he was made a camp commandant at the headquarters of theMobile Division (Egypt) which in February 1940 became the 7th Armoured Division. Three months later he was promoted to theacting rank of captain and was made staff captain with the divisional HQ.[1] In this role he was responsible for organising the division's logistical support, a post he held during the early stages of theWestern Desert campaign, fought mainly against the Italians, and for which he was later to bementioned in dispatches, once in April 1941,[5] and again in July.[6][7]
In the aftermath of the campaign Carver was sent toPalestine where, from April to August, he attended the Staff College, Haifa, before returning to the 7th Armoured Division, now with the acting rank ofmajor, initially as a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General (DAQMG) and later as aGeneral Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2).[8] The duration of his stay was very short, however, as he was soon sent toCairo as a GSO2 to help create a new corps HQ,XXX Corps, with which he served until August 1942, which included duringOperation Crusader and in many of the most critical battles of theNorth African campaign in which the corps participated. During that time he was promoted yet again, to the war substantive rank of captain and temporary major, in November 1941.[8] His performance as a staff officer during this period was recognised with his being awarded theMilitary Cross in September 1942,[9] a month after his promotion to the temporary rank oflieutenant colonel at the relatively young age of twenty-seven.[7] He also received a new appointment at this time, becoming GSO1, essentiallychief of staff, of the 7th Armoured Division.[10] He served with this formation in several engagements, including theSecond Battle of El Alamein in October 1942, and throughout most of theTunisian campaign which followed. He received a promotion to the permanent rank of captain in January 1943.[11]
He was appointedCommanding officer of the1st Royal Tank Regiment in April 1943,[10] leading them inNorth Africa for which he was awarded theDistinguished Service Order (DSO) on 4 May 1943[12] and inItaly for which he was awarded aBar to his DSO on 24 February 1944.[13] He was appointed commander of the4th Armoured Brigade on 27 June 1944 after its previous commander, BrigadierJohn Cecil Currie, was killed in action. With his new appointment came a promotion to the acting rank of brigadier, making Carver, at just twenty-nine, the youngest of his rank in the British Army.[10] He led his brigade in the remainder of the fighting in Normandy and then throughout the subsequentcampaign in North West Europe which followed until the German surrender in May 1945.[8] He was also appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.[2]
Carver became a Technical Staff officer to theMinistry of Supply in 1947,[8] and having been promoted to the substantive rank ofmajor on 31 January 1948,[14][10] he became Assistant Quartermaster-General (Plans) at HeadquartersAllied Forces Central Europe in May 1951[15] and then head of the exercise planning staff atSHAPE in October 1952.[2] Having been promoted to lieutenant-colonel on 27 March 1954[16] and tocolonel on 17 June 1954,[17][10] he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff atEast Africa Command in June 1954;[15] he took part in the closing stages of the response to theMau Mau Uprising inKenya[15] for which he was mentioned in despatches on 19 July 1955.[18] He was then elevated to Chief of Staff in East Africa in October 1955 and appointed aCompanion of the Order of the Bath on 8 March 1957.[19] After attending theImperial Defence College during most of 1957,[15][10] he was appointed Director of Plans at theWar Office in London in February 1958,[15] Commander of the6th Brigade atMünster in January 1960[15] andGeneral Officer Commanding (GOC) of the3rd Division with the rank ofmajor-general on 4 September 1962.[20][10] His division was deployed toCyprus in February 1964 and he was made Director of Army Staff Duties at theMinistry of Defence on 7 October 1964[21] and it was in this role that he famously substantially reduced the size of theTerritorial Army (TA).[15]
Having been advanced to aKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the1966 Queen's Birthday Honours,[22] he was made GOCFar East Land Forces[23] with the rank oflieutenant-general on 28 July 1966,[24][10] tri-serviceCommander-in-Chief ofFar East Command in 1967 and, having been promoted to fullgeneral on 29 March 1968,[25][10] GOCSouthern Command on 12 May 1969.[26] After being advanced toKnight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the1970 Birthday Honours,[27] he was appointedChief of the General Staff (CGS) on 1 April 1971[28] in which role he provided advice to theBritish government on the response to the early stages ofThe Troubles inNorthern Ireland.[29] Having been promoted tofield marshal on 18 July 1973,[30][10] he becameChief of the Defence Staff (CDS) on 21 October 1973[31] before retiring in October 1976.[32] In July 1977 he became alife peer asBaron Carver, ofShackleford in theCounty of Surrey.[33]
Carver was also Colonel Commandant of theRoyal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers from February 1966, of theRoyal Tank Regiment from January 1968, of the Bristol University Officer Training Corps from March 1972 and of theRoyal Armoured Corps from April 1974.[32]
In August 1977 he was appointed resident commissioner designate forRhodesia with responsibility for ending the dispute over independence there but resigned after fourteen months of deadlock.[2] He wrote a number of books on military history and was a vocal critic of Britain'sTrident missile programme, believing that as the American nuclear strike capability was sufficiently powerful it was inefficient for Britain to have an independent program.[32]
His interests includedsailing,tennis andgardening.[34] He died on 9 December 2001 inFareham,Hampshire.[35]
In 1947 he married Edith Lowry-Corry, a granddaughter ofHenry Lowry-Corry; they had two sons and two daughters.[8] Lady Carver died in 2019.[36] Carver's mother was related toArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.[1]
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | GOC 3rd Division 1962–1964 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | GOC Far East Land Forces 1966–1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Commander-in Chief Far East Command 1967–1969 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | GOC-in-C Southern Command 1969–1971 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief of the General Staff 1971–1973 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chief of the Defence Staff 1973–1976 | Succeeded by |
