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<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Short description|British journalist}}<br />
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}<br />
'''Geoffrey Theodore Garratt''' [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]<ref name=cwgc>{{cite web|title=Casualty Record, Major Geoffrey Theodore Garratt|url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2965717/geoffrey-theodore-garratt/|website=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]|access-date=27 August 2022}}</ref> (1888 – 28 April 1942) was a [[British people|British]] farmer, journalist and political activist.<br />
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Born in [[Oxfordshire]], son of clergyman the Reverend Charles Francis Garratt and his wife Agnes Mary (''nee'' Percival),<ref name=cwgc/> Garratt was educated at [[Rugby School]] and then attended [[Hertford College, Oxford]]. In 1912, he joined the [[Indian Civil Service (British India)|Indian Civil Service]], based in [[Bombay]]. During [[World War I]] he was placed in the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] Reserve of Officers in 1915, and from 1916 was on active service with the [[21st Cavalry]], taking part in the [[Mesopotamian campaign]].<ref name="whoswho">{{cite book |title=The Labour Who's Who |date=1927 |publisher=The Labour Publishing Company |location=London |page=74}}</ref><ref name="stjohn">{{cite book |last1=St John |first1=Ian |title=The Historiography of Gladstone and Disraeli |date=2016 |publisher=Anthem Press |isbn=978-1783085293 |page=314}}</ref><br />
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After the end of the war, Garratt returned to the civil service, but he resigned in 1922, unhappy about the amount of money being spent on prestigious projects while poverty was widespread in the country. He found work as the Berlin correspondent of the ''[[Westminster Gazette]]''.<ref name="whoswho" /><ref name="stjohn" /><br />
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Garratt returned to the UK in 1923, settling in [[Cambridgeshire]]. There, he took up farming, and also became politically active. He joined the [[Independent Labour Party]], and stood unsuccessfully for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in [[Cambridgeshire (UK Parliament constituency)|Cambridgeshire]] at the [[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924]], [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929]] and [[1931 United Kingdom general election]]s, and then [[The Wrekin (UK Parliament constituency)|The Wrekin]] at the [[1935 United Kingdom general election]], and in the [[1937 Plymouth Drake by-election]]. In 1925, he was elected to [[Cambridgeshire County Council]].<ref name="whoswho" /><ref name="stjohn" /> Although his farming was largely a hobby, he has been described as "almost... the party's official spokesman to the farming community".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wordie |first1=J. |title=Agriculture and Politics in England, 1815-1939 |date=2000 |publisher=Springer |isbn=0230514774 |page=216}}</ref><br />
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In the 1930s, Garratt worked for the ''[[Manchester Guardian]]'', covering [[Indian nationalism]], the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War]], and the [[Winter War]]. From 1937 to 1938 he spent his time working in eastern Spain for Spanish Relief.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Rankin|first=Nicholas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsgjDwAAQBAJ&q=geoffrey+garratt+journalist&pg=PT105|title=Defending the Rock: How Gibraltar Defeated Hitler|date=2017-09-05|publisher=Faber & Faber|isbn=978-0-571-30773-9|language=en}}</ref> Based on his experiences, he wrote ''Mussolini's Roman Empire'' in 1938,<ref name=":0" /> and also edited ''The Legacy of India''.<ref name="stjohn" /><br />
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During [[World War II]], Garratt served in the [[Royal Pioneer Corps|Pioneer Corps]] with the rank of Major.<ref name=cwgc/> He was placed in charge of a group of German volunteers doing war work for the British government. On April 28, 1942,<ref name=":0" /> aged 53,<ref name=cwgc/> he was killed along with 18 other men in an explosion at the Defensible Barracks overlooking [[Pembroke Dock]]. He is buried at Llanion Military [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-16651771 Cemetery in the town].<ref name=cwgc/> There is a plaque dedicated to him at the [https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/31593 Imperial War Museum].<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Garratt, Geoffrey}}<br />
[[Category:1888 births]]<br />
[[Category:1942 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]<br />
[[Category:Royal Pioneer Corps officers]]<br />
[[Category:Military personnel from Oxfordshire]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]<br />
[[Category:British military personnel of World War II]]<br />
[[Category:Deaths by airstrike during World War II]]<br />
[[Category:English journalists]]<br />
[[Category:Independent Labour Party politicians]]<br />
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]<br />
[[Category:Members of Cambridgeshire County Council]]<br />
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) councillors]]<br />
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates]]<br />
[[Category:People from Oxfordshire]]<br />
[[Category:People educated at Rugby School]]<br />
[[Category:Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford]]</div>Bot