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{{Infobox military person
|name = Ion Melville Calvocoressi
|image =
|image_size =
|alt =
|caption =
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1919|04|12|df=yes}}
|death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|07|07|1919|04|12|df=yes}}
|birth_place = [[Calcutta]], India
|death_place =
|placeofburial =
|placeofburial_label =
|placeofburial_coordinates = 
|nickname =
|birth_name =
|allegiance = [[United Kingdom]]
|branch = [[British Army]]
|serviceyears = 1940–1945
|rank = Honorary Major<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=38612 |date=17 May 1949 |page=2406 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>
|servicenumber =132226
|unit = [[Scots Guards]]
|battles = [[World War II]]
|awards = [[Military Cross]]<br/>[[Member of the Order of the British Empire]]
|relations = [[Peter Calvocoressi]] (cousin)<br/>[[Richard Calvocoressi]] (son)
|laterwork = [[Stockbroker]]
}}
Major '''Ion Melville Calvocoressi''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MBE|MC}} (12 April 1919 – 7 July 2007) was an officer in the [[British Army]] during the [[Second World War]] and later a [[stockbroker]] in the [[City of London]]. He was [[High Sheriff of Kent]] in 1978–79.

Calvocoressi was born in [[Calcutta]], the only child of Matthew John Calvocoressi (1873–1939). His father was descended from a Greek family from [[Chios]]; two uncles married into the Ralli family. He was a director of the Indian branch of Greek merchant business, [[Ralli Brothers]]. His mother, Agnes Hermione Melville, was of Anglo-Scottish ancestry and was the granddaughter of [[Michael Linning Melville]]. His parents moved to [[London]] in 1922. He was educated at [[Eton College]] and read Modern Languages at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]].<ref name="telegraph">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1559795/Major-Ion-Calvocoressi.html |title=Major Ion Calvocoressi |date=9 August 2007 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |accessdate=29 September 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Winston Churchill during the Second World War E22267.jpg|thumb|left|From left to right, General [[Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke|Sir Alan Brooke]], Major [[Randolph Churchill]], Lieutenant-General [[Oliver Leese|Sir Oliver Leese]], Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] and General [[Bernard Montgomery|Sir Bernard Montgomery]], having an alfresco lunch during Prime Minister Churchill's visit to Tripoli, February 1943. Standing behind Montgomery is Leese's [[aide-de-camp]], Ian Calvocoressi.]]

After the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], he was commissioned into the [[Scots Guards]] in 1940,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34861 |date=28 May 1940 |page=3261 |supp=y}}</ref> and was posted to [[Egypt]] with the 2nd Battalion in 1941. He won an immediate [[Military Cross]] in 1942,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=35908 |date=16 February 1943 |page=863 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref> while serving as a lieutenant in command of a platoon of [[Ordnance QF 6 pounder|six-pounder]] anti-tank guns. The battalion was defending a ridge at [[Bir el Rigel]] in [[Libya]]. After days of intense fighting, the battalion was attacked by two armoured columns from the [[21st Panzer Division]] on 13 June 1942. His platoon destroyed five German tanks before it was overrun. Calvocoressi was captured, but escaped the following night. He rejoined his unit the next day after walking {{convert|17|mi|km|0}} across the desert.<ref name="telegraph"/><ref name="timesonline">{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2081022.ece |title=Major Ion Calvocoressi |date=9 August 2007 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |accessdate=29 September 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080930170233/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2081022.ece |archivedate=30 September 2008}}</ref>

He was wounded in July 1942, rescuing members of the battalion's [[forward observation post]], and became [[aide-de-camp]] to the commander of [[XXX Corps (United Kingdom)|XXX Corps]], Lieutenant-General Sir [[Oliver Leese]] in 1943. He accompanied Leese in North Africa, and, after Leese took command of the [[Eighth Army (United Kingdom)|Eighth Army]], into Italy, and finally to the Far East, where Leese became commander of [[Allied Land Forces South East Asia]]. He received the [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] for his service.<ref name="timesonline"/>

He became a stockbroker after the war, concentrating on private client work. He moved to [[Westerham]] in [[Kent]] in 1950, near the country home of [[Winston Churchill]] at [[Chartwell]]. He was instrumental in the erection of a statue of Churchill by [[Oscar Nemon]] in the town in 1965.<ref name="telegraph"/> He was [[High Sheriff of Kent]] in 1978–79.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=46795 |date=13 January 1976 |page=580 |supp=y |nolink=yes}}</ref>

After he retired, he was chairman of the appeal for the [[Guards Museum]] at [[Wellington Barracks]]. He was also a life member of the [[Marylebone Cricket Club]], a Fellow of the [[Ancient Monuments Society]], and a financial adviser to the [[Royal Society of Musicians]].<ref name="telegraph"/>

He was survived by his wife, Katherine Kennedy (the sister of Sir [[Ludovic Kennedy]]),<ref name="timesonline"/> whom he married on 29 April 1947, their three sons (James, Richard, and Andrew) and daughter (Iona).<ref name="telegraph"/> His son, art historian [[Richard Calvocoressi]], was a curator at the [[Tate Gallery]] (1979–87) and director of the [[Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art]] (1987–2007), and became director of the [[Henry Moore Foundation]] in 2007.

His cousin, [[Peter Calvocoressi]], worked in [[RAF Intelligence]] at [[Bletchley Park]] in the Second World War and was an author.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{cite web |url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p250.htm#i2499 |title=Major Ion Melville Calvocoressi |website=The Peerage}}
*{{Cite web |url=http://www.pages-tambour.com/sechiari/fg07/fg07_302.html |title=Ion Melville (Matthieu) Calvocoressi |date= 5 May 2007 |website=Les Pages Tambour |language=fr}}
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_C01.html#Calvocoressi_IM British Army Officers 1939−1945]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calvocoressi, Ion}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2007 deaths]]
[[Category:British World War II prisoners of war]]
[[Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:British people of Greek descent]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Scots Guards officers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:British stockbrokers]]
[[Category:High Sheriffs of Kent]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]

Ion Calvocoressi - Revision history

Bot at 05:21, 9 March 2022