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{{short description|British Army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Jock Lewes
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = John Steel Lewes
| nickname = Jock
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1913|12|21|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|12|30|1913|12|21|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Marble Arch (Libya)|El Gaus]], [[Cyrenaica]], [[Italian Libya]]
| placeofburial =
| allegiance = United Kingdom
| branch = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears = 1935–1941
| rank = [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|Lieutenant]]
| servicenumber = 65419
| unit = [[Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)|Rifle Brigade]]<br/>[[Welsh Guards]]<br/>[[Special Air Service|L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade]]
| commands =
| battles = [[Second World War]]
*[[North African Campaign]]
**[[Western Desert Campaign]]
***[[Operation Crusader]] {{KIA}}
| awards =
| memorials = [[Alamein Memorial]]
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}
[[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|Lieutenant]] '''John Steel "Jock" Lewes''' (21 December 1913 – 30 December 1941) was a [[British Army]] officer prominent during the [[Second World War]]. He was the founding principal training officer of the [[Special Air Service]].<ref name="austarmynews">''Army News'' [Australia], 11 January 1945, p3.</ref> Its founding commander, [[David Stirling]], said later of Lewes: "Jock could far more genuinely claim to be founder of the SAS than I."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lewes |first=John |date=15 March 2001 |title=Jock Lewes: Co-Founder of the SAS |url=https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Jock-Lewes-Co-Founder-of-the-SAS-Paperback/p/207 |location=[[Barnsley]] |publisher=[[Pen and Sword Books]] |isbn=9781844156153 }}</ref> Lewes also invented an explosive device for the purposes of the SAS, the [[eponym]]ous [[Lewes bomb]].

==Early life, family and education==

[[File:Rex Whistler - Lieutenant Jock Lewes, co-founder of the SAS 1940.jpg|thumb|255px|left|<small>''Lieutenant Jock Lewes, co-founder of the SAS, 1940'' – a portrait painted by [[Rex Whistler]] (at the time a fellow officer in the Welsh Guards).</small>]]

Lewes was born in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] to a British father, [[chartered accountant]] Arthur Harold Lewes, and an Australian mother, Elsie Steel Lewes. The family moved to Australia and Lewes grew up at [[Bowral]], [[New South Wales]].<ref name="bowral2">''The Southern Mail'' (Bowral), 19 January 1945, p. 1.</ref> As a teenager he attended [[The King's School, Parramatta]].<ref name="austarmynews"/>

Lewes travelled to the United Kingdom to attend [[Christ Church, Oxford]], from September 1933. At Oxford he read [[philosophy, politics and economics]]. In 1936–37, Lewes was president of the [[Oxford University Boat Club]]; during 1937 he voluntarily gave up his place in the Oxford Blue boat crew, to assist it in winning that year's [[University Boat Race]],<ref name="bowral1">''The Southern Mail'' (Bowral), 4 May 1937, p. 2.</ref> and ending a 15-year winning streak by Cambridge.<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB|first=Fiona|last=McPherson|title=Lewes, John Steel (1913–1941)|year=2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/74291|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/74291}}</ref><ref name=CWGC>{{cite web|url=http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2123371|title=Commonwealth War Graves Commission – casualty details, John Steel Lewes|publisher=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]]|accessdate=21 February 2008}}</ref> Lewes travelled to Berlin to work for the [[British Council]] and,<ref name="austarmynews"/> before the events of ''[[Kristallnacht]]'', was briefly an admirer of Hitler and the Nazi state.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hill |first=Amelia |date=23 July 2000 |title=SAS founder was a Nazi sympathiser |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/jul/23/ameliahill.theobserver |newspaper=[[The Observer]] |access-date=2 March 2017}}</ref>

A younger brother, David Steel Lewes, was later prominent as a [[Cardiology|cardiologist]] in the United Kingdom and served as a [[Royal Air Force]] medical officer during the war.<ref>[https://history.rcplondon.ac.uk/inspiring-physicians/david-steel-lewes Royal College of Physicians, 2019, ''David Steel Lewes''] (31 March 2020).</ref>

At the time of his death, Jock Lewes was engaged to marry Mirren Barford, an Oxford undergraduate. Their love letters were collected and published by Barford's son in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/sas-founder-dazzled-third-reich-9768972|title=SAS founder was 'dazzled' by Third Reich and even fell in love with NAZI socialite in run-up to WW2|access-date=11 November 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Joy Street: A Wartime Romance in Letters|author=Mirren Barford|isbn=978-0316911351}}</ref>

He was depicted by [[Alfie Allen]] in the 2022 television historical drama ''[[SAS: Rogue Heroes]]''.<ref name="Grdn">{{cite news |last1=Nicholson |first1=Rebecca |title=SAS: Rogue Heroes review – is the follow up to Peaky Blinders fun? Does Arthur Shelby like a drink? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/oct/30/sas-rogue-heroes-review-is-the-follow-up-to-peaky-blinders-fun-does-arthur-shelby-like-a-drink |access-date=31 October 2022 |publisher=The Guardian |date=30 October 2022}}</ref>

==Military career==
Lewes was first [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] to the British Army's [[General Service Corps|General List]] as a university candidate on 5 July 1935, while a student at Oxford.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34177|page=4345|date=5 July 1935}}</ref> At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was briefly transferred to a [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]] unit, the 1st Battalion, [[Poplar and Stepney Rifles|Tower Hamlets Rifles]], [[Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)|Rifle Brigade]] on 2 September 1939 before joining the [[Welsh Guards]] on 28 October.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34685|page=6338|date=15 September 1939|supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34719|page=7254|date=27 October 1939|supp=y}}</ref>

In 1941, Lewes was in a group of volunteers assembled by [[David Stirling]] to form a unit dedicated to raiding missions against the lines of communication of Axis forces in [[North African Campaign|North Africa]]. For [[military deception]] and counterespionage purposes, this [[platoon]]-sized group was at first officially known as "L" Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Macintyre|first1=Ben|title=Rogue Warriors|date=2016|publisher=Crown Publishing Group|location=New York|isbn=978-1-101-90416-9|pages=25–28}}</ref>

To destroy Axis vehicles, members of the SAS surreptitiously attached small explosive charges. Lewes noticed the respective weaknesses of conventional (blast) and incendiaries, as well as their failure to destroy vehicles in some cases. He improvised a new, combined charge out of plastic explosive, diesel and thermite. The [[Lewes bomb]] was used throughout the Second World War.<ref name=ODNB />

In late December 1941, Lewes was involved in an SAS/[[Long Range Desert Group|LRDG]] raid on Axis airfields in Libya. As the raiders returned to Allied lines, their vehicles were repeatedly attacked by Italian and German aircraft. While returning fire on 30 December, near "[[Marble Arch (Libya)|Marble Arch]]" (El Gaus; ''Arco dei Fileni''),<ref>Tim Jones, ''SAS Zero Hour: The Secret Origins of the Special Air Service''. Barnsley (S. Yorks.); Pen & Sword Books, p. 204.</ref> Lewes was reportedly hit in the thigh by a [[20 mm caliber|20 mm cannon]] round and died at the scene of the attack.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8934144/Family-of-SAS-pioneer-to-travel-to-Libya-to-find-soldiers-grave.html|title= Family of SAS pioneer to travel to Libya to find soldier's grave|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=4 December 2011|access-date=21 November 2022}}</ref> He is commemorated on the [[Alamein Memorial]].<ref name=CWGC />

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*Cowles, Virginia. ''The Phantom Major''.
*Wise, Michael, ed. ''Joy Street: A Wartime Romance in Letters''.

==External links==
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_L01.html#Lewes_JS British Army Officers 1939–1945]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Jock}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:Welsh Guards officers]]
[[Category:Rifle Brigade officers]]
[[Category:Special Air Service officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel killed in World War II]]
[[Category:British people of Australian descent]]
[[Category:Oxford University Boat Club rowers]]
[[Category:Australian people of British descent]]
[[Category:People educated at The King's School, Parramatta]]
[[Category:People of the British Council]]
[[Category:Deaths by airstrike during World War II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kolkata]]
[[Category:British Army officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Jock Lewes - Revision history

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