Bot at 19:46, 6 July 2022

2022-07-06T19:46:46Z

New page

{{short description|British Army general}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Vernon Erskine-Crum
|image=
|caption=
|birth_date={{Birth date|1918|12|11|df=y}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|1971|3|17|1918|12|11|df=y}}
|birth_place=Calcutta, British India
|death_place=Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK
|allegiance={{Flag icon|United Kingdom}} [[United Kingdom]]
|branch=[[Image:Flag of the British Army.svg|23px]] [[British Army]]
|serviceyears=1940–1971
|servicenumber=130301
|rank=[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
|unit=[[Scots Guards]]
|commands=[[4th Guards Brigade Group]] (1963–1967)<br>[[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th Division]] (1967–1969)<br>[[General Officer Commanding|GOC]] [[HQ Northern Ireland|Northern Ireland]] (1969–1971)
|awards=[[Order of the Indian Empire|Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]] (CIE)<br />[[Military Cross]] (MC)
}}
[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] '''Vernon Forbes Erskine-Crum''', [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]], [[Military Cross|MC]] (11 December 1918 – 17 March 1971) was a [[British Army]] officer, who briefly served as [[General Officer Commanding]] in [[Northern Ireland]] during the early period of [[the Troubles]].

==Regimental career==
He was born in [[Calcutta]], the younger son of Sir William Erskine Crum, and educated at [[Eton College|Eton]] and [[New College, Oxford]]. In 1940 he was commissioned into the [[Scots Guards]], and served with the regiment for the remainder of the war. He won a [[Military Cross]] (MC) during the [[West European Campaign (1944-1945)|North-West European campaign]] in 1944.<ref name="Times">Obituary, p. 22. ''The Times'', 19 March 1971.</ref>

==Indian service==
After training at the [[Staff College]] in 1945, he was promoted to temporary Lieutenant-Colonel and posted to the staff in South-East Asia, arriving just after the Japanese surrender. He served as the Conference Secretary to [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Mountbatten]], a position he held for just over a year before returning to regimental duty in England, commanding a company of the 2nd Battalion Scots Guards.

After six weeks, he was recalled by Mountbatten, who had been appointed Viceroy of India, and again served as his Conference Secretary until he left India in 1948.<ref name="Times"/> For his services, he was appointed a [[Order of the Indian Empire|Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire]] on 30 December 1947.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=38161|supp=y|page=8|date=30 December 1947}}</ref>

==Senior Command==
On returning from India, he was appointed as the regimental [[adjutant]] of the Scots Guards, and then a succession of other administrative posts; adjutant of the [[Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]], [[Brigade Major]] of the [[Household Brigade]], Commandant of the [[Guards Depot]], and [[Adjutant General|Assistant Adjutant General]] of the [[London District]].<ref name="Times"/>

On 9 February 1962, he was promoted [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|Colonel]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=42847|supp=y|page=9457|date=30 November 1962}}</ref> and from 1962 to 1963 was Secretary of the Joint Planning Staff.<ref name="Times"/> In 1963 he was appointed to command [[4th Guards Brigade Group]],<ref name="Times"/> promoted to Brigadier on 9 February 1966,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=43922|supp=y|page=2841|date=11 March 1966}}</ref> and appointed to command [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th Division]] in 1967.<ref name="Times"/>

He was appointed Co-ordinator of the [[Imperial Defence College]] on 15 October 1969,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44960|supp=y|page=8|date=17 October 1969}}</ref> and Chief Army Instructor there on 1 February 1970.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45031|supp=y|page=1355|date=30 January 1970}}</ref> Following this position, he was appointed GOC and Director of Operations in Northern Ireland on 4 February 1971, to replace Lieutenant-General [[Ian Freeland]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45299|supp=y|page=1214|date=5 February 1971}}</ref> but he suffered a heart attack on the 16th and was relieved by Lieutenant-General [[Harry Tuzo]] on 2 March.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=45322|supp=y|page=2269|date=16 March 1971}}</ref><ref name="bew1">{{Cite book|last=Bew|first=Paul|authorlink=Paul Bew, Baron Bew|author2=Gordon Gillespie |title=Northern Ireland: A Chronology of the Troubles, 1968-1993|publisher=[[Gill & Macmillan]]|year=1993|page=32|isbn=0-7171-2081-3}}</ref>

==Death==
He died a month after his heart attack, in hospital, on 17 March 1971, aged 52.<ref name="bew1"/><ref name="CAIN">[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/othelem/chron/ch71.htm Chronology of the Conflict 1971], CAIN</ref> His brief spell in Northern Ireland witnessed the escalation of tensions, as well as the first death of a British soldier, Gunner Robert Curtis, on 6 February.<ref name="CAIN"/>

==Family==
He married Rosemary Douglas, the daughter of Brigadier Sir [[Douglas Dawson]] and Lady Aimée Dawson (GBE) in 1948. They had one son, Brigadier Douglas Erskine Crum.<ref name="Times"/>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Michael Forrester]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[General Officer Commanding]] the [[4th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|4th Division]]|years=1967–1969}}
{{s-aft|after=[[David Fraser (British Army officer)|David Fraser]]}}
|-
{{S-bef|before=[[Ian Freeland]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[HQ Northern Ireland|General Officer Commanding the British Army in Northern Ireland]]|years=1971}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Harry Tuzo]]}}
{{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine-Crum, Vernon}}
[[Category:1918 births]]
[[Category:1971 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Scots Guards officers]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Academics of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Vernon Erskine-Crum - Revision history

Bot at 19:46, 6 July 2022