H. R. C. Pettigrew

Col H. R. C. Pettigrew
Birth name	Hugh Rudolph Conway Pettigrew
Born	1912
Died	18 April 2001 Merton, Surrey, England
British Indian Army
Rank	Colonel
Spouse(s)	Patricia Maynard ( m. 1938)
Children	5 sons, 1 daughter
Other work	Frontier Scouts (1964) "It Seemed Very Ordinary": Memoirs of Sixteen Years in the Indian Army 1932–1947 (IWM)

Colonel Hugh Rudolph Conway Pettigrew was born on the 5th of May 1912 in Shiraz, Persian (now Iran), the youngest of six children. He followed his three elder brothers to Sandhurst in 1930 before joining the Indian Army two year later, in which he served for the next 16years, including with the South Waziristan Scouts on India’s North-West Frontier. His book “FRONTIER SCOUTS” (1964) is a primary source for the study of the military history of that region, as his memoir “IT SEEMED VERY ORDINARY” - Memoirs of Sixteen Years in the Indian Army1932-1947 is for the history of the British Indian Army generally.

He married Patricia Maynard in 1938 and they had six children: Paul (b.1939), Mark (b.1942), Jane, their only daughter (b.1944), David (b 1947), Clive (b.1950 and Jeffrey (b.1952).

He was commission in 1932 from Sandhurst into the Indian Army. His early service was on the North West Frontier of India firstly with the Gordon Highlanders close to the Khyber Pass, then with his regiment, the 2/14^th Punjab Regiment, and, finally, in 1937, the South Waziristan Scouts. In 1940 he was posted to the Officers Training School at Belgaum as a Company Commander and instructor. In 1942 he was selected to attend the Indian Army Staff College in Quetta. As one of the top officers in his intake he was given an important appointment as Brigade Major of 63 Infantry Brigade which involved moving to Kohima, in the Naga Hills, and then Imphal. As BM he was responsible for establishing intensive training methods in Jungle Warfare to ensure that the Brigade was ready to fight the Japanese. In 1943 he was promoted to Lt Colonel and appointed to the prestigious role of Instructor at the Staff College, Quetta where the students benefited from his experience and knowledge of Jungle Warfare.

In 1944 he joined the 14th Army, at the request of General ‘Punch’ Cowan GOC of the 17th Division, as his GSO1. As the senior staff officer of the division he played a key role in the defeat of the Japanese.

After Burma he served in Army HQ Delhi, when FM Auchinleck was C in C, and was promoted to full Colonel. In 1947 he retired from the Indian Army and returned to England. For the next 40 years he was a schoolmaster, firstly as a partner and Assistant Head Master at Town Close House School in Norwich, and then at his own school in Selsey, West Sussex, coaching children for the Common Entrance Exam for entry into British private schools.

Early life and family

Hugh Pettigrew was born in Shiraz, Persia (now Iran) in 1912. He was the youngest of six children. His father William Albert Thomas Pettigrew ran the Persian operation for the Indo-European Telegraph Department in Persia. In 1895 he met and married Ada Lancefield Blackman. He died in 1915 while held captive in Ahram, a primitive fort of the Tangistani tribesman in south Persia, near Bushire. His death and experience is described in “On the Frontier and Beyond” by Colonel Fredrick O’Connor.

Hugh Pettigrew and his family moved to Deal, Kent in 1915 before moving to Birchington in 1917. This time is described in greater detail in his unpublished memoirs of his time growing up in England until his arrival in India in 1932.                       

Army career

Hugh Pettigrew was sent to Sandhurst as a King’s India Cadet like his three brother before him. He was largely self-taught but managed to passed out the Royal Military College 34th out of 174. The only regret he had at Sandhurst was not winning the Norman Gold Medal issued to the top student entering the Indian Army. This medal went to his best friend, Hugh Rance. Pettigrew always claimed it was his inability to ride that cost him the medal. He was commissioned second lieutenant in the British Indian Army in 1932. He was attached to the Gordon Highlanders, firstly on the Khyber Pass then with them at Peshawar, from 1932-33, after which he joined his Indian Army regiment, the 2nd/14 Punjab Regiment, at Mir Ali, Kohat, and then Bannu, on the Indian North West Frontier, from 1933 to 1937. During this period he discovered that the regiment really wanted him for his skills on the Hockey field, and he found himself playing with Dyan Chand who is, even now, considered the greatest hockey player of all time. He always said it was the greatest privilege to play with “the great man”, firstly at inside right and then as centre half and captain for nearly 5 years.

In April 1937 he joined the South Waziristan Scouts being first posted to the first wing in Sararogha. He served in Waziristan until 1938 where he was involved in many actions against the Mahsud tribesman. He arrived on the day the Mahsuds attacked a convey, which became known as the Shahur Tangi ambush. His future father in law, Brigadier Frank MAYNARD, who was stationed at Bannu as commander of the Bannu Brigade, and later commanded the Waziristan Division, knew immediately of this ambush but did not tell his daughter Patricia until he knew Hugh Pettigrew was safe. In 1939, after marrying Patricia Maynard, he re- joined his regiment who were stationed near Dacca, now the capital of Bangladesh. It was here that he had a piece of great good fortune. Despite being adjudant of the regiment he was appointed as a Company Commander and instructor at the Officers Training School in Belgaum. His regiment was sent to Hong Kong where their fight with “the Japs”, as he referred to them, would have cost him his life or becoming a prisoner of war of the Japanese. He was then sent to be Brigade major of the 63rd Indian Infantry Brigade in the Naga Hills at Kohima, and then to Impal, from February 1942 to July 1943, before becoming an instructor at the Staff College at Quetta (until December 1944) with the rank of Lt. Colonel. He was then appointed GSO1 to Major General ‘Punch” Cowan of 17th Division (“The Black Cats”) from December 1944 to June 1945. His final appointment in the Indian army was as Directorate of Weapons and Equipment in Delhi as a full Colonel. He retained this honorary rank when he resigned his commission in November 1947.

Later life

After leaving the Army Pettigrew worked as a schoolmaster. He was a partner and joint principal of Town Close Preparatory school in Norwich from 1947 to 1959, and then established a “crammer” in Selsey, West Sussex (until 1966) to help boys pass the Common Entrance examination to English public schools. He then undertook private tutoring until he retired in 1980.

His passion was writing. Although he never had the success of his direct contemporary, Lt Colonel John Masters, in 1964 he privately published a history of the South Waziristan Scouts titled FRONTIER SCOUTS which was reviewed in The Army Quarterly and Defence Journal and The Royal Air Force Quarterly. His unpublished memoir, “It Seemed Very Ordinary”, which contains memories of sixteen years in the Indian Army 1932 -1947, goes into great detail of his time in the Indian Army and is held as part of his private papers in the Imperial War Museum, London., which also include his oral account given to them in 1994. These works have become much-cited primary sources for study of the military history of the region. Passages from “It Seemed Very Ordinary”, covering the advance into Burma, were used as the prologue for part four of Robert Lyman’s “A War of Empires: Japan, India, Burma & Britain 1941-45” (2021).

Pettigrew died in Wimbledon, south-west London, on the 18th of April 2001. His ashes lie near the top of the mountain of Great Gable in the Lake District.

Works

• Frontier Scouts. Hugh Pettigrew, Kelsey Press Limited, Selsey, Sussex, 1964.
• "It Seemed Very Ordinary": Memoirs of Sixteen Years in the Indian Army 1932–1947. Pettigrew MSS, 84/29/1, Imperial War Museum.

External links

• Unit history