Percy Radcliffe (British Army officer)
General Sir Percy Pollexfen de Blaquiere Radcliffe, was a British Army officer who reached high office in the 1930s.
Early life
Radcliffe was born on 9 February 1874. His parents were W. Pollexfen Radcliffe and Isabel de Blaquiere. He was educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military Academy.Military career
Radcliffe was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1893. He saw service with 'G' Battery, Royal Horse Artillery in the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1900, was mentioned in dispatches, and was promoted to captain in 1900 and then, in January 1906, succeeded Neill Malcolm as a staff captain at the War Office.Promoted to major in October 1910, in October 1911 he was made a general staff officer, grade 2, taking over from Lieutenant Colonel Hugh Bruce Williams.
He saw active service during the First World War on the Western Front, and was appointed a general staff officer, grade 1 in July 1915. He was made a brevet lieutenant colonel in June 1915, lieutenant colonel in 1916 and a brevet colonel the following year. He was mentioned in dispatches six times during the war. When William Robertson was replaced as General Staff in early 1918 by Sir Henry Wilson, Radcliffe, promoted in June 1918 to substantive major general, was appointed director of military operations at the War Office. He replaced Major General Frederick Maurice.
Radcliffe continued in the role until 1922. He was appointed General Officer Commanding 48th (South Midland) Division in 1923, General Officer Commanding 4th Division in 1926 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Scottish Command in 1930. His final appointment was as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Southern Command from 1933 until his death, when he fell from a horse and had a heart attack, on his sixtieth birthday, in 1934.
Radcliffe was Aide-de-Camp General to King George V from 1 October 1933 until his death.