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{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir Geoffry Scoones
|image= Geoffrey Scoones.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption= Scoones in September 1944
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1893|01|25|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Karachi]], [[British India]]<ref name="1911census">''1911 England Census''</ref>
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1975|09|19|1893|01|25|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire]], England
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]]
|serviceyears= 1912–1949
|rank= [[General (United Kingdom)|General]]
|servicenumber= 40494
|unit= [[2nd King Edward VII's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles)]] [[8 Gorkha Rifles|8th Gurkha Rifles]]
|commands= [[Central Command (India)]] (1944–46) [[Southern Command (India)]] (1944) [[IV Corps (United Kingdom)|IV Corps]] (1942–44) [[19th Infantry Division (India)|19th Indian Infantry Division]] (1942) [[5th Indian Brigade]] (1936) 2nd Battalion [[8 Gorkha Rifles|8th Gurkha Rifles]] (1935–36)
|battles= [[First World War]] [[Military history of the North-West Frontier|North-West Frontier]] [[Second World War]]
|awards= [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Companion of the Order of the Star of India]] [[Distinguished Service Order]] [[Military Cross]] [[Mentioned in Despatches]] (3)
|relations= [[Reginald Laurence Scoones|Sir Reginald Scoones]] (brother)
|laterwork=
}}
[[General (United Kingdom)|General]] '''Sir Geoffry Allen Percival Scoones''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|KBE|CSI|DSO|MC}} (also spelt '''Geoffrey'''; 25 January 1893 – 19 September 1975) was a senior officer in the [[British Indian Army|Indian Army]] during the [[Second World War]].<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Geoffry Scoones |work=[[The Times]] |date=20 September 1975 }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
[[File:Battalion Training at Tucker's Town Bermuda of the 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers.jpg|thumb|left|Major Fitzroy Maurice Favre Scoones (third from left) during 3rd Battalion Royal Fusiliers training at [[Tucker's Town, Bermuda|Tucker's Town]], Bermuda, in 1904]]
Scoones was born in [[Karachi]], British India, the eldest son of Fitzmaurice Thomas Favre Scoones of the [[Royal Fusiliers]] and his wife, Florence Osborne, who was born in New South Wales, Australia. His younger brother was [[Reginald Laurence Scoones|Sir Reginald "Cully" Scoones]].
In 1901 Scoones, with his father, his mother, and his brothers Thomas, Valentine (who would die aged 20 on 18 August 1916, as a Second-Lieutenant, acting Captain, in the 3rd Battalion of the [[Black Watch (Royal Highlanders)]]),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/667805/f-v-scoones |title=Second Lieutenant F V SCOONES |author= |date= |website=[[Commonwealth War Graves Commission]] |publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |access-date=2021-12-21 |quote=Died 18 August 1916. Buried or commemorated at CROMARTY CEMETERY, E. 1. United Kingdom}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205388361 |title=Photographs: Second Lieutenant Fitzmaurice Valentine Scoones |author= |date= |website=[[Imperial War Museum]] |publisher=Imperial War Museum |access-date=2021-12-21}}</ref> and Reginald, lived in the parish of Heston, in [[Hounslow]], [[Middlesex]], England, at The Hermitage, Sutton Lane.<ref>[https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101260544-the-hermitage-heston-east-ward#.XhjhXvenzeM ''The Hermitage''. British Listed Buildings]</ref> His father was posted to the [[Bermuda Garrison]] with the 3rd Battalion the Royal Fusiliers, arriving aboard the troopship ''Dominion'' at the start of December 1903, along with Major CJ Stanton, Lieutenant F Moore, and Second-Lieutenant George Ernest Hawes of the same battalion (the remainder of the battalion of sixteen officers, one warrant officer, and 937 non-commissioned officers and other ranks under Lieutenant-Colonel Gaisford, arrived separately on the troopship [[SS Dunera (1891)|HMT ''Dunera'']] from Egypt). The battalion was first posted to [[Boaz Island, Bermuda|Boaz Island]].<ref>''The Royal Gazette, Hamilton, Bermuda. 5 December 1903</ref> His father was subsequently appointed Camp Commandant, [[Warwick Camp (Bermuda)|Warwick Camp]]. A detachment of 112 men of the 3rd Battalion under Major Scoones departed from the [[Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda|Royal Naval Dockyard]], [[Bermuda]] aboard the troopship ''Kensington'' on 13 October 1905, for [[Aldershot]], along with the 3rd Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, 3rd Company Royal Engineers, a detachment of 36 Company Royal Engineers, and various time-served and other personnel. Scoones was educated at [[Wellington College, Berkshire|Wellington College]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]].<ref name="times"/>

==Military career==
===First World War and inter-war period===
Scoones was commissioned a second lieutenant on the unattached list for the Indian Army on 20 January 1912.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28573|page=452|date=19 January 1912}}</ref> He was accepted into the Indian Army and appointed to the 2nd Battalion 2nd (King Edward VII's Own) Gurkha Rifles (The Sirmoor Rifles) on 8 March 1913.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28738|page=5144|date=18 July 1913}}</ref> He was promoted to lieutenant on 20 April 1914.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28840|page=4706|date=16 June 1914}}</ref> He saw active service in the [[First World War]], becoming [[aide-de-camp]] to the Commander of Meerut Division, then aide-de-camp to the commander 21st Division and finally aide-de-camp to the Army Corps Commander, 2nd Army Corps in France, between 8 September 1915 and 10 July 1917.<ref name="ReferenceA">Quarterly Army List for quarter ending 31 March 1922</ref> Promoted to captain on 20 January 1916,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30084|page=4946|date=22 May 1917}}</ref> he became a brigade major in [[India]] on 27 October 1917.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941">Indian Army List Supplement 1941</ref> He was [[mentioned in despatches]] three times and awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30111|page=5473|supp=y|date=1 June 1917}}</ref> and the [[Military Cross]].<ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941"/><ref>London Gazette 1 January 1916)</ref>

After the war, Scoones saw service during the Afghanistan North West Frontier operations in 1919.<ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941"/> After attending the [[Pakistan Command and Staff College|Staff College, Quetta]] from 1922 to 1923, he served as a brigade major in India from 3 March 1924 to 30 November 1926<ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941"/> and then became a general staff officer.<ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941"/> Promoted to brevet major on 7 January 1925,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33009|page=140|date=6 January 1925}}</ref> he transferred to the 1st Battalion 2nd Gurkha Rifles on 22 January 1928<ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941"/> He was promoted to major on 20 January 1929,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33475|page=1679|date=8 March 1929}}</ref> and to brevet lieutenant colonel on 1 January 1933.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33899|page=51|date=3 January 1933}}</ref> After attending the [[Royal College of Defence Studies|Imperial Defence College]], from 14 February 1935 to 23 April 1938 he was made [[commanding officer]] of the 2nd Battalion the [[8th Gurkha Rifles]].<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/SCOONES.shtml Sir Geoffry Allen Percival Scoones] Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives</ref> He was appointed an [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] for earthquake work at [[Quetta]] in 1935.<ref>The London Gazette, 19 November 1935</ref>

===Second World War===
Scoones served in the [[Second World War]] initially as a general staff officer on the Directorate of Military Operations and Intelligence.<ref name="Indian Army List Supplement 1941"/> On 17 May 1940 he was appointed deputy director of military operations, India. The following year, he became director of military operations and intelligence, India.<ref name=lh/>

[[File:General Slim at Airstrip, Imphal (film frame) JFU127.jpg|thumb|left|General William Slim, General Officer Commanding 14th Army arrives at Imphal airstrip and chats to Air Commodore S F Vincent, Air Officer Commanding 221 Group RAF and Lieutenant-General Scoones, General Officer Commanding IV Indian Corps, before meeting American generals.]]

In 1942, Scoones briefly commanded the [[19th Infantry Division (India)|Indian 19th Infantry Division]]<ref>{{oob person | id = 392 | name = Geoffrey Scoones }}</ref> before being promoted to lieutenant-general and appointed to command [[IV Corps (United Kingdom)|IV Corps]], part of [[William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim|William Slim's]] [[Fourteenth Army (United Kingdom)|Fourteenth Army]].<ref name=lh/> This Corps defended [[Imphal]] in [[Manipur]], on the frontier between [[India]] and Japanese-held [[Burma]]. It also had responsibility for a large rearguard area, and a very large tract of unmapped and trackless jungle-covered frontier. He was appointed a [[Companion of the Order of the Star of India]] in 1942.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35586|page=2478|date=5 June 1942}}</ref>

Scoones commanded the corps through the gruelling [[Battle of Imphal]]. In December 1944 he and his fellow corps commanders [[Montagu Stopford|Stopford]] and [[Philip Christison|Christison]] were knighted and invested as [[Order of the British Empire|Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] by the viceroy [[Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell|Lord Wavell]] at a ceremony at Imphal in front of the Scottish, Gurkha and Punjab regiments.<ref>London Gazette 28 September 1944</ref> Slim was knighted and invested as [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] at the same occasion. Slim valued Scoones as a defensive commander, but when the Fourteenth Army went onto the offensive after Imphal he wanted a more aggressive and less calculating commander for IV Corps.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=416}} Scoones was appointed to [[Central Command (India)|Central Command, India]].<ref name=lh/>

===Post-war===
In 1947 Scoones was briefly the last [[Military Secretary to the India Office]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YSK8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA265&lpg=PA265&dq=%22General+Sir+John+Coleridge%22&source=bl&ots=NwVnNcTTdI&sig=IIYH-9gPoMiezd7vY-OKjRXD7m4&hl=en&ei=-8_mS5eSKJamsQb48fmcBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCcQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=%22General%20Sir%20John%20Coleridge%22&f=false The military in British India: the development of British Land Forces in South Asia, 1600–1947 By T. A. Heathcote, Page265] Manchester University Press, 1995, {{ISBN|978-0-7190-3570-8}}</ref> He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1947,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37835|page=3|supp=y|date=31 December 1946}}</ref> and later in the year he became Principal Staff Officer at the Commonwealth Relations Office.<ref name=lh/> Between 1947 and 1949 he was also [[aide-de-camp]] to [[King George VI]]. From 1953 to 1957, he was [[High Commissioner to New Zealand]].<ref name=lh/>

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

==Sources==
*{{Cite book| first=Richard| last=Mead| title=Churchill's Lions: a biographical guide to the key British generals of World War II| year=2007| publisher=Spellmount| location=Stroud (UK)| isbn=978-1-86227-431-0}}
*{{cite book| first=Nick| last=Smart| title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| isbn=1844150496| year=2005| location=Barnesley| publisher=Pen & Sword}}
*{{cite book | title=Indian Army List Supplement 1941}}
*{{cite book | title=Quarterly Army List for quarter ending 31st March 1922}}
*[https://generals.dk/general/Scoones/Geoffry_Allen_Percival/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Sir John Smyth, 1st Baronet|John Smyth]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[19th Infantry Division (India)|GOC 19th Indian Infantry Division]]|years=1941–1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Thomas Wynford Rees|Thomas Rees]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Noel Irwin]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[IV Corps (United Kingdom)|GOC IV Corps]]|years=1942–1944}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Frank Messervy|Sir Frank Messervy]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Henry Willcox]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Central Command (India)|GOC-in-C Central Command, India]]|years=1944–1946}}
{{s-non|reason=Post disbanded|rows=2}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Mosley Mayne|Sir Mosley Mayne]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Military Secretary to the India Office]]|years=1947}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scoones, Geoffrey}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Indian Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Star of India]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:British Indian Army generals]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Defence Studies]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Quetta]]
[[Category:Indian Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:People from Karachi]]
[[Category:High Commissioners of the United Kingdom to New Zealand]]

Geoffry Scoones - Revision history

Bot at 01:56, 9 July 2022