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{{Short description|British Army general (1891–1988)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Sir John Evetts
|birth_date=30 June 1891
|death_date=21 December 1988 (aged 97)<ref>{{cite news |title=Deaths |work=[[The Times]] |date=23 December 1988 }}</ref>
|caption=
|nickname="Jack"{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=99}}
|birth_place=[[Naini Tal]], West Bengal, India
|death_place=[[Cheltenham]], Gloucestershire, England
|allegiance=United Kingdom
|branch=[[British Army]]
|placeofburial=[[Kemerton]], Worcestershire, England
|serviceyears=1911–1946
|servicenumber=4551
|rank=[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]]
|unit=[[Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)|Cameronians]] [[Machine Gun Corps]] [[Royal Ulster Rifles]]
|commands=1st Battalion, [[Royal Ulster Rifles]] [[16th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|16th Infantry Brigade]] [[6th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|6th Infantry Division]]
|battles=[[First World War]] [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|Arab revolt in Palestine]] [[Second World War]]
|awards=[[Knight Bachelor]] [[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of the Bath]] [[Order of the British Empire|Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Military Cross]] [[Legion of Merit]] (United States) [[Mentioned in dispatches|Mentioned in despatches]]
|relations=
|laterwork=[[Master-General of the Ordnance]] managing director, [[Dowty Rotol|Rotol Limited]] and British Messier Chairmanchairman, [[Dowty Rotol|Rotol Limited]] and British Messier
}}
[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant General]] '''Sir John Fullerton Evetts''' [[Order of the Bath|CB]], [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]], [[Military Cross|MC]] (30 June 1891 – 21 December 1988) was a senior [[British Army]] [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]].

==Early life and First World War==
Born in 1891 in [[Naini Tal]], West Bengal, India, John Fullerton Evetts was educated at [[Lancing College]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]. Upon [[Passing out (military)|passing out]] from Sandhurst, Evetts was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] into the [[Cameronians (Scottish Rifles)]] on 19 September 1911.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28532|page=6882|date=19 September 1911}}</ref><ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/EVETTS.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref> Among his fellow graduates were three future [[general officer]]s, [[Kenneth Anderson (British Army officer)|Kenneth Anderson]], [[Eric Paytherus Nares|Eric Nares]] and [[Montagu Stopford]].{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=99}}

Evetts, promoted on 1 July 1913 to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28738|page=5139|date=18 July 1913}}</ref> fought on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] during the [[First World War]]. Promoted to the [[Acting (rank)|temporary rank]] of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 10 August 1915,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29276|page=8521|date=24 August 1915|supp=y}}</ref> and captain on 1 October 1915,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29337|page=10475|date=22 October 1915|supp=y}}</ref> he was awarded the [[Military Cross]] (MC) and [[mentioned in despatches]] while serving with the [[Machine Gun Corps]] (MGC). Serving from April 1917 as a [[brigade major]] with the [[26th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|26th Brigade]], part of the [[15th (Scottish) Infantry Division|15th (Scottish) Division]], a [[Kitchener's Army]] formation, he ended the war as a temporary [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]], having been promoted to that rank on 9 February 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29479|page=1881|date=18 February 1916|supp=y}}</ref>{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=99}}

==Between the wars==
Reverting to the Cameronians after the MGC was disbanded, Evetts returned to England to attend the [[Staff College, Camberley]] from 1922 to 1923. Several fellow students were to become general officers, such as [[Charles Fullbrook-Leggatt]], [[Thomas Jacomb Hutton|Thomas Hutton]], [[Frank Keith Simmons|Keith Simmons]], [[William Philip Jopp Akerman|William Akerman]], [[Gerald Smallwood]].{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=99}} He was seconded to the [[Iraqi Army]] from 1925 to 1928 and was Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General (DAAG) at the [[War Office]] from 1932. In 1934 he transferred from the Cameronians to the [[Royal Ulster Rifles]] and was [[Commanding Officer]] (CO) of the 1st Battalion of his new regiment from 1934.<ref name=lh/>

He was posted to [[Mandatory Palestine|Palestine]] as a [[Staff (military)|General staff Officer Grade 1]] (GSO1) and, from 23 September 1936 when he was promoted to [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|brigadier]],<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34332|page=6610|date=16 October 1936}}</ref> he commanded the [[16th Infantry Brigade (United Kingdom)|16th Infantry Brigade]],<ref name=lh/> commanding it throughout most of the [[1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine|Arab revolt]]. Evetts was in charge of organizing British troops to protect isolated Jewish farm settlements which were coming under siege of Arab militants. During that time he commanded British troops during the fighting known as the [[Battle of Anabta]] against Arab insurgents.<ref>"Two British Soldiers Killed in Palestine Fighting: Arabs Machine-Gunned from the Air. Three Planes Hit By Bullets in Fierce Encounter". The Guardian. 22 June 1936.</ref> He was appointed mayor of Nablus shortly after this.<ref>Winston S. Churchill: Companion Vol. V, Part Three, The Coming of War 1936-1939 Front Cover Randolph Spencer Churchill, Martin Gilbert Houghton Mifflin, 1983 pg. 800</ref> He was somewhat rare for being popular both amongst Arab civilians and amongst the Jewish farmer communities he was tasked with protecting. Both groups "regarded him as fair" however, he was also personally sympathetic towards the aspirations of the Jewish settlers and "greatly disheartened" by the fact they were coming under attack.<ref>Free for a Blast by Rex King-Clark, Robert King-Clark Grenville Publishing Company, 1988 - Adventure and adventurers</ref> For his services there he was mentioned in despatches in April 1939,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34619|page=2750|date=25 April 1939}}</ref> and made a [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in April 1938.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15387|page=425|date=14 May 1937|city=e}}</ref>

==Second World War==
During the [[Second World War]] Evetts was a [[Brigadier]] on the General Staff of Northern Command in [[India]] from 1939 and then he commanded the Western (Independent) District in [[India]] from 1940.<ref name=lh/> He was [[General Officer Commanding]] (GOC) of the [[6th Infantry Division (United Kingdom)|6th Infantry Division]] in North Africa from 1941.<ref name=lh/> Evetts served in Operation Husky, the [[Allied invasion of Sicily]], in 1943, seeing action at the [[Battle of Centuripe]].<ref>SAS in Italy 1943-1945: Raiders in Enemy Territory by Malcolm Tudor</ref> He was [[Assistant Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)|Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff]] (ACIGS) from 1943<ref name=lh/> and Senior Military Advisor to the [[Minister of Supply]] from 1944.<ref name=lh/> He retired in 1946.<ref name=lh/>

==Postwar and later life==
From 1946 to 1950 Evetts led the establishment of the Anglo-Australian Joint Project, which led to the formation and development of the Long Range Weapons Establishment (LRWE) at Salisbury, in Adelaide, South Australia, and the famous 'Woomera Rocket Range' (now the 'Woomera Test Range') 460 km north of Adelaide. He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1951 Birthday Honours|1951 King's Birthday Honours List]].

In retirement he became managing director and then Chairman of [[Dowty Rotol|Rotol Limited]] and British Messier.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201584.html The Industry] Flight 1, November 1957</ref>

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

==Bibliography==
*{{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}}

==External links==
*[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80004411 Imperial War Museum Interview]
*[https://www.generals.dk/general/Evetts/John_Fullerton/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Richard O'Connor]]}}
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{{s-aft|after=Post disbanded}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Daril Watson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff]]|years=1942–1944}}
{{s-aft|after=[[John Kennedy (British Army officer, born 1893)|John Kennedy]]}}
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{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evetts, John}}
[[Category:1890s births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials in Worcestershire]]
[[Category:British Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine]]
[[Category:Cameronians officers]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Machine Gun Corps officers]]
[[Category:People educated at Lancing College]]
[[Category:People from Wrotham]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Military Cross]]
[[Category:Royal Ulster Rifles officers]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]

John Fullerton Evetts - Revision history

Bot at 21:12, 22 September 2022