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{{Short description|British Army general (1909–1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Sir Kenneth Darling
|image=NATO-General Sir Kenneth Darling auf der Kieler Woche 1968 (Kiel 43.504).jpg
|image_size=275px
|caption=General Sir Kenneth Darling (centre) in 1968.
|birth_date={{Birth date|1909|9|17|df=yes}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|1998|10|31|1909|9|17|df=yes}}
|placeofburial=
|birth_place=[[Bengal Presidency]], [[British Raj|British India]]
|death_place=Chesterton, [[Oxfordshire]], [[England]]
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flag|United Kingdom}}
|branch={{army|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears=1929–1969
|rank=[[General (United Kingdom)|General]]
|servicenumber=44052
|unit=[[Royal Fusiliers]] [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]]
|commands=11th Battalion, [[Royal Fusiliers]] [[12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion]] [[5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)|5th Parachute Brigade]] [[16th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)|16th Parachute Brigade]] [[II Corps (United Kingdom)|II Corps]] [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|1st (British) Corps]] [[Southern Command (United Kingdom)|Southern Command]] [[Allied Forces Northern Europe]]
|battles=[[World War II]] [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Palestine Emergency]] [[Cyprus Emergency]]
|awards=[[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Distinguished Service Order]]
|relations=[[Douglas Darling]] (brother)
| laterwork=
}}
[[General (United Kingdom)|General]] '''Sir Kenneth Thomas Darling''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GBE|KCB|DSO}} (17 September 1909 – 31 October 1998) was a senior [[British Army]] officer who after serving with distinction during the [[Second World War]] was [[Commander-in-chief|Commander-in-Chief]] (C-in-C) of [[Allied Forces Northern Europe]] 1967–69.

==Early life==
Darling was born in [[British Raj|British India]],<ref name=inde>{{cite news|title=Obituary: General Sir Kenneth Darling|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-general-sir-kenneth-darling-1184316.html|work=[[The Independent]]|date=12 November 1998|access-date=28 August 2009 | location=London | first=Max | last=Arthur}}</ref> the eldest son of George Kenneth Darling (1879–1964) of the Indian Civil Service and his wife Mabel Eleanor, née Burgess (d. 1952). His younger brother, the future Major General [[Douglas Darling]] (1914–1978), was also to become a distinguished soldier.

==Military career==
Upon being sent to [[England]], Kenneth Darling was educated at [[Eton College]] and the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]], where he was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] into the [[Royal Fusiliers]] on 29 August 1929.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33530|page=5645|date=30 August 1929}}</ref><ref name=inde/> He served with the 2nd Battalion of his regiment, in the United Kingdom, before serving with the 1st Battalion in India for eight years, from 1930 to 1938.<ref name=IWM>{{cite web |url= https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030013318 |title=Private papers of General Sir Kenneth Darling GBE KCB DSO |publisher=[[Imperial War Museum]] }}</ref> He was promoted to [[Lieutenant (British Army and Royal Marines)|lieutenant]] on 29 August 1932,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33859|page=5562|date=30 August 1932}}</ref> and [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] on 1 August 1938.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33538|page=5031|date=5 August 1938|supp=y}}</ref>

Soon after the outbreak of [[World War II]] in September 1939 Darling returned to the United Kingdom where, from January−April 1940 he attended the [[Staff College, Camberley]] as a student, and after graduating he was made a [[brigade major]] with the [[167th (1st London) Brigade|1st London Brigade]], part of the [[56th (London) Infantry Division|1st London Division]]. Serving briefly as a [[Staff (military)|General Staff Officer Grade 2]] (GSO2) at the [[War Office]], he was an instructor at the [[Senior Officers' School]], [[Wiltshire]], from January−October 1941, before returning to the War Office for eight months as GSO1 Military Training. From June 1942 he was [[Commanding officer|Commanding Officer]] (CO) of the 11th Battalion, [[Royal Fusiliers]]. He commanded the battalion, a second line [[Army Reserve (United Kingdom)|Territorial Army]] which formed part of the [[140th (4th London) Brigade|140th Brigade]], itself part of the [[47th (London) Infantry Division]].<ref name=IWM/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paradata.org.uk/people/kenneth-t-darling|title = Kenneth T Darling | ParaData}}</ref>

He served in North West Europe during 1944 and 1945 and was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] on 7 June 1945 while serving with the [[12th (Yorkshire) Parachute Battalion]], initially as its [[second-in-command]] and then as its [[commanding officer]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=37112|page=2877|date=5 June 1945|supp=y}}</ref><ref name=IWM/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paradata.org.uk/people/kenneth-t-darling|title = Kenneth T Darling | ParaData}}</ref>

He became [[Commander]] of the [[5th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom)|5th Parachute Brigade]] in 1946, then serving in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] during the [[Jewish insurgency in Mandatory Palestine|Palestine Emergency]], of the Airborne Forces Depot in 1948 and of the 16th Independent Parachute Brigade in 1950.<ref name=inde/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.paradata.org.uk/people/kenneth-t-darling|title = Kenneth T Darling | ParaData}}</ref>

He was Chief of Staff of [[I Corps (United Kingdom)|I (British) Corps]] from 1955, [[General Officer Commanding]] [[II Corps (United Kingdom)|II Corps]] from 1956 and then Deputy Director, Staff Duties at the [[War Office]] from 1957.<ref name=inde/> He went on to be General Officer Commanding and Director of Operations [[British Forces Cyprus|Cyprus District]] in 1958,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=CYPRUS: In the Front Line|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864429,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018004151/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864429,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 October 2007|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=24 November 1958|access-date=28 August 2009}}</ref> Director of Infantry in 1960 and [[General Officer Commanding]] I (British) Corps in 1962.<ref name=inde/> His last appointments were as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief at [[Southern Command (United Kingdom)|Southern Command]] in 1964 and Commander in Chief of [[Allied Forces Northern Europe]] from 1967 until his retirement in 1969.<ref name=inde/>

Darling was appointed a [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1969, [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] in 1963, [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in 1957 and [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] in 1957. He was Honorary Colonel of the [[Royal Fusiliers]] (City of London Regiment) from 1963 to 1968,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/forces/armyunits/britishinfantry/fusilierscolonels.htm|title=Royal Fusiliers colonels|publisher=British Empire|access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref> [[Colonel Commandant]] of [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|the Parachute Regiment]] from 1965 to 1967, Honorary Colonel of [[the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers]] from 1968 to 1974 and [[ADC General]] to the [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen]] during 1968 and 1969.

[[File:Darling KT BluePlaque Chesterton VicarageFarmhouse.jpg|thumb|[[Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board|Oxfordshire Blue Plaque]] on Darling's former home in [[Chesterton, Oxfordshire]]]]
In 1941 Darling married Pamela Denison-Pender (1915–). His wife's sister, Cynthia, was married to the soldier and racing correspondent [[Roger Mortimer (racing)|Roger Mortimer]].{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}

Darling lived at Vicarage Farmhouse, [[Chesterton, Oxfordshire]] from 1958 until his death on 31 October 1998. An [[Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board|Oxfordshire Blue Plaque]] commemorating him was unveiled on his house on 4 July 2015.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://oxonblueplaques.org.uk/plaques/darling.html|title=General Sir Kenneth Darling (1909–1998) |publisher=[[Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board]] |access-date=23 January 2016}}</ref>

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

==Sources==
* {{cite book |year=2001 |title=[[Who Was Who]] |volume=X, 1996–2000 |place=London |isbn=0-7136-5439-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Norton |first=GG |year=1973 |title=The Red Devils |series=Leo Cooper Famous Regiment Series |place=London |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |isbn=978-0330236317 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Charles Phibbs Jones|Sir Charles Jones]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[I Corps (United Kingdom)|GOC 1st (British) Corps]]|years=1962–1963}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Richard Elton Goodwin|Sir Richard Goodwin]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Robert Bray (British Army officer)|Sir Robert Bray]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Southern Command (United Kingdom)|GOC-in-C Southern Command]]|years=1964–1966}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Geoffrey Baker (British Army officer)|Sir Geoffrey Baker]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Robert Bray (British Army officer)|Sir Robert Bray]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Allied Forces Northern Europe|Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe]]|years=1967–1969}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Walter Walker (British Army officer)|Sir Walter Walker]]}}
|-
{{s-hon}}
{{succession box | title=[[Royal Fusiliers|Colonel of the Royal Fusiliers]] | before=[[Francis Rome]] | after=Regiment disbanded| years=1963–1968}}
|-
{{succession box | title=[[Royal Regiment of Fusiliers|Colonel of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers]] | before=New regiment | after=[[George Lea (British Army officer)|George Harris Lea]]| years=1968–1974}}
{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darling, Kenneth}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
[[Category:1998 deaths]]
[[Category:British Army generals]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:British Parachute Regiment officers]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Cyprus Emergency]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Royal Fusiliers officers]]
[[Category:War Office personnel in World War II]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]

Kenneth Darling - Revision history

Bot at 20:35, 17 May 2022