Majoor-Generaal

  • Born October 8, 1902 (Wednesday) - Caledon, Overberg District Municipality, Western Cape, Zuid-Afrika
  • Deceased March 9, 1969 (Sunday) - Bellville, Cape Town, Western Cape, Zuid-Afrika,aged 66 years old
  • Commandant, diplomaat, soldaat

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Individual Note

Poole was educated at St Andrew's College, Grahamstown (1911-17), and the Diocesan College, Rondebosch (1917-18). In 1920, while a public servant, he joined the 9th Infantry Regiment (Cape Peninsula Rifles) of the Active Citizen Force as a private. He attested in the Permanent Force (PF) in 1922, qualifying in the first place on a course for promotion to commissioned rank on 11.9.1923. He was next posted as a lieutenant to the 3rd Battery SA Field Artillery and transferred to the SA Permanent Garrison Artillery at Cape Town in March 1925, when he again qualified in the first place on a garrison gunnery course. In 1927 he attended a staff course at the SA Military College at Roberts Heights (now Voortrekkerhoogte) and was attached to the SA Staff Corps at the college in 1929, again passing out in the first place on a staff duties course of the PF in 1931. Appointed officer instructor to the Transvaal Horse Artillery for 1931-32, he qualified as a captain in the SA Field Artillery (SAFA) at the end of 1931. In June 1932 he was granted the temporary rank of captain as staff officer, 'A' and 'G', in Cape Town and transferred to the staff corps.
He then joined the Special Service Battalion (SSB) as a major and second-in-command, becoming officer commanding from February 1934, He was granted the temporary rank of lieutenant-colonel in June 1935 and was attached to the British Brigade of Guards at Aldershot, in London, and at Pirbright, Surrey, until September 1935, attending a senior officers' course at Sheerness for the rest of the year before returning to South Africa to resume command of the SSB in 1936. He was transferred to the SA Military College in October 1937 and made commandant of the college the next year.
During the Second World War (1939-45) P. was appointed GS01 of 1st SA Division on its formation in August 1940, but when the 2nd Division was formed, became its GS01 before being promoted to temporary brigadier (April 1941); he was then transferredback to the 1st SA Division as brigadier in June 1941 to take command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade in Egypt. He saw active service with the Brigade at Mersa Matruh, commanding 'Braforce' under the 2nd SA Division on the Egyptian frontier later in 1941, and then with the 1st SA Division on the Gazala Line from February to May 1942. He returned temporarily to South Africa as officer commanding Cape Fortress until rejoining his brigade at El Alamein in August 1942. There he commanded the brigadein the final battle of Alamein in October-November 1942. He returned to South Africa as second-in-command of the 1st SA Division.
On the formation of the 6th Armoured Division, P. took command as major-general in February 1943, retaining command throughout its training in the Middle East and subsequent service in Italy under the 8th Army (until the liberation of Florence) andthen under the 5th US Army. After the war he became General Officer Administration of all South African troops in the Central Mediterranean Forces until they were repatriated on 2.3.1946.
P. ended the war with numerous decorations. He was twice mentioned in dispatches, received the D.S.O., and was appointed C.B. and C.B.E. He was among the very few South Africans to become a Commander of the US Legion of Merit, and was also a Commander of the French Legion d'Honneur, received the Croix de Guerre avec Palme, and was a Knight of the Venerable Order of St John of Jerusalem.
In 1948 he was passed over as Chief of Staff by the newly elected National Party government of Dr D. F. Malan* and posted to Berlin to head the South African military mission there. After this he switched to a diplomatic career. He was subsequentlyappointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Italy, Greece, and Egypt, and in 1954 was transferred to the Argentine and Chile. In 1960 he became ambassador to Greece, being made a member of the Order of King George I of Greece in 1964. He retired in 1966.
In his military career P., though a stern disciplinarian, was nevertheless a very popular commander. With strong qualities of leadership, he was, notwithstanding, so humble that his steely determination was not always apparent, characteristics which enabled him to make a success of his diplomatic as well as his military career. Tall, handsome, and debonair, in his last years he suffered from a lung ailment which forced his retirement in 1966, after which he spent half the year in his home atHermanus and the other half in Greece, living aboard the Poole's yacht, Estrellita.
In 1927 P. married Elsie Irene van Boeschoten and had one daughter. After the dissolution of the marriage in 1951 he married Maureen Naish-Gray (22.10.1951). A photograph of P. appears in the Cape Times (infra).
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William John Evered Poole Henrietta Carolina van Breda
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William Henry Everett Poole, Majoor-Generaal 1902-1969