Henry Bowreman Foote

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox military person Major General Henry Robert Bowreman Foote, Template:Post-nominals (5 December 1904 – 11 November 1993) was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Early life and education

Foote was born on 5 December 1904 in Ishapore, India, the son of Henry Bruce Foote, a major in the Royal Artillery, and his wife Jennie Elizabeth.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was the grandson of the archaeologist and geologist Robert Bruce Foote, often considered the "Father of Indian Prehistory".

Foote's mother died when he was a child and he went to England to board at St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne at the age of four.<ref>Michael Shelden, Orwell: The Authorised Biography William Heinemann 1991</ref> In 1918 he went to Bedford School where he stayed until 1923.<ref name=lh>Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Military career

Foote entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he graduated on 29 January 1925, and was subsequently commissioned into the Royal Tank Corps (later the Royal Tank Regiment).<ref name=lh/><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Second World War

Foote was a Staff Officer from 1939 to 1942 and a member of the British Army Staff Mission, Washington, D.C. in 1941.<ref name=lh/> In 1942 he was appointed Commanding Officer 7th Royal Tank Regiment<ref name=lh/> and it was in this post that he won the Victoria Cross at the Battle of Gazala.

During the period 27 May to 15 June 1942 in Libya, Lieutenant-Colonel Foote commanded his battalion with outstanding courage and leadership, always being at the crucial point at the right time. On 6 June, although wounded, he continued to lead his battalion from an exposed position on the outside of a tank, and succeeded in defeating the enemy's attempt to encircle two Allied divisions. On 13 June, when a number of Allied tanks had been destroyed, he went on foot, "from one tank to another, to encourage the crews under intense artillery and anti-tank fire". By "his magnificent example the corridor was kept open and the Brigade was able to march through".<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

File:Bovington 191 Matilda II.jpg

Matilda II tank at The Tank Museum, England, painted to represent a similar tank used by Lieutenant Colonel Foote

Shortly after this, Foote was captured and became a prisoner of war. However, he subsequently escaped and entered Switzerland in April 1944. It was only then that he learned he had been awarded the Victoria Cross.<ref name="bovington" /> After a period as a General Staff Officer at Allied Forces Headquarters in 1944, he became second-in-command of the 9th Armoured Brigade in 1945.<ref name=lh/>

Post-war and senior command

After the end of the war, Foote was flying to Berlin to take part in a victory parade when he had to bail out, as the aircraft was about to crash. Consequently, he became a member of the Caterpillar Club, an informal group of those who have been saved from death or serious injury by means of a parachute.<ref name="bovington">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Foote was Brigadier of the Royal Armoured Corps, Middle East Land Forces from 1945 to 1947 and then Officer Commanding 2nd Royal Tank Regiment from 1947 to 1948.<ref name=lh/> He was at the Fighting Vehicles Proving Establishment, at the Ministry of Supply from 1948 to 1949 and commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade from 1949 to 1950 and the 11th Armoured Division from 1950 to 1953.<ref name=lh/> He was Director General of Fighting Vehicles at the Ministry of Supply from 1953 to 1955 and Director, Royal Armoured Corps, at the War Office from 1955 until his retirement in 1958 as major-general.<ref name=lh/>

Retirement and legacy

A granite headstone among other headstones

Major General Foote's grave at St Mary's Church, West Chiltington, Sussex, photographed in 2014

After his retirement, Foote was a trustee of The Tank Museum, Bovington until his death. He was featured as a guest on the biographical television programme This Is Your Life on 22 October 1986.<ref name="bovington" />Template:Citation needed

His medals are displayed at the Royal Tank Regiment Museum, Bovington, Dorset.

External links

• Location of grave and VC medal (West Sussex)
• Independent obituary
• Henry Robert Bowreman Foote (1904–1993), Major-General, photographs at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Imperial War Museum Interview
• Generals of World War II