View source for Philip Neame

{{Short description|British Army general (1888–1978)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = [[Lieutenant general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
|name= Sir Philip Neame
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|VC|KBE|CB|DSO}}
|image= VCPhilipNeame.jpg
|image_size= 250
|alt= 
|caption= Philip Neame VC, pictured here as a young officer sometime before, during or after the First World War
|nickname= 
|birth_date= {{birth date|df=y|1888|12|12}}
|birth_place= [[Faversham]], [[Kent]], England
|death_date= {{death date and age|df=y|1978|4|28|1888|12|12}}
|death_place= [[Selling, Kent]], England
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Army]]
|serviceyears= 1908–1947
|servicenumber= 4243
|rank= [[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]]
|unit= [[Royal Engineers]]
|commands= British Forces in the [[Channel Islands]] (1945–1947)<br/>[[Cyrenaica]] (1941)<br/>[[Palestine Command|British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan]] (1940–1941)<br/>[[4th Infantry Division (India)|4th Indian Infantry Division]] (1940)<br/>[[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]] (1938–1939)
|battles= [[First World War]]<br/>[[Second World War]]
|awards= [[Victoria Cross]]<br/>[[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]<br/>[[Companion of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Distinguished Service Order]]<br/>[[Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)|Knight of the Order of St John]]<br/>[[Mentioned in Despatches]] (6)<br/>[[Legion of Honour]] (France)<br/>[[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre]] (France)<br/>[[Croix de guerre (Belgium)|Croix de guerre]] (Belgium)<br/>[[Order of the White Lion]] (Czechoslovakia)
|relations= 
|laterwork= Olympic gold medalist<br/>[[Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey]]
}}
[[Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-General]] '''Sir Philip Neame''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|VC|KBE|CB|DSO|}} (12 December 1888 – 28 April 1978) was a senior [[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 of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces, and the winner of an Olympic Games gold medal; he is the only person to achieve both distinctions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/42384 |title=Philip Neame |work=Olympedia |access-date=5 November 2021}}</ref>

During the Second World War, in the spring of 1941, Neame was commander of British troops in Cyrenaica (north-eastern Libya), recently conquered from the Italians by General Richard O'Connor. However, as the region was retaken by the newly-arrived Afrika Korps under Erwin Rommel, Neame and O'Connor were taken prisoner. Both men remained in captivity in Italy until the autumn of 1943.

==Early life and military career==
Philip Neame was born on 12 December 1888 in [[Faversham]] in the [[Kent|County of Kent]], the son of Kathleen Neame (née Stunt) and Frederick Neame (b. 1847). He received his education at [[Cheltenham College]], and the [[British Army]]'s [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich|Royal Military Academy]] at Woolwich, Kent.

Upon graduating from the Royal Military Academy,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=28171| date=25 August 1908|page=6219}}</ref> Neame received a commission as a second lieutenant into the [[Royal Engineers]] in July 1908.<ref name=lh>{{Cite web|url=https://kingscollections.org/catalogues/lhcma|title=King's Collections : Archive Catalogues : Military Archives|website=kingscollections.org|accessdate=27 December 2022}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army">{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_N01.html#Neame_P|title=British Army officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=2022-06-28}}</ref> He was promoted to lieutenant in August 1910,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=28408| date=19 August 1910|page=6039}}</ref> whilst serving with the [[15 Squadron RE|15th Field Company]].

==First World War==
The declaration of war in August 1914 found Neame with the 15th Field Company in the [[Gibraltar]] Garrison. The company joined the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF) on the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] in October 1914.

During the [[First Battle of Ypres]] in October 1914, Neame experienced first hand in the [[Trench warfare|trenches]] the inferiority of the British issue hand-grenades compared to their German equivalent, and set about creating an alternative, the sappers improvising rudimentary but effective hand grenades made from empty jam tins filled with scrap metal, with the charge being created using gun-cotton, and a cord-fuse projecting from the end of the tin, requiring ignition by flame.{{sfn|Arthur|2002|p=43}}

===Victoria Cross===
Neame was 26 years old when the following deed took place, for which he received the [[Victoria Cross]] (VC):

{{Quote|For conspicuous bravery on the 19th December, near [[Neuve-Chapelle|Neuve Chapelle]], when, notwithstanding the very heavy rifle fire and [[Grenade|bomb]]-throwing by the enemy, he succeeded in holding them back and rescuing all the wounded men whom it was possible to move.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29074|supp=y|page=1700|date=16 February 1915}}</ref>}}

During a minor night trench action on the Western Front in the Neuve Chapelle district five days before Christmas 1914, Neame was leading a party of sappers in action when he was requested by the commanding officer of a battalion of the [[West Yorkshire Regiment]] to go forward and to strengthen the defences in a recently captured German trench. When he got there he met another commissioned officer who informed him that the Germans were counter-attacking with bombs, that his own bombers had all been wounded and that the bombs that were left would not go off. At this Neame went further up the trench to the contact point to talk to one of the surviving bombers there, and discovered that the problem was that he wasn't able use the bombs because there were no fuzee matches left. Neame, knowing how to technically ignite the grenades without a fuzee match by holding a regular match-head on the grenade's fuse and striking a match box across it, commenced lighting and throwing grenades in this fashion into the German trenches at the two different directions where a German dawn counter-attack was materializing, holding it back whilst under continual return fire for forty-five minutes whilst the West Yorks Regiment evacuated its wounded behind him back towards the original British frontline trench.<ref name="ReferenceB">''Forgotten Voices'', p52</ref>

Neame was promoted to the rank of [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|captain]] in 1915, and was [[mentioned in despatches]] in February 1915, and again in January 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=29422| date=31 December 1915|page=24| supp=y}}</ref><ref>Medal index cards, National Archive, Kew, Surrey</ref> He was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Order]] (DSO) in January 1916.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=29438| date=11 January 1916|page=575| supp=y}}</ref>

After a short period as a [[Staff (military)|staff officer]] (GSO3) from October 1915,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=29380| date=23 November 1915|page=11734| supp=y}}</ref> he was appointed [[brigade major]] of the [[168th (2nd London) Brigade|168th Brigade]], [[56th (London) Infantry Division|56th (London) Division]], in February 1916,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=29495| date=29 February 1916|page=2331| supp=y}}</ref> staffing this post through the [[Battle of the Somme|Somme offensive]] in 1916, including the [[Attack on the Gommecourt Salient|actions at Gommecourt]] on 1 July, and the [[Battle of Ginchy]] in September, until relinquishing it for another staff (GSO2) assignment in November 1916.<ref>'The 56th Division', appendix, by D. Ward, Pub. 1921</ref><ref>{{London Gazette| issue=29903| date=12 January 1917|page=571| supp=y}}</ref>

He was promoted to [[brevet (military)|brevet]] [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]] in the 1917 New Year honours list.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=29886| date=29 December 1916|page=18| supp=y}}</ref> He received further mentions in despatches in January and December 1917. In June 1918 he moved up to a senior staff post (GSO1), and ended the war in November 1918 with the temporary rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant colonel]].<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=30837| date=9 August 1918|page=9421| supp=y}}</ref><ref name="Generals of World War II">{{cite web|url=https://generals.dk/general/Neame/Philip/Great_Britain.html|title=Biography of Lieutenant-General Philip Neame (1888–1978), Great Britain|website=generals.dk}}</ref>

==Inter-war military career and Olympian==
Neame was honoured for his war service in France with the [[Legion of Honour]] (''Croix de Chevalier'') in January 1919,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=31109| date=3 January 1919|page=312| supp=y}}</ref> and the [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de guerre]] in July.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=31465| date=18 July 1919|page=9221| supp=y}}</ref> He was also awarded the Belgian [[Croix de guerre (Belgium)|Croix de guerre]].<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=31537| date=2 September 1919|page=11212| supp=y}}</ref> In June 1919 he was noted in ''The London Gazette'' as being amongst several names intended for the rank of brevet lieutenant-colonel, with the substantive rank of major.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=31370| date=30 May 1919|page=6815| supp=y}}</ref> but the actual gazetting to brevet lieutenant-colonel did not appear until June 1922,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=32722| date=23 June 1922|page=4722}}</ref> and his substantive rank was finally promoted from captain to major in January 1925.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=33025| date=27 February 1925|page=1427}}</ref>

{{MedalBox
|sport = Men's [[shooting (sport)|shooting]]
|country = {{GBR2}}
|medals = 
{{MedalCompetition | [[Shooting at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Paris]]| [[Shooting at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's 100 metre team running deer, double shots|Team running deer,<br /> double shots]] }}
}}
Neame was a member of Great Britain's [[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Olympic]] Running Deer team at [[Paris]] and is the only Victoria Cross recipient who has won an Olympic gold medal.<ref name="sportsref">{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ne/philip-neame-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418035418/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ne/philip-neame-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=18 April 2020 |title=Philip Neame |accessdate=2 January 2015}}</ref> The Running Deer competition was one of the shooting events at the games. It involved teams of four (firing single shots), where a moving target simulated the animal.

After serving as an instructor at the [[Staff College, Camberley]], from March 1919 to April 1923,<ref name="Generals of World War II"/> Neame was appointed brigade major of an Infantry Brigade at [[Aldershot]] in January 1924<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=32918| date=14 March 1924|page=2231}}</ref> and then saw service in [[India]] with the [[Bengal Sappers and Miners]] from 1925 before attending the [[Imperial Defence College]] in 1930.<ref name=lh /><ref name="Generals of World War II"/> In June 1932 Neame was promoted full colonel<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=33844| date=8 July 1932|page=4468}}</ref> (skipping the substantive lieutenant-colonel rank) and became a General Staff Officer 1<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=33852| date=5 August 1932|page=5063}}</ref> in the [[Waziristan]] District in [[India]]. In 1933 he was badly mauled by a tigress whilst hunting in India. He was admitted to a hospital, Lady Minto Nursing Association, in Bareilly where he was nursed to health by Harriet Alberta Drew. He married the nurse, taking leave from India towards the end of 1933<ref>{{cite news| title= V.C. goes on Half-pay. Mauled by a tiger.|newspaper=The Scotsman| date=23 December 1933| page=17 |url=http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000540/19331223/242/0017| via=[[British Newspaper Archive]]}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34024 |date=16 February 1934|page=1079}}</ref> whereupon he was on half pay<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34007| date=22 December 1933|page=8316}}</ref> without appointment until May 1934.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34007| date=21 August 1934|page=5344}}</ref>

In July 1934 Neame was given temporary brigadier rank to take up an appointment as Brigadier General Staff<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34086| date=11 September 1934|page=5758}}</ref><ref name="Generals of World War II"/> with Eastern Command in India. In 1938 he was promoted to major-general<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34490| date=8 March 1938|page=1507}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army" /> and returned to England as [[Commandant]] of the [[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]], in 1938.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34490| date=8 March 1938|page=1508}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Army Commands|archivedate=5 July 2015|accessdate=27 December 2022}}</ref><ref name="Generals of World War II"/> He was appointed a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] in January 1939.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34585| date=30 December 1938|page=4| supp=y}}</ref>

==Second World War==
While Commandant at the Military College, Neame had been given to understand that should war be declared, he would be appointed as Chief of General Staff to the British Expeditionary Force's putative C-in-C, [[John Dill]]. In the event, [[Lord Gort]] was appointed C-in-C, with [[Henry Pownall]] as CGS and Neame as his deputy<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34703| date=6 October 1939|page=6777| supp=y}}</ref> responsible for operations and staff duties.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=316−317}} Neame organised defences and planned for the campaign, but in February 1940 he was posted to Egypt to command the [[4th Infantry Division (India)|4th Indian Infantry Division]].{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=317}}<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34809| date=8 March 1940|page=1459| supp=y}}</ref><ref name="Generals of World War II"/>

===Middle East theatre===
In August 1940 Neame was made General Officer Commanding [[Palestine Command|British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan]] in the acting rank of lieutenant-general<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=34934| date=27 August 1940|page=5269| supp=y}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army" /> where his responsibilities were mainly in the area of internal security (the local police forces being placed under his direction).{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=317}}

===Defeat in North Africa===
In February 1941 Neame was appointed General Officer Commanding & Military Governor of [[Cyrenaica]], which had been captured from the Italians by the British Empire's rapid advance in the opening moves of the [[North African campaign]] during [[Operation Compass]].<ref name=lh /> Whilst being responsible for a large area of ground, Neame's command had been stripped of many of its battle-hardened units, which had been withdrawn towards Cairo either for re-fitting, or to take part in the [[Battle of Greece]], and he was left with little air support from the constrained [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF) units available in North Africa at this time.

The two primary formations under his command to guard Cyrenaica were the newly fielded [[2nd Armoured Division (United Kingdom)|2nd Armoured Division]], and [[9th Division (Australia)|9th Australian Division]]. The 2nd Armoured Division had only recently arrived from the [[British Isles]], was under-strength, lacking in training and equipment adapted for desert warfare conditions, and proved to be no match for what it was about to meet in the field in the form of [[Nazi Germany]]'s First Axis Offensive in North Africa, which was launched at the end of March 1941 by its newly arrived [[Afrika Korps]], led by General [[Erwin Rommel]]. Australia's 9th Division, while well led by [[Leslie Morshead]], was not yet fully trained, and was suffering from a shortage of transport vehicles.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=317}}

====First Axis Offensive in North Africa====
{{Main|Operation Sonnenblume}}
Neame's Headquarters lacked accurate intelligence information from its senior command echelon, and had no warning about the nature or scale of the massed attack that it was about to be hit with, in a theatre scenario which was thought to be dormant at that time through Italian massed defeat and tactical acquiescence, and he was further hampered by an over-extended line of supply stretching back over many hundreds of miles to [[Alexandria]] and [[Cairo]]. With hesitant handling of his unprepared troop dispositions in response to a rapidly changing and unexpectedly threatening situation, as the Afrika Korps and Italian Army poured toward him at a terrific speed of advance and began on 24 March 1941 to attack his units' outposts and appear suddenly amidst, and even far behind them in the lines of supply routes,<ref>'Regio Esercito, The Italian Royal Army in Mussolini's Wars,' by Patrick Cloutier (Pub. Lulu.com, 2013).</ref> and his command being limited in effective control by a Headquarters not sited in a battle station and remote from the action, Neame was over the next few days of fighting overwhelmed by Rommel.  Faced with the apparent danger of the 2nd Armoured Division's disintegration which he perceived from its chaotic radio-traffic as it struggled to cope with the rolling blows it was receiving, he ordered the forces under him to fall back eastward in an uncoordinated fashion to avoid being cut off and completely destroyed by the sudden advance of the enemy.

On 6 April 1941, while driving in a small convoy of vehicles to a newly established Headquarters, Neame and his travelling companions, Lieutenant-General [[Richard O'Connor]] (who had been rapidly dispatched to join Neame's Headquarters by General [[Archibald Wavell]] who was alarmed at the apparent collapse of Neame's forces) and Brigadier [[John Frederick Boyce Combe|John Combe]], were over-run and captured by a German advanced force led by [[Gerhard von Schwerin]].<ref name=lh /> Disaster was averted for the majority of the forces under Neame's command through a rapid retreat by the 9th Australian Division into the coastal town of [[Tobruk]], where it was joined by 3 Indian Motor Brigade, and surviving remnants of 2nd Armoured Division (most of which had been over-run and captured in the rout), in hastily organising a defensive perimeter, which would go on to withstand the Axis Forces' subsequent extended [[Siege of Tobruk|siege]].{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=318}}

[[File:O'Connor Captured.jpg|thumb|Neame (centre), Brigadier [[John Frederick Boyce Combe|John Combe]] (left), and Major-General [[Michael Gambier-Parry]] (right) following their capture in North Africa]]

===Prisoner of war in Italy===
Along with the almost 3000 men of the 2nd Armoured Division who had been captured in Rommel's advance, Neame with generals O'Connor and Combe were transported across the [[Mediterranean Sea]] for incarceration in Italy, first being held as prize prisoners at the Villa Orsini near [[Sulmona]], then at Castello di [[Vincigliata]] PG12 near Florence. Whilst at PG12 they took part in a number of escape attempts along with General [[Adrian Carton de Wiart]] (a fellow VC recipient), and [[Edward Joseph Todhunter|Edward Todhunter]].

After the successful escape of six men through a tunnel that Neame had designed in April 1943, including two New Zealander brigadiers [[James Hargest]] and [[Reginald Miles]] who disappeared in the direction of Switzerland, the Italian Army in reprisal sent Neame's [[Batman (military)|batman]] Gunner Pickford (Royal Horse Artillery) to another camp.{{sfn|Neame|1947|p=259, 288}}

Following the [[Armistice of Cassibile|Italian Armistice]] in September 1943, Neame was released from incarceration by the Italian Army, but faced a hazardous journey of several hundred miles through a semi-chaotic countryside, at that time still occupied by [[Nazi Germany|German]] forces, in areas in conflict with the Italians, to reach the safety of the joint British and American lines. Having hidden a manuscript which he had been writing in captivity of his memoires (to be recovered after the war), Neame's party, including Air Marshal [[Owen Tudor Boyd|Owen Boyd]] and General [[Richard O'Connor]], made their way southwards with the help of friendly Italians along the route. Hiring a boat at [[Cattolica]] they sailed to the port of [[Termoli]] which by the time of their arrival on 20 December 1943 had fallen into the possession of the advancing Allied armies.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=319}}

===Repatriation to England===
Arriving back in England on 25 December 1943, having travelled via [[Tunis]] (after interviews with Generals [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight Eisenhower]] and [[Harold Alexander]], and also [[Winston Churchill]]), Neame found there was no job waiting for him in the army, with his star in the descendent after the debacle of his capture in 1941, but he remained on the Active List until the end of the war in his substantive rank of major-general.{{sfn|Mead|2007|p=319}}

==Postwar military career and retirement==
[[File:VCPhilipNeamemedals.jpg|thumb|right|Neame's medal collection at the [[Imperial War Museum]]]]
In August 1945 Neame was appointed [[Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey]] in the local rank of lieutenant-general<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=37243| date=28 August 1945|page=4345}}</ref><ref name="Officers of the British Army" /> where he served until 1953.<ref name=lh /> He also held the honorary posts of Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Royal Engineers from February 1945 to 1955<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=36929| date=6 February 1945|page=805| supp=y}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette| issue=40395| date=28 January 1955|page=629| supp=y}}</ref> and Colonel 131 (Airborne) Engineer Regiment from January 1948.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=38212| date=17 February 1948|page=1180| supp=y}}</ref>

Neame was knighted as a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] in June 1946,<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=37598| date=4 June 1946|page=2768| supp=y}}</ref> and made a knight of the charitable Order of St John in the same year.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=37632| date=28 June 1946|page=3288}}</ref> In January 1955 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Kent.<ref>{{London Gazette| issue=40378| date=7 January 1955|page=156}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Neame married Harriet Drew (1906–1994) in 1934,<ref>'Victoria Crosses on the Western Front, August 1914 – April 1915, Mons to Hill 60' by Paul Oldfield (Pub. Pen & Sword 2014).</ref> the marriage producing four children: Gerald (born 1935), Veronica (born 1937), Nigel (born 1946), Philip (born 1946). The latter's youngest child, also named Philip, served as commander of D Company, [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|2nd Parachute Regiment]], in 1982 during the [[Falklands War]].<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.neamefamily.com/tree/getperson.php?personIDI1888&tree=neame | title=Neame - Family tree | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227120740/http://www.neamefamily.com/tree/getperson.php?personIDI1888&tree=neame | archive-date=2022-12-27}}</ref>

Neame died at [[Selling, Kent|Selling]] in Kent on 28 April 1978, in his eighty-ninth year. His body was buried in the graveyard of St Mary the Virgin Church, in Selling.<ref group=Note>There is a bronze plaque within the church detailing Neame's awards and titles, but the [[granite]] gravestone makes no mention of them, bearing only his name.</ref> His medals and awards are held by the [[Imperial War Museum]] in London.

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|group="Note"}}

===Footnotes===
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*{{cite book |title=Forgotten Voices of the Great War |first=Max |last=Arthur |year=2002 |publisher=Ebury Press}}
*{{cite book|year=1997|title=The Register of the Victoria Cross|editor-last=Buzzell|editor-first=Nora|location=[[Cheltenham]], [[Gloucestershire]]|publisher=This England Alma House|isbn=0-906324-27-0}}
*{{cite book |title=Happy Odyssey |first=Lt-Gen. Sir Carton |last=De Wiart |author-link=Adrian Carton de Wiart|orig-year=1950 |publisher=Pen & Sword Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-84415-539-2}}
*{{cite book|last=Gliddon|first=Gerald|title=1914|series=[[VCs of the First World War]]|year=2011|orig-date=1994|publisher=[[The History Press]]|location=[[Stroud]], [[Gloucestershire]]|isbn=978-0752459080}}
*{{cite book |title=MI9 Escape & Evasion 1939–45 |first1=M.R.D. |last1=Foot |author-link = M. R. D. Foot|first2=J.M |last2=Langley |author-link2 = James Langley|publisher=The Bodley Head |year=1979}}
*{{cite book |title=Farewell Campo 12 |first=Brigadier James |last=Hargest |publisher=Michael Joseph |author-link=James Hargest|year=1945}}
*{{cite book |title=[[Monuments To Courage]] |first1=David |last1=Harvey |first2=Brian |last2=Best |author-link1=David Charles Harvey |orig-year=1999 |publisher=Naval & Military Press |year=2010 |isbn=9781847348098}}
*{{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|last=Napier|first=Gerald|title=The Sapper VCs: The Story of Valour in the Royal Engineers and Its Associated Corps|year=1998|publisher=[[The Stationery Office]]|isbn=978-0117728356}}
*{{cite book |first=Philip |last=Neame |title=Playing with Strife, The Autobiography of a Soldier, Lt-Gen. Sir Philip Neame, V.C., K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O. |publisher=George G Harrap |year=1947}}
*{{cite book |title=To War with Whitaker, The wartime diaries of The Countess of Ranfurly 1939–1945 |last=Ranfurly |first=Countess |publisher=William Heinemann |location=London |year=1994 |isbn=0-434-00224-0}}
*{{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}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last=Ingleton|first=Roy|title=Kent VCs|publisher=[[Pen and Sword Books]]|year=2011|isbn=978-1848844094}}

==External links==
{{Commonscat}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060810230716/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_vc.htm#1n Royal Engineers Museum] Sappers VCs
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041214222822/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/kent.htm Location of grave] ''(Kent)''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070513150108/http://www.dhs.kyutech.ac.jp/~ruxton/OC_victoria_crosses.html Philip NEAME of Cheltenham College]
*[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80000047 Imperial War Museum Interview]
*{{Lives of WWI | id= 3213296 | name= Philip Neame }}
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_N01.html#Neame_P British Army Officers 1939–1945]
*[https://generals.dk/general/Neame/Philip/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Arthur Goschen]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Royal Military Academy, Woolwich|Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Woolwich]]|years=1938–1939}}
{{s-non|reason=College closed for the war}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Percy Scarlett|The Hon. P. Gerald Scarlet]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[4th Infantry Division (India)|GOC 4th Indian Infantry Division]]|years=February–August 1940}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Noel Beresford-Peirse]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[George Giffard]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Palestine Command|GOC British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan]]|years=1940–1941}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Henry Maitland Wilson|Sir Henry Maitland Wilson]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Henry Maitland Wilson|Sir Henry Maitland Wilson]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Military Governor of [[Cyrenaica]]|years=February – April 1941}}
{{s-non|reason=Post disbanded}}
|-
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Charles Gage Stuart]]<br />(British Military Government)
| title = [[Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey]]
| years = 1945–1953
| after = [[Thomas Elmhirst|Sir Thomas Elmhirst]]
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neame, Philip}}
[[Category:1888 births]]
[[Category:1978 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials in Kent]]
[[Category:Commandants of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:People from Faversham]]
[[Category:People educated at Cheltenham College]]
[[Category:British male sport shooters]]
[[Category:Running target shooters]]
[[Category:Olympic shooters for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Shooters at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:English Olympic competitors]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British World War I recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:British Army generals of World War II]]
[[Category:British World War II prisoners of war]]
[[Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Italy]]
[[Category:British escapees]]
[[Category:Escapees from Italian detention]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Knights of Grace of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Olympic medalists in shooting]]
[[Category:British Army recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Gloucestershire]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies]]
[[Category:Academics of the Staff College, Camberley]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kent]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]