{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = Major-General |name= Arthur Reginald Chater |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|CVO|DSO|OBE}} |birth_date= {{birth date|1896|2|7|df=y}} |death_date= {{death date and age|1979|1|3|1896|2|7|df=y}} |birth_place= Kensington, London, England<ref>{{cite web | url=https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/6890081 | title=Life story: Arthur Reginald Chater &#124; Lives of the First World War }}</ref> |death_place= Colchester, Essex, England |image= Major General A. R. Chater.jpg |caption= |nickname= |allegiance= {{flag|United Kingdom}} |service_years= 1913–1948 |rank= Major-General |branch= 23px Royal Marines |unit= |commands= Chatham Group Royal Marines (1946–48)<br/>Portsmouth Division Royal Marines (1943–44)<br/>Somaliland Camel Corps (1937–40)<br/>Sudan Camel Corps (1927–30) |battles= First World War<br/>Second World War |awards= Companion of the Order of the Bath<br/>Commander of the Royal Victorian Order<br/>Distinguished Service Order<br/>Officer of the Order of the British Empire<br/>Mentioned in Despatches<br/>Croix de guerre (France) |relations= |other_work= }} Major-General '''Arthur Reginald Chater''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|CB|CVO|DSO|OBE}} (7 February 1896 – 3 January 1979)<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=l8ohAQAAIAAJ&q=Major+General+Arthur+Reginald+Chater+1896 Profile of Arthur Reginald Chater]</ref> was an officer in the Royal Marines during the First World War, the interwar years, and Second World War.

==Military career== Chater was commissioned into the Royal Marines Light Infantry in 1913. He served in the First World War and saw action at Antwerp with the Chatham Battalion of the Royal Marine Brigade in 1914.<ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/CHATER.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref> He fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey from 28 April to 12 May 1915, and in March 1918 he participated in the Allied raid on Zeebrugge.<ref name=lh/> He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in July 1918, the citation for which appeared in ''The Edinburgh Gazette'' and reads as follows:

{{Quote|Was of the greatest assistance in keeping up communication between the various units of the battalion, and carried out his duties in a calm manner, which greatly contributed to the success of the operations. Gave great assistance in the preparation of the plan for the assault.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=13294|page=2578|date=25 July 1918|city=e}}</ref>}}

During the interwar period Chater served with the Egyptian Army and the Sudan Camel Corps.<ref name=lh/> He became Commanding Officer of the Sudan Camel Corps in 1927, Commander of military operations in Kordofan in Sudan in 1929 and Senior Royal Marines Officer at the East Indies Station in 1931.<ref name=lh/> He served in the Second World War as Military-Governor of British Somaliland from 1941, whose evacuation he oversaw following the Battle of Tug Argan, as Commander of the Portsmouth Division of the Royal Marines from 1943 and as Director of Combined Operations for India and South East Asia from 1944.<ref name=lh/>

Papers related to his service are held in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London, and comprise notes on Operation Lightning for the capture of Akyab Island, Burma, on 3 January 1945; photographs of amphibious landings by 15 Indian Corps at Kangaw, Burma, January 1945; and notes on combined operations training of allied forces for Operation Zipper, the planned invasion of Malaya, August 1945.<ref name=kcl>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/documents/archivesdocs/FarEast02.pdf ''Research Guide Far East''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023005837/http://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/documents/archivesdocs/FarEast02.pdf |date=23 October 2016 }} Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London, 2005. p. 3.</ref>

Having been made a Companion of the Order of the Distinguished Service Order, he became Commander of the Chatham Group of Royal Marines in 1946 and retired in 1948.<ref name=lh/>

A road on the site of the former Royal Marine Infirmary Barracks in Deal, Kent, which was built in 1900 and demolished c.1990 was named Chater Court.

==Honours== Chater was made a companion of the Order of the Bath, a commander of the Royal Victorian Order, and a member of the Order of the British Empire.<ref>[http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030007575 Private Papers of Major General A R Chater CB CVO DSO OBE.] Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 15 October 2016.</ref>

==Honours and awards== * Companion of the Order of the Bath – January 1941<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=35062|supp=y|page=671|date=31 January 1941}}</ref> * Commander of the Royal Victorian Order – June 1966<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=44004|supp=y|page=6533|date=3 June 1966}}</ref> * Distinguished Service Order – July 1918<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30807|supp=y|page=8588|date=19 July 1918}}</ref> * Officer of the Order of the British Empire – June 1931<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33722|supp=y|page=3629|date=2 June 1931}}</ref>

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

==External links== *[https://generals.dk/general/Chater/Arthur_Reginald/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II] *[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/RM_officersC.html#Chater_AR Royal Marine Officers 1939−1945]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chater, Arthur}} Category:Governors of British Somaliland Category:Somaliland Camel Corps officers Category:Sudan Defence Force officers Category:1896 births Category:1979 deaths Category:British Somaliland in World War II Category:East African campaign (World War II) Category:Royal Marines personnel of World War I Category:Royal Marines generals of World War II Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:British recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Category:Collection of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives Category:People from Kensington Category:Royal Marines major generals Category:Military personnel from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea