# Gordon Macready

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{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix= [Lieutenant-General](/source/Lieutenant-general_(United_Kingdom))
|name= Sir Gordon Macready
|honorific_suffix= {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|Bt|KBE|CB|CMG|DSO|MC}}
|image= Taking a part in the Combined Chiefs of Staff discussions at the Potsdam Conference in Germany, L to R, Lt. Gen. Sir... - NARA - 198902.jpg
|image_size= 250px
|alt= 
|caption= Taking a part in the [Combined Chiefs of Staff](/source/Combined_Chiefs_of_Staff) discussions at the [Potsdam Conference](/source/Potsdam_Conference) in Germany, 1945. From left to right: Lieutenant General Sir Gordon Macready, Admiral of the Fleet [Sir Andrew Cunningham](/source/Andrew_Cunningham%2C_1st_Viscount_Cunningham_of_Hyndhope), and Field Marshal [Sir Alan Brooke](/source/Alan_Brooke%2C_1st_Viscount_Alanbrooke).
|nickname= "Baronet Macready"
|birth_date= {{birth date|1891|04|05|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [Kandy](/source/Kandy), [Ceylon](/source/British_Ceylon)
|death_date= {{death date and age|1956|10|17|1891|04|05|df=yes}}
|death_place= [Paris](/source/Paris), France
|burial_place= 
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [British Army](/source/British_Army)
|service_years= 1910–1946
|rank= [Lieutenant-General](/source/Lieutenant-general_(United_Kingdom))
|service_number= 22930
|unit= [Royal Engineers](/source/Royal_Engineers)
|commands= 
|battles= [First World War](/source/First_World_War)<br/>[Second World War](/source/Second_World_War)
|awards= [Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire](/source/Knight_Commander_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire)<br/>[Companion of the Order of the Bath](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_the_Bath)<br/>[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George](/source/Companion_of_the_Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George)<br/>[Distinguished Service Order](/source/Distinguished_Service_Order)<br/>[Military Cross](/source/Military_Cross)<br>[Mentioned in Despatches](/source/Mentioned_in_Despatches) (5)<br/>[Commander of the Legion of Merit](/source/Commander_of_the_Legion_of_Merit) (United States)<br/>[Grand Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau](/source/Order_of_Orange-Nassau) (Netherlands)<br/>[Legion of Honour](/source/Legion_of_Honour) (France)
|relations= [Sir Nevil Macready](/source/Nevil_Macready) (father)
|other_work=
}}
[Lieutenant-General](/source/Lieutenant-general_(United_Kingdom)) '''Sir Gordon Nevil Macready, 2nd Baronet''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|KBE|CB|CMG|DSO|MC}} (5 April 1891 – 17 October 1956) was a [British Army](/source/British_Army) officer who served as [Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff](/source/Assistant_Chief_of_the_General_Staff_(United_Kingdom)) during the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War).

==Military career==
[[File:Bad Honnef Villa Mauser.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Villa Mauser in [Bad Honnef](/source/Bad_Honnef), Residence of Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon Macready from 1949 until his death in 1956.]]
Born in [Kandy](/source/Kandy), [British Ceylon](/source/British_Ceylon), on 5 April 1891, the son of [Sir Nevil Macready](/source/Nevil_Macready), Gordon Macready was sent to [England](/source/England) and was educated at [Cheltenham College](/source/Cheltenham_College) and later entered the [Royal Military Academy, Woolwich](/source/Royal_Military_Academy%2C_Woolwich) and was [commissioned](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) as a [second lieutenant](/source/second_lieutenant) into the [Royal Engineers](/source/Royal_Engineers) on 23 December 1910.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28455|page=226|date=10 January 1911}}</ref>{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=205}}<ref name="Officers of the British Army">{{cite web|url=https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_M01.html#Macready_GN|title=British Army officer histories|publisher=Unit Histories|access-date=2022-10-03}}</ref>

Promoted to [lieutenant](/source/Lieutenant_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)) on 21 December 1912,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28674|page=9785|date=24 December 1912}}</ref> Macready served on the [Western Front](/source/Western_Front_(World_War_I)) during the [First World War](/source/First_World_War) becoming an [aide-de-camp](/source/aide-de-camp) in November 1914<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29023|page=11201|date=29 December 1914|supp=y}}</ref> and later an assistant adjutant and quartermaster general for the [66th (2nd East Lancashire) Division](/source/66th_Division_(United_Kingdom)) in 1917. He was promoted to [captain](/source/Captain_(British_Army_and_Royal_Marines)) on 23 December 1916,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=29888|page=105|date=2 January 1917}}</ref><ref name=lh>[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/MACREADY1.html Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]</ref> and [brevet](/source/Brevet_(military)) [major](/source/Major_(United_Kingdom)) on 3 June 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=13099|page=1058|date=4 June 1917|city=e}}</ref> After the war, from April 1919, he became Assistant Adjutant General for the British Military Mission to [Berlin](/source/Berlin).<ref name=lh/><ref name="Officers of the British Army" />

Attending the [Staff College, Camberley](/source/Staff_College%2C_Camberley), from 1923 to 1924, he was appointed Assistant Secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence in 1926, which was followed by attendance at the [Imperial Defence College](/source/Royal_College_of_Defence_Studies) in 1933. He was promoted to colonel in April 1934, with seniority backdated to the previous July, and made a GSO1 at the [War Office](/source/War_Office).<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34041|page=2389|date=13 April 1934}}</ref> He was deputy director of staff duties at the War Office in 1936 and head of the British military mission to Egypt in 1938.<ref name="Generals of World War II">{{cite web|url=https://generals.dk/general/Macready/Gordon_Nevil/Great_Britain.html|title=Biography of Lieutenant General Gordon Nevil Macready (1891−1956), Great Britain|website=generals.dk}}</ref>

He served in the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) as [Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff](/source/Assistant_Chief_of_the_General_Staff_(United_Kingdom)) from October 1940<ref>[http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf Army Commands] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705211343/http://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201900-2011.pdf |date=5 July 2015 }}</ref> and as Head of the British Army mission in [Washington D. C.](/source/Washington_D._C.) from 1942 until his retirement in 1946.<ref>[https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=12280 Citation Accompanying the Legion of Merit Awarded to Lieutenant-General Sir Gordon N. Macready]</ref><ref name="Generals of World War II"/>

In retirement he became Regional Commissioner for [Lower Saxony](/source/Lower_Saxony) in 1946, British Chairman of the Economic Control Office for the British and American Zones of Germany in 1947 and then Economic Advisor to the UK High Commissioner in 1949.<ref name=lh/><ref name="Generals of World War II"/>

He is author of the book ''In the wake of the great'' published by Clowes in 1965.<ref>[https://www.amazon.co.uk/wake-great-Gordon-Macready/dp/B0000CMUSA Amazon.com]</ref>

==Family==
In 1920 he married [Elisabeth Pauline Sabine Marie de Noailles](/source/%C3%89lisabeth_d'Ayen); they had one son, [Sir Nevil Macready, 3rd Bt](/source/Sir_Nevil_John_Wilfred_Macready).<ref>[https://www.angelfire.com/realm3/ruvignyplus/010.html Angelfire]</ref>

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = Macready Achievement.png
|escutcheon = Argent on a chevron Azure between three leopard faces Gules two swords the points in saltire Proper pommels and hilts Or.
|crest = On a wreath of the colours in front of two swords points upwards in saltire proper pommels and hilts Or a cubit arm also Proper grasping a snake Vert.
|motto = Ad Extremum Tenax <ref>{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage |date=2000}}</ref>
}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*{{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| page=544 pages}}
*{{Cite book|title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War| first=Nick| last=Smart| location=Barnsley, UK| publisher=Pen & Sword Military| year=2005| isbn=1-84415-049-6}}

==External links==
*[https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_M01.html#Macready_GN British Army Officers 1939−1945]
*[https://generals.dk/general/Macready/Gordon_Nevil/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{succession box | title=[Baronet](/source/Macready_Baronets)<br>'''(of Cheltenham) | years='''1946−1956  | before= [Sir Nevil Macready](/source/Nevil_Macready) |  after=[Sir Nevil Macready](/source/Sir_Nevil_Macready%2C_3rd_Baronet)}}
|-
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=[Desmond Anderson](/source/Desmond_Anderson)}} 
{{s-ttl|title=[Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff](/source/Assistant_Chief_of_the_Imperial_General_Staff)|years=1940−1942}}
{{s-aft|after=[Daril Watson](/source/Daril_Watson)}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Macready, Gordon}}
Category:1891 births
Category:1956 deaths
Category:People from British Ceylon
Category:Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies
Category:British Army generals of World War II
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:Commanders of the Legion of Merit
Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath
Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley
Category:Grand Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
2
Gordon
Category:British recipients of the Legion of Honour
Category:People educated at Cheltenham College
Category:People from Kandy
Category:Recipients of the Military Cross
Category:Royal Engineers officers
Category:War Office personnel in World War II

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Gordon Macready](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Macready) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Macready?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.