{{Short description|British Army general (1905–1997)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Major-General | name = John Churcher | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|DSO*}} | image = John-Bryan-Churcher.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Churcher in 1950 | nickname = | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1905|9|9}}<ref name="death">''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007''</ref> | birth_place = Reading, Berkshire, England<ref name="1911census">''1911 England Census''</ref> | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1997|8|2|1905|9|9}} | death_place = Colchester, Essex, England | burial_place = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = British Army | service_years = 1925–1959 | rank = Major-General | service_number = 31905 | unit = Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry | commands = {{ubl|3rd Infantry Division (1954–1957)|5th Infantry Division (1947)|3rd Infantry Division (1946–1947)|2nd Infantry Division (1946)|50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division (1946)|43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division (1946)|159th Infantry Brigade (1944–1946)|1st Battalion, Herefordshire Regiment (1942–1944)}} | battles = Second World War | awards = {{ubl|Companion of the Order of the Bath|Distinguished Service Order & Bar|Mentioned in Despatches}} | relations = | other_work = }} Major-General '''John Bryan Churcher''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|sep=,|CB|DSO1}} (9 September 1905 – 2 August 1997) was a senior British Army officer who, during the Second World War, commanded the 159th Infantry Brigade during the campaign in Northwest Europe and later commanded the 3rd Infantry Division.
==Military career== Churcher was born on 9 September 1905 and entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, a light infantry regiment of the British Army, in 1925.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33016|page=686|date=30 January 1925}}</ref>
Churcher fought in the Second World War as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, Herefordshire Regiment and then as commander of the 159th Infantry Brigade, serving in North-West Europe as part of the 11th Armoured Division.<ref name=dk>[http://www.generals.dk/general/Churcher/John_Bryan/Great_Britain.html Generals.dk]</ref>
After the war, Churcher became General Officer Commanding (GOC) 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division in March 1946, GOC 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division and Northumbrian District in August 1946, and GOC 2nd Infantry Division in the Far East in October 1946. He then became GOC 3rd Infantry Division in Palestine in December 1946 and GOC 5th Infantry Division in April 1947–in this role he had orders to disband it.<ref name=commands>{{cite web|url=https://www.gulabin.com/armynavy/pdf/Army%20Commands%201860-.pdf|title=Army Commands|accessdate=1 June 2020}}</ref>
Churcher became chief of staff at Southern Command in 1951–in this capacity he organised the response to the devastating Lynmouth Flood in 1952.<ref>[http://www.itnsource.com/shotlist//BHC_RTV/1952/09/01/BGU412240003/ ITN Source]</ref> He returned to the command of GOC 3rd Infantry Division in 1954 and became Director of Military Training at the War Office in 1957 before retiring in 1959.<ref name=dk/>
Churcher is buried at St Mary's Churchyard at Wargrave in Berkshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.safemusic.co.uk/13288/spirit-of-normandy-quick-march/|title=Major-General John Churcher|publisher=Safe Music|accessdate=14 February 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{find a Grave|57757509}} *[https://generals.dk/general/Churcher/John_Bryan/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=George Erskine}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division|years=March–June 1946}} {{s-aft|after=George Symes}} |- {{s-bef|before=Robert Naylor}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division|years=August–October 1946}} {{s-aft|after=John Whitfield}} |- {{s-bef|before=Robert Arkwright}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 2nd Infantry Division|years=October–December 1946}} {{s-aft|after=Philip Balfour}} |- {{s-bef|before=Lashmer Whistler}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 3rd Division|years=1946–1947}} {{s-aft|after=George Wood}} |- {{s-bef|before=Philip Gregson-Ellis}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 5th Division|years=April–September 1947}} {{s-non|reason=Post disbanded}} |- {{s-bef|before=Nigel Poett}} {{s-ttl|title=GOC 3rd Division|years=1954–1957}} {{s-aft|after=George Gordon-Lennox}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Churcher, John}} Category:1905 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Burials in Berkshire Category:British Army major generals Category:British Army brigadiers of World War II Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry officers Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Category:Military personnel from Reading, Berkshire