{{Short description|British Army general (1877–1930)}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = [[Air Vice-Marshal]] | name = Sir Sefton Brancker | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|AFC}} | image = William Sefton Brancker.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Brancker, c. 1915–1918 | birth_name = William Sefton Brancker | birth_date = {{birth date|1877|03|22|df=yes}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|1930|10|05|1877|03|22|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Woolwich]], [[Kent]], England | death_place = [[Allonne, Oise|Allonne]] near [[Beauvais]], France | burial_place = | nickname = | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = [[British Army]] (1896–1918)<br/>[[Royal Air Force]] (1918–1919) | service_years = 1896–1919 | rank = [[Air Vice-Marshal]] | unit = | commands = [[Air Member for Personnel|Master-General of Personnel]] (1918–1919)<br/>[[Air Member for Supply and Research|Controller-General of Equipment]] (1918)<br/>[[RAF Middle East Command|HQ RFC Middle East]] (1917)<br/>[[Palestine Brigade RAF|Palestine Brigade]] (1917)<br/>Northern (Training) Brigade (1915–1916)<br/>[[No. 3 Wing RAF|No. 3 Wing]] (1915) | battles = [[Second Boer War]]<br/>[[First World War]] | awards = [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]]<br/>[[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]]<br/>[[Legion of Honour|Officer of the Legion of Honour]] (France)<br/>[[Order of St. Vladimir|Order of St. Vladimir, 4th Class]] (Russia)<br/>[[Order of Saint Stanislaus|Order of Saint Stanislaus, 1st Class]] (Russia)<br/>[[Order of the Crown of Italy|Commander of the Order of the Crown]] (Italy)<br/>[[Order of Leopold (Belgium)|Commander of the Order of Leopold]] (Belgium) | relations = Wife: May Wynn Field | other_work = British Director of Civil Aviation }}
[[Air Vice-Marshal]] '''Sir William Sefton Brancker''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|AFC}} (22 March 1877 – 5 October 1930) was a British pioneer in [[civil aviation|civil]] and [[military aviation]] and senior officer of the [[Royal Flying Corps]] and later [[Royal Air Force]]. He was killed in an airship crash in 1930, exactly 20 years after his first flight.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Obituary: Sir Sefton Brancker – Development of Civil Aviation |work=[[The Times]] |date= 6 October 1930|page= 19 }}</ref>
==Early life==
Sefton Brancker was born in [[Woolwich]],<ref>''1891 England Census''</ref> the eldest son of Col. William Godeffroy Brancker and Hester Adelaide, the daughter of Major General Henry Charles Russell. Brancker grew up as the elder of two brothers; their father died in 1885. From 1891 to 1894, the young Brancker attended [[Bedford School]].<ref name="times"/> His father was born in [[Hamburg]] to a British father and German mother;<ref>''Germany, Select Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898''</ref><ref>''1881 England Census''</ref> the Branckers were a long-established Anglo-German family that had lived in England for several generations.<ref name="odnb">{{cite ODNB |title=Brancker, Sir William Sefton (1877–1930), army and air force officer |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32041 |year=2004 |access-date=7 May 2019 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32041|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
On 7 April 1907, he married May Wynne, the daughter of Colonel Spencer Field of the Royal Warwickshire regiment; they had one son, also called William Sefton Brancker.<ref name="odnb" />
==Military career== Brancker was trained for the [[British Army]] at Woolwich, joining the [[Royal Artillery]] in 1896.<ref name=air>[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Brancker.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Vice-Marshal Sir Sefton Brancker]</ref> He served in the [[Second Boer War]] and later in India, where he made his first flight in 1910.<ref name="Raleigh v1 p421-2">Raleigh 1922, pp. 421–22.</ref> On 18 June 1913 he was awarded the [[Royal Aero Club]]'s [[List of pilots awarded an Aviator's Certificate by the Royal Aero Club in 1913|Aviator's Certificate no. 525]].<ref name=air/>
During the First World War, Brancker held important posts in the [[Royal Flying Corps]], including Director of Military Aeronautics.<ref name=air/> In late 1915 a brigade system was introduced in the RFC, and Brancker was promoted to [[brigadier general]] and appointed to command the Northern Training Brigade, with his headquarters in Birmingham. This appointment was to be short-lived, as in early 1916 he was appointed Director of Air Organisation in London.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brancker |first=Sefton |editor1-last=Macmillan |editor1-first=Norman |date=1935 |title=Sir Sefton Brancker |location=London |publisher=William Heinemann Ltd |pages=122 to 115 }}</ref> In 1917, he briefly served as the General Officer Commanding Royal Flying Corps's Palestine Headquarters and then its Middle East headquarters.<ref name=air/> Promoted to [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|major general]] in 1918, he became Controller-General of Equipment in January of that year and Master-General of Personnel in August 1918.<ref name=air/> On 23 August 1918 he resigned his commission in the Army<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31265|display-supp=y|page=4292|date=1 April 1919}}</ref> and was granted a permanent commission as major-general in the RAF.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=31078|page=14960|date=20 December 1918}}</ref> He was appointed [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] on 1 January 1919<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=31098|supp=7|page=91|date=1 January 1919}}</ref> and retired from the RAF with the rank of major-general on 13 January following.<ref>{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=31196|page=2623|date=21 February 1919}}</ref> He was granted the rank of air vice-marshal in 1924.<ref>''[[Who Was Who]] 1929–1940'', p. 154.</ref>
==Civil aviation== On 11 May 1922 he was made Director of Civil Aviation,<ref name=air/> and worked assiduously to stimulate British interest in the subject among local authorities and flying clubs. He encouraged Manchester and other cities to construct municipal airports and airfields. He participated in several long-distance survey flights, notably with [[Alan Cobham]]. He was an ardent supporter of the development of British civilian air services connecting London to British colonies and dominions overseas.<ref name="Pirie">Pirie 2009.</ref>
Brancker was chairman of the [[Royal Aero Club]]'s (RAeC) Racing Committee from 1921 to 1930, and his dynamic leadership led to the RAeC forming the Light Aero Club scheme in 1925, which helped provide the British clubs with examples of such new and improved aircraft types as the [[de Havilland Moth]] and [[Avro Avian]].
==Death== [[File:R101 wreckage.jpg|thumb|left|The wreckage of R101]] Together with [[Christopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson|Lord Thomson]], the Air Minister, Brancker was killed when the airship [[R101]] crashed near [[Beauvais]], France, on 5 October 1930, during its maiden voyage to India.<ref name=air/><ref name=Pirie/> His death occurred on the 20th anniversary of his first flight.<ref name="times"/>
==Legacy== In 1952, [[British European Airways]] named its 'Pionair' ([[Douglas DC-3]]) G-AKNB "Sir Sefton Brancker" to mark his substantial contribution to the development of British aviation.
In 1996, British Airways (BA) named one of its newly delivered [[Boeing 777]]s (G-ZZZB) "Sir William Sefton Branker"{{sic}} in recognition of his work. Other 777s in the BA fleet were named after aviation pioneers, for example "Wilbur and Orville Wright" and "Sir Frank Whittle".
Kenmore Park housing estate in [[Kenton, London|Kenton]], Harrow, has a number of its roads named after aviators including Brancker.
Brancker Road in Plymouth was named in his honour during build in the mid 1930s.
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
* Pirie, Gordon H. ''Air Empire: British Imperial Civil Aviation, 1919–1939''. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009. * Raleigh, Walter. ''The War In The Air: Being the Story of The part played in the Great War by The Royal Air Force: Vol I''. Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1922.
==Further reading== *''Sir Sefton Brancker'', [[Norman Macmillan (RAF officer)|Norman Macmillan]], William Heinemann Ltd, London, 1935 * ''Heavenly Adventurer: A biography of Sir Sefton Brancker'', [[Basil Collier]], London, 1959 * ''Air Days'', John F. Leeming, Harrap, London, 1936 *{{cite book |last1=Higham |first1=Robin |title=Britain's Imperial Air Routes 1918–1939 |date=2016 |publisher=Fonthill Media |location=Croydon |isbn=978-1-78155-370-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SQfzDQAAQBAJ&q=Brancker |language=en}}
==External links== {{Commons category inline}} *{{cite web |title=Major General William Sefton Brancker |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205018044 |website=Imperial War Museums |access-date=8 October 2022 |language=en}}
{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} |- {{s-new|reason=Directorate established}} {{s-ttl|title=Assistant Director of Military Aeronautics<br/><small>Deputy Director from March 1915</small>|years=1913–1915}} {{s-aft|after=[[John Duncan Bertie Fulton|John Fulton]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[John Frederick Andrews Higgins|John Higgins]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Officer Commanding [[No. 3 Wing RAF|No. 3 Wing]]|years=August – December 1915}} {{s-vac|unknown}} |- {{s-new|reason=Brigade established}} {{s-ttl|title=Brigadier-General Commanding Northern (Training) Brigade|years=December 1915 – February 1916}} {{s-vac|unknown}} |- {{s-new|reason=Post created}} {{s-ttl|title=Director of Air Organization|years=March 1916–1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[Lionel Charlton]]}} |- {{s-new}} {{s-ttl|title=Deputy Director-General of Military Aeronautics|years=February – November 1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[Edward Ellington]]}} |- {{s-bef|rows=2|before=[[Geoffrey Salmond]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Officer Commanding [[Palestine Brigade RAF|Palestine Brigade]]|years=November – December 1917}} {{s-aft|after=[[Amyas Borton]]}} {{s-ttl|title=General Officer Commanding [[RAF Middle East Command|HQ RFC Middle East]]|years=November – December 1917}} {{s-aft|after=Geoffrey Salmond}} |- {{s-new|reason=Air Council established}} {{s-ttl|title=RAF [[Air Member for Supply and Research|Controller-General of Equipment]]|years=January – August 1918}} {{s-aft|after=[[Edward Ellington]]}} |- {{s-bef|before=[[Godfrey Paine|Sir Godfrey Paine]]}} {{s-ttl|title=RAF [[Air Member for Personnel|Master-General of Personnel]]|years=1918–1919}} {{s-vac|next=[[Cecil Lambert]]<br><small>As Director of Personnel</small>}} |- {{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=[[Frederick Sykes|Sir Frederick Sykes]]<br>As Controller}} {{s-ttl|title=Director of Civil Aviation|years=1922–1930}} {{s-aft|after=[[Francis Shelmerdine|Sir Francis Shelmerdine]]}} |- {{s-npo|pro}} {{s-bef|before= [[William Weir, 1st Viscount Weir|Lord Weir]]}} {{s-ttl|title= President of the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]]|years=1926-1927}} {{s-aft|after= [[William Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill|William Forbes-Sempill]]}} |- {{s-ref|A complete list of Brancker's military appointments can be found in Appendix I to Brancker, Sefton (1935). Macmillan, Norman, ed. ''Sir Sefton Brancker''. London: William Heinemann Ltd. pp. 420 to 425.}}
{{RAF generals}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brancker, Sefton}} [[Category:1877 births]] [[Category:1930 deaths]] [[Category:British people of German descent]] [[Category:British aviation pioneers]] [[Category:Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in France]] [[Category:British Army major generals]] [[Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War]] [[Category:English aviators]] [[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]] [[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:People educated at Bedford School]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class]] [[Category:Royal Air Force air vice-marshals]] [[Category:Royal Air Force generals of World War I]] [[Category:Royal Artillery officers]] [[Category:Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:Military personnel from Kent]] [[Category:Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1930]]