Noel Beresford-Peirse

Lieutenant-General Sir Noel Monson de la Poer Beresford-Peirse KBE, CB, DSO (22 December 1887 – 14 January 1953) was a British Army officer. Family background Beresford-Peirse was the son of Colonel William John de la Poer Beresford-Peirse and Mary, daughter of Thomas Chambers of Aberfoyle, County Londonderry. He was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and commissioned into the Royal Artillery. Beresford-Peirse was great-grandson to Adm. John Beresford, and a cousin to the Beresford-Peirse baronets. He was married three times. The first marriage (in 1912) was to Hazel Marjorie, daughter of J.A. Cochrane, Riverina, Australia. The marriage ended in divorce in 1924. The second marriage (in 1925) was to Jean, only child of Surgeon-Captain R.D. Jameson, CMG, RN. Jean died in 1926. In 1929 he married Katharine Camilla, daughter of Colonel James Morris Colquhoun Colvin, VC. All three marriages were childless. Military career Beresford-Peirse was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1907. He served in the First World War in, briefly, Egypt in 1914 then Mesopotamia back to Egypt and finally France and Belgium. He was Mentioned in Dispatches and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1918. After the First World War and after attendance at the Staff College, Camberley from 1924 to 1925, until 1929, he performed a number of roles in the Royal Artillery in France and Britain. There were then staff and administrative posts in the UK until 1935. In 1937, Beresford-Peirse was posted to India for "special duties" and subsequently he served two years as an instructor at the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum in India. He was Brigadier in the Royal Artillery, Southern India Command during 1939 and 1940 and Aide-de-Camp to King George VI in 1939 and 1940.