Michael Carver

The Lord Carver
File:Sir Michael Carver in 1967.jpg
Born	(1915-04-24)24 April 1915
Died	9 December 2001(2001-12-09) (aged 86)
Place of birth	Bletchingley, Surrey, England
Place of death	Fareham, Hampshire, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	1935–76
Rank	Field Marshal
Service number	64649
Unit	Royal Tank Regiment
Commands held	Chief of the Defence Staff Chief of the General Staff Southern Command Far East Command 3rd Infantry Division 6th Infantry Brigade 4th Armoured Brigade 1st Battalion, Royal Tank Regiment
Battles/wars	Second World War Western Desert Campaign Italian Campaign Invasion of Normandy North West Europe Campaign Mau Mau Uprising Operation Banner
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order & Bar Military Cross Mentioned in Despatches

Field Marshal Richard Michael Power Carver, Baron Carver, GCB CBE DSO* MC (24 April 1915 – 9 December 2001) was a senior British Army officer. Lord Carver served as the Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, and then as the Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS), the professional head of the British Armed Forces. He served during the Second World War and organised the administration of British forces deployed in response to the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya and later in his career provided advice to the British government on the response to the early stages of The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

Army career

Born the son of Harold Power Carver and Winifred Anne Gabrielle Carver (née Wellesley) and educated at Winchester College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Carver was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Tank Corps on 1 February 1935. He was promoted to lieutenant on 31 January 1938. He served in the Second World War initially organising logistics at the Headquarters of 7th Armoured Division which was engaged in fighting the Italians in North Africa: he was mentioned in despatches on 1 April 1941 and again on 8 July 1941 and awarded the Military Cross on 9 September 1942. Promoted to captain on 31 January 1943, he was given the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel and appointed Commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Royal Tank Regiment on 14 April 1943, leading them in North Africa for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 4 May 1943 and in Italy for which he was awarded a Bar to his DSO on 24 February 1944. He was appointed Commander of 4th Armoured Brigade on 27 June 1944 and led his brigade in the campaign in North West Europe. He was also appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.

Carver's uniform at the Bovington Tank Museum.

Carver became a Technical Staff officer to the Ministry of Supply in 1947, and having been promoted to the substantive rank of major on 31 January 1948, he became Assistant Quartermaster-General (Plans) at Headquarters Allied Forces Central Europe in May 1951 and then head of the exercise planning staff at SHAPE in October 1952. Having been promoted to lieutenant colonel on 27 March 1954 and to colonel on 17 June 1954, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff at East Africa Command in June 1954; he took part in the closing stages of the response to the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya for which he was mentioned in despatches on 19 July 1955. He was then elevated to Chief of Staff in East Africa in October 1955 and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 8 March 1957. He was appointed Director of Plans at the War Office in February 1958, Commander of the 6th Brigade at Münster in January 1960 and General Officer Commanding the 3rd Division with the rank of major general on 4 September 1962. His division was deployed to Cyprus in February 1964. He was made Director of Army Staff Duties at the Ministry of Defence on 7 October 1964 and famously substantially reduced the size of the Territorial Army.

Having been advanced to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1966, he was made General Officer Commanding Far East Land Forces with the rank of lieutenant general on 28 July 1966, tri-service Commander-in-Chief of Far East Command in 1967 and, having been promoted to full general on 29 March 1968, General Officer Commanding Southern Command on 12 May 1969. After being advanced to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1970, he was appointed Chief of the General Staff on 1 April 1971 in which role he provided advice to the British Government on the response to the early stages of The Troubles in Northern Ireland. Having been promoted to field marshal on 18 July 1973, he became Chief of the Defence Staff on 21 October 1973 before retiring in October 1976. In July 1977 he became a life peer as Baron Carver, of Shackleford in the County of Surrey.

Carver was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers from February 1966, of the Royal Tank Regiment from January 1968, of the Bristol University Officer Training Corps from March 1972 and of the Royal Armoured Corps from April 1974.

In August 1977 he was appointed resident commissioner designate for Rhodesia with responsibility for ending the dispute over independence there but resigned after fourteen months of deadlock. He wrote a number of books on military history and was a vocal critic of Britain's Trident missile programme, believing that as the American nuclear strike capability was sufficiently powerful it was inefficient for Britain to have an independent program.

His interests included sailing, tennis and gardening. He died on 9 December 2001 in Fareham, Hampshire.

Family

In 1947 he married Edith Lowry-Corry, a granddaughter of Henry Lowry-Corry; they had two sons and two daughters. Carver's mother was related to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

Partial list of publications

• Carver, Michael. Imperial War Museum Book of the War in Italy: A Vital Contribution to Victory in Europe 1943–1945
• Carver, Michael. & Robertson, Ian G. The National Army Museum Book of the Turkish Front 1914–18: The Campaigns at Gallipoli, in Mesopotamia and in Palestine
• Carver, Michael. Twentieth-Century Warriors: The Development of the Armed Forces of the Major Military Nations in the Twentieth Century
• Carver, Michael. War Since 1945
• Carver, Michael. The Seven Ages of the British Army
• Carver, Michael. Dilemmas of the Desert War: The Libyan Campaign 1940–1942 (London, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1986; reprinted Spellmount Limited, Staplehurst, Kent, 2002)
• Carver, Field Marshal Lord. El Alamein (London, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1962)
• Carver, Field Marshal Lord. Britain's Army In The 20th Century
• Carver, Michael. Tobruk (London, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1964)

Further reading

• Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword. ISBN 0-85052-696-5. 

External links

• Guardian obituary
• BBC obituary
• Independent obituary
• Imperial War Museum Interview
• War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Zero Hour; Interview with Michael Carver, 1987