Edward Quinan
General Sir Edward Pellew Quinan KCB, KCIE, DSO, OBE (9 January 1885 – 13 November 1960) was a British Army commander during the Second World War. In the early part of his career, he was involved in Indian Army campaigns in Afghanistan and Waziristan on the North West Frontier of the Indian Empire, in the days of the British Raj. During the First World War he served with the Indian Army forces in France and Mesopotamia, and was wounded. During the Second World War, Quinan commanded the British and Indian Army forces in the Anglo-Iraqi War, the Syria–Lebanon campaign, and the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. He continued serving in the Middle East until 1943, when he returned to India to command the North West Army, but retired later the same year due to a downgrading of his fitness status.
Sir Edward Pellew Quinan
9 January 1885
Calcutta, India
13 November 1960 (aged 75)
London, United Kingdom
1905–1943
181447
North Western Army (1943)
Tenth Army (1942–43)
Iraqforce (1941–42)
Western Independent District (Baluchistan and Sind) (1938–41)
9th (Jhansi) Brigade (1934–38)
3rd Battalion 8th Punjab Regiment (1930–32)
Early years and career in Indian Army[edit]
Quinan was of Anglo-Irish descent and was born in Calcutta on 9 January 1885; his father died when he was ten years old. Although his mother later remarried, he was brought up and educated in Dublin by his grandparents and aunts, until he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 1903.
Commissioned a second lieutenant on 9 January 1904,[2] Quinan joined the Indian Army (27th Punjabis) on 25 March 1905.[3] He was promoted to lieutenant on 9 April of the following year.[4] Before the First World War, he saw active service on the North West Frontier of the British Indian Empire and was promoted to captain on 9 January 1913.[5] During the war he fought in France and Mesopotamia, and was appointed a provost marshal on 7 March 1915.[6] He served at the battles of Neuve Chapelle, Loos and the attempt to relieve Kut al Amara; he was wounded at Beit Aisa. Appointed a GSO 3rd Grade on 10 May 1917,[7] he was brevetted to major on 1 January 1918[8] and promoted to acting major on 2 November.[9]
He returned to India and the Frontier and was a staff officer in the 1919 Afghan War and the subsequent campaign in Waziristan. On one occasion, the aircraft in which he was conducting reconnaissance crashed but he survived unhurt. He wrote the official history of the Waziristan campaign which is considered by military experts to be the model of a campaign history. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his staff work during this campaign. In 1920, he attended Indian Army Staff College in Quetta which is now in Pakistan and served as DAQMG Meerut from 1923 to 1926. After attending the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum in 1927, he was posted to 3rd Battalion 8th Punjab Regiment (now 3 Baloch) in 1928.
In 1930, he rose to the command of 3rd Battalion 8th Punjab Regiment and was selected to attend the Imperial Defence College, an indication of his suitability for high command. While he was in command at Jhansi in 1930, Amy Johnson, the famous British pilot, made a heavy landing on the parade ground during her epic flight from London to Australia. Quinan was instrumental in getting her Gypsy Moth repaired.
As a colonel in 1933, he was appointed an instructor at the Staff College in Quetta. Among his immediate predecessors at the college was Auchinleck and his successor in 1934 was Montgomery. He then returned to Jhansi as a brigadier to command the 9th (Jhansi) Brigade.
In 1936, during the short reign of King Edward VIII, Quinan was appointed Aide-de-camp Brigadier to the King Emperor[10] and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.[11] He was posted to Dacca to assist in anti-terrorist operations against those fighting for Indian independence. In 1937, he commanded his troops in the campaign against the Faqir of Ipi in Waziristan[12] and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order.[13] He was promoted to major-general at the end of 1937[14] but in March 1938 he was forced to take sick leave due to high blood pressure and convalesced in Osborne House before being declared fit again for active service in July 1938[15][16] to take up command of the Western Independent District.[17]