The Viscount Slim
6 August 1891
Bishopston, Bristol, England
14 December 1970 (aged 79)
London, England
Memorial plaque in St Paul's Cathedral
2nd Viscount Slim
Una Mary Slim
"Uncle Bill"
United Kingdom
1914–1952
- Knight Companion of the Order of the Garter
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
- Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
- Companion of the Distinguished Service Order
- Military Cross
- Knight of the Order of St John
- Mentioned in Despatches
- Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)
Slim saw active service in both the First and Second World Wars and was wounded in action three times. During the Second World War he led the Fourteenth Army, the so-called "forgotten army" in the Burma campaign. After the war he became the first British officer who had served in the Indian Army to be appointed Chief of the Imperial General Staff. From 1953 to 1959 he was Governor-General of Australia.
In the early 1930s, Slim also wrote novels, short stories, and other publications under the pen name Anthony Mills.
Early years[edit]
William Slim was born at 72 Belmont Road, St Andrews, Bristol, the son of John Slim by his marriage to Charlotte Tucker, and was baptised there at St Bonaventure's Roman Catholic church, Bishopston. He was brought up first in Bristol, attending St Bonaventure's Primary School, then St Brendan's College, before moving to Birmingham in his teens. In Birmingham, he attended St Philip's Grammar School, Edgbaston[2] and King Edward's School, Birmingham.[3]
After leaving school, his father's failure in business as a wholesale ironmonger meant that the family could afford to send only one son, Slim's older brother, to the University of Birmingham, so between 1910 and 1914 Slim taught in a primary school and worked as a clerk in Stewarts & Lloyds, a metal-tube maker.[2]
First World War[edit]
Despite having no other connection to the university,[2] in 1912 Slim joined the Birmingham University Officers' Training Corps, and he was thus able to be commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant into the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 22 August 1914, on the outbreak of the First World War; in later life, as a result of his modest social origins and his unpretentious manner, he was sometimes wrongly supposed to have risen from the ranks. He was badly wounded at Gallipoli. On return to England, he was granted a regular commission as a second lieutenant in the West India Regiment.[2]
In October 1916, he rejoined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in Mesopotamia. On 4 March 1917, he was promoted to lieutenant (with seniority back-dated to October 1915).[4] He was wounded a second time in 1917. Having been previously given the temporary rank of captain, he was awarded the Military Cross on 7 February 1918 for actions in Mesopotamia.[5]
Evacuated to India, he was given the temporary rank of major in the 6th Gurkha Rifles on 2 November 1918.[6] He was formally promoted to captain and transferred to the Indian Army on 22 May 1919.[7]
Interwar career[edit]
Slim became battalion adjutant with the 6th Gurkha Rifles in 1921.[8]
On 1 January 1926, he married Aileen Robertson, daughter of Rev John Anderson Robertson (d.1941) minister of Cramond near Edinburgh.[9][10] They had one son and one daughter.[8] Later that year Slim was sent to the Staff College, Quetta. On 5 June 1929, he was appointed a General Staff Officer, Second Grade.[11]
On 1 January 1930, he was given the brevet rank of major,[12] with formal promotion to this rank made on 19 May 1933.[13] His performance at Staff College resulted in his appointment first to Army Headquarters India in Delhi and then to Staff College, Camberley, in England (as a General Staff Officer, Second Grade),[14] where he taught from 1934 to 1937.[15] During this period, he also wrote novels, short stories, and other publications under the pen name of Anthony Mills, in order to further his literary interests, as well as to supplement his then modest army salary.[16]
He attended the Imperial Defence College in 1937.[17][18][19] The following year he was promoted to lieutenant colonel[20] and given command of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Gurkha Rifles. In 1939 he was briefly given the temporary rank of brigadier as commander of his battalion.[21] On 8 June 1939, he was promoted to colonel (again with temporary rank of brigadier)[22] and appointed head of the Senior Officers' School, Belgaum in India.[23][24]
Second World War[edit]
East African Campaign[edit]
On the outbreak of the Second World War, Slim was given command of the 10th Indian Infantry Brigade of the 5th Indian Infantry Division and was sent to Sudan. He took part in the East African campaign to liberate Ethiopia from the Italians. Slim was wounded again in Eritrea. On 21 January 1941, he was hit when his vehicle was strafed by Fiat CR.42 fighters[25] during the advance on Agordat.[26]
Middle East[edit]
Recovering from his wounds but still unfit for active service, Slim was temporarily employed on the General Staff at GHQ in Delhi. He was involved in the planning for potential operations in Iraq where trouble was expected.[27] By early May 1941 Slim had been appointed Brigadier General Staff (chief staff officer) to Edward Quinan the commander designate for operations in Iraq, arriving in Basra on 7 May.[28] Not long afterwards, Major-General Fraser, commanding the 10th Indian Infantry Division, fell ill and was relieved of his command, and Slim was promoted to take his place on 15 May 1941[29] with the acting rank of major-general.[30][31][32]
He led the Indian 10th Infantry Division as part of Iraqforce during the Anglo-Iraqi War, the Syria–Lebanon campaign (where the division advanced up the river Euphrates to capture Deir ez-Zor), and the invasion of Persia. He was twice mentioned in despatches during 1941.[33]