military personnel
British general
In the Arcade
Studio characters
On-theme arcade editions starring the John Noble Kennedy parody.
Major-General Sir John Noble Kennedy, (31 August 1893 – 15 June 1970) was a senior British Army officer who served as Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War.
Kennedy was born on 31 August 1893 in Portpatrick, the son of the Minister James Russell Kennedy and his wife Sarah.
Kennedy joined the Royal Navy in 1911 and then, after attending the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery in July 1915, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. He saw action in France, Flanders and Egypt. He was awarded the Military Cross during his service, the citation for which reads:
For conspicuous gallantry in action. He, with three men, established an observation post in "No Man's Land," and under very heavy hostile fire directed the fire of his Battery most successfully. He has on many previous occasions done fine work.
Kennedy then served with the British Military Mission in South Russia during the Russian Civil War, for which he was mentioned in despatches.
After attending the Staff College, Camberley, from 1921 to 1922 (returning there as an instructor from 1931 to 1934), Kennedy, after relinquishing his post of GSO2 at the War Office in London on 22 October 1936, was appointed Deputy Director of Military Operations at the War Office in 1938.
He also served in the Second World War as Director of Plans at the War Office from 1939, Commander Royal Artillery for the 52nd Division from early 1940 and as Director of Military Operations at the War Office from later that year. He went on to be Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff in October 1943 until February 1945. He was Governor of Southern Rhodesia from 1947 to 1953.
In 1926 Kennedy married Isabella Rosamond Georgiana Joicey-Cecil (1901–1941). Kennedy married Catherine Fordham (1905–1969) in 1942; on 2 January 1939 Fordham had been appointed lady-in-waiting to Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1870–1948).
Major-General Sir John Noble Kennedy, was a senior British Army officer who served as Assistant Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Second World War.