Lieut.-Colonel Argyle Henry GILLMORE, O.B.E. (33689)

Commanded the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment from March 1949 to September 1951.

Argyle Henry Gillmore was born on the 8th June 1905 at Malvern, Worcestershire. Son of Henry Tucker Gillmore (Assistant Master at Malvern College) and Nora Gillmore (née Pickin).

Colonel Gillmore joined the Regiment from Sandhurst in 1925 and served the 1st Battalion in India and China. Later he joined the West African Frontier Force. On the outbreak of the 1939-45 War he returned to England and went to the Staff College. After a period as Brigade Major to a Brigade on the East Coast of England he was sent to West Africa to Command the 7th Nigeria Regiment which he took to Burma. Later he commanded the 3rd West African Brigade in the Burma Campaign. He was awarded the O.B.E. At the end of the War he went to Rome as A.A.G. to the Military Mission and became Military Adviser to the Ambassador on Military Clauses to the Peace Treaty. In 1949 he took over command of the 1st Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment in Germany.

He brought 1st Battalion back home in 1950 and sailed with them the same year for Malaya. He relinquished his command of the Battalion in 1951 and was appointed Provost Marshal, British Army on the Rhine, an appointment he was still holding at the time of his death.

Colonel Gillmore, during his Service in India, Shanghai and West Africa earned a reputation as a polo player, pig sticker and shikar of both big and small game.

Colonel Gillmore died suddenly at Norton Barracks, Worcester, on the 11th February 1955, aged 49. He was buried with military honours at Norton Church on 15th February 1955. Major A. H. Nott and five officers of the Regiment acted as pall bearers.

Lieut.-Col. A. H. Gillmore, O.B.E.

The firing party was found by the Depot under command of Sjt. Bell. Bearers were W.O.'s and Sjts. of the Depot under command of R.S.M. Foden. Drummer Green sounded "Last Post and "Reveille." The funeral was attended by a number of past officers of the Regiment, including Brigadier B. C. S. Clarke, D.S.O., who represented the Colonel of the Regiment. Among others present were Brigadier Oulton, the Provost Marshal, and other representatives of the Royal Military Police and S.I.B.

A memorial service was held at Christchurch, Dusseldorf, on 28th February. The A.C.G., B.A.O.R., officiated and the Band of the Regiment played in the Church. The following were among the large numbers who attended: General Sir Richard and Lady Gale, Major-General J. H. O. Wilsey, Lieut.-Colonel and Mrs. Vaughan, R.S.M. Compton and three W.O.'s and Serjeants and nine Other Ranks of the 1st Battalion who had served with Colonel Gillmore, also detachments from all Royal Military Police units in B.A.O.R.

 

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