24 Facts About Humfrey Gale

Humfrey Myddelton Gale was born in London, England on 4 October 1890, the eldest of five children of Ernest Sewell Gale, an architect, and his wife Charlotte Sarah nee Goddard.

Humfrey Gale was educated at St Paul's School, London and studied at the Architectural School, Westminster from 1908 to 1910.

Humfrey Gale decided to pursue a career in the British Indian Army and applied to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Humfrey Gale's application was successful and he entered the college in 1910.

Humfrey Gale was promoted to lieutenant and then captain in 1914.

Humfrey Gale was twice mentioned in despatches, and was awarded the Order of Wen-Hu.

Humfrey Gale was promoted to the brevet rank of major in 1921 but was not promoted substantially until 1930.

All of these men would, like Humfrey Gale himself, become general officers in the future war.

Humfrey Gale became Assistant Director of Shipping and Transport, War Office and was promoted to colonel in 1937 and then brigadier in 1939.

Humfrey Gale was responsible for administrative arrangements during the Battle of Dunkirk and managed to keep the supply system working.

Humfrey Gale was promoted to major general in October 1940 and appointed Major General, Administration, Scottish Command.

Humfrey Gale's work was recognised in June 1942 when he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.

On 15 September 1942 Gale was appointed its CAO of American Lieutenant General Dwight D Eisenhower's Allied Forces Headquarters.

Humfrey Gale was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, and was awarded the United States Legion of Merit.

When Eisenhower left the Mediterranean to become the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Humfrey Gale was one of a number of key officers that Eisenhower insisted on taking with him to his new headquarters, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force.

Humfrey Gale has that irreplaceable quality of being able to handle British-American supply problems with tact and judgement and he is almost as familiar with the American system of supply as with the British.

However, Humfrey Gale found that while his title at SHAEF was the same, his role was different from that at AFHQ.

At SHAEF, Humfrey Gale had less real control over supply and administration than at AFHQ and his duties mostly involved coordinating the activities of the SHAEF staff sections and serving as chairman of various high-level committees that dealt with matters of supply.

Humfrey Gale was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant-general in August 1944, and in January 1945 he became Colonel Commandant of the Royal Army Service Corps, a position he held until 1954.

Humfrey Gale was colonel commandant of the Army Catering Corps from 1946 to 1958.

Humfrey Gale married again in 1945, this time to Minnie Grace, the daughter of Count Gregorini-Bigham of Bologna and the widow of Prince Charles Louis of Beauvau-Craon.

Humfrey Gale retired from the British Army with the honorary rank of lieutenant general in October 1947, and took up a position with the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.

In 1954 Harold Macmillan persuaded Humfrey Gale to become chairman of the Basildon, Essex New Town Development Corporation, a post Humfrey Gale served in until 1964.

Humfrey Gale's papers are in the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives.