Douglas Dickinson


Douglas Povah Dickinson CB DSO OBE MC was a senior British Army officer who commanded the East Africa Force at the start of the Second World War.

Military career

Dickinson was commissioned into the Welch Regiment in 1906 and served in France and Belgium during the First World War. After attending the Staff College, Camberley from 1919 to 1920, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General there in 1925, Inspector of the Iraq Army in Kurdistan in 1930 and Inspector with British Military Mission attached to the Iraq Army in 1932. He went on to be Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion of The Welch Regiment in 1934, Commandant of the Nigeria Regiment in 1936 and Inspector-General of the African Colonial Forces early in 1939. Dickinson served in the Second World War as General Officer Commanding the East Africa Force from September 1939 and as Chief of Staff of Western Command from January 1941. He retired in 1944.

Family

In 1924 he married Frances Mildred Wilson; they had two daughters.