James Majury


James Herbert Samuel Majury was a British Army officer.

Military career

Educated at Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College Dublin, Majury was commissioned into the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1940. He transferred to the Indian Army in 1942 and served with the South Waziristan Scouts on the North West Frontier for most of the rest of the Second World War. He returned to the United Kingdom and joined the 1st Battalion, the Royal Ulster Rifles in 1947 before being deployed to Korea as part of 29th Infantry Brigade in 1950. He saw action at the Third Battle of Seoul in January 1951 and was taken Prisoner of War by the People's Liberation Army. He was held in appalling conditions and not released until August 1953.
He became commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers in 1961. He went on to be commander of 2nd Infantry Brigade in 1965, Deputy Director of Military Operations at the Ministry of Defence in 1969 and General Officer Commanding West Midlands District in 1972 before retiring in 1973.
In 1948 he married Jeanetta Ann Le Fleming in 1948; they had two sons.

Interests and business career

As a young man he reared and bred racing greyhounds and during World War II, when billeted in Glasgow he attended the Glasgow race tracks. During the 1980s he was appointed the Senior Steward of the National Greyhound Racing Club.