William Havelock Ramsden

Major General William Havelock Ramsden, CB, CBE, DSO, MC (3 October 1888 – 1969) was a senior British Army officer during the Second World War.

Military career

Educated at Bath College and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Ramsden was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the West India Regiment in 1910. He served in the First World War in the Cameroons and in Nigeria and then, from 1916, as a captain in the East Yorkshire Regiment, in France and Belgium. Between the wars Ramsden remained in the British Army, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel by 1933, and securing command of the 1st Battalion, Hampshire Regiment in 1936. He was on active service on operations in Waziristan and Palestine during this period. He went on to be Commander of the West Lancashire Area in 1939.

He fought in the Second World War, commanding the 25th Infantry Brigade during the fighting in France in May 1940 as part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). In December 1940 he was appointed General Officer Commanding the 50th (Northumbrian) Infantry Division which fought well in North Africa. He was promoted to command XXX Corps in July 1942, which post he held until September 1942. He was given Bernard Montgomery's old command, the 3rd Infantry Division, in December 1942. From early 1944 he was deployed to the Sudan, later commanding British Troops in Sudan and Eritrea. He retired in 1945.

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