Operation market garden

General browning
Major General Robert Elliot "Roy" Urquhart, CB, DSO & Bar was a British Army officer who saw service during the Second World War and Malayan Emergency.
Brigadier Robert "Roy" Urquhart, a 43 year old Scot, was chosen.

•

Roy Urquhart

British military officer (1901–1988)

Major GeneralRobert Elliot "Roy" Urquhart, CB, DSO & Bar (28 November 1901 – 13 December 1988) was a British Army officer who saw service during the Second World War and Malayan Emergency. He became prominent for his role as General Officer Commanding the 1st Airborne Division, which fought with great distinction, although suffering very severe casualties, in the Battle of Arnhem during Operation Market Garden in September 1944.

Early life and military career

Roy Urquhart was born in Shepperton, Middlesex, England, on 28 November 1901, and was the son of a Scottish doctor. He was educated at St Paul's School, London, and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Urquhart was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the 1st Battalion, Highland Light Infantry on 24 December 1920.^[3]^[4]^[5]

On 24 December 1922, he was promoted to lieutenant, and captain on 26 March 1929.^[7]^[8] Urquhart was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, when he was stationed in Malta from 1933

•

Pictures

Major-General Robert Elliot Urquhart

Unit : Headquarters, 1st Airborne Division

Army No. : 17550

Awards : Companion of the Bath, Distinguished Service Order and Bar, Bronzen Leeuw.

In 1943, the 1st Airborne Division found itself leaderless after Major-General Hopkinson was killed during the initial stages of their part in the invasion of Italy. The obvious successor, Brigadier Eric Down, was given temporary command before being sent to form an Airborne Division in India, but with few likely choices to replace him, the horrifying prospect of appointing a commander from outside the Airborne Forces became likely. One of the dangers of appointing a General not of their breed was that he might not fully appreciate how such a unit needed to operate. Lt-General Browning consented to this move so long as the choice was fresh from battle. Brigadier Robert "Roy" Urquhart, a 43 year old Scot, was chosen. Born in 1901, Urquhart had been educated at St Paul's and Sandhurst before being commissioned into the Highlan

•

649465 Pte. Roy John Urquhart was born in Gravenhurst, Ontario, July 5th, 1895. Our grandmother's brother and the eldest child of Elias and Maria Urquhart.

Roy never married, but had 2 brothers and 3 sisters, and is remembered with pride by all of their descendants as well. Our branch of the Urquhart family has a long history and traces their ancestry back to Ferintosh near Loch Ness, Scotland. The ruins of Urquhart Castle is one of Loch Ness' most prominent landmarks.

Roy worked as a logger, along with his father. According to his enlistment papers, Roy had lost two toes off his right foot, perhaps in some kind of logging accident, although the details are lost. A family joke says that his father had done it so that he would not be accepted for military service.

This image shows Roy (centre), with his family during his last leave at home.

At the time of his enlistment, Roy lived in the tiny hamlet of Sellwood Junction, Ontario; at that time the termination point of the Canadian Northern Railway. Sellwood Junction was re-named Milnet in 1916 an