Harold Burrough
{{Short description|Royal Navy admiral (1889–1977)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Admiral
| name = Sir Harold Burrough
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|KBE|DSO}}
| birth_date = 4 July 1889
| death_date = 22 October 1977 (aged 88)
| birth_place =
| death_place =
| image = Vice Admiral Sir Harold Martin Burrough A20779.jpg
| caption =
| nickname =
| allegiance = {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}
| serviceyears = 1903–1949
| rank = Admiral
| commands = HMS London
Nore Command
| branch = {{navy|United Kingdom}}
| unit =
| battles = World War I
World War II
| awards = Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Distinguished Service Order
| laterwork =
}}
Admiral Sir Harold Martin Burrough, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|GCB|KBE|DSO|sep=,|size=100%}} (4 July 1889 – 22 October 1977) was a senior Royal Navy officer and Assistant Chief of Naval Staff to the Royal Navy during World War II.
Early career
Born the tenth son of Rev. Charles Burrough and his wife Georgina Long, Burrough began his career as a naval cadet in 1903 after being educated at St Edward's School, Oxford. He first saw action during World War I as a gunnery officer aboard HMS Southampton,[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BURROUGH.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives] later taking part in the Battle of Jutland in 1916. In 1930 he was given command of HMS London. He was made Commander of the 5th Destroyer Flotilla in 1935 and of HMS Excellent in 1937. He was made Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff in 1939.
World War II
In September 1940 he was appointed Rear-Admiral Commanding 10th Cruiser Squadron. During the Second World War he was awarded the DSO after Operation Archery a raid on the Norwegian islands of Vågsøy and Måløy on 27 December 1941 in which nine enemy ships were sunk by the Navy and Royal Air Force and the garrisons were wiped out by the raiding force. Burrough would serve on the Naval Staff for two years until 1942. In July of that year he was given command of the close escort force for Operation Pedestal, and subsequently placed in command of Allied naval forces in the assault on Algiers during Operation Torch, as well as directing the Northwest Africa landings.
After becoming Flag Officer Commanding Gibraltar and Mediterranean Approaches in September 1943, Burrough succeeded Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay as Allied Naval Commander-in-Chief, Expeditionary Force (ANXF), following Ramsay's death after an aircraft accident in January 1945.{{cite book|first=Michael|last= Whitby|title=Commanding Canadians: The Second World War Diaries of A.F.C. Layard|page=362|publisher=UBC Press|year= 2006|isbn=978-0774811941|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4mIXtaqcAvgC&dq=Harold+Burrough+gibraltar&pg=PA362}} Planning the Allied naval strategy and operations, working closely with U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower during the final years of the war, Burrough was one of the signatories to the German Surrender Documents on 7 May 1945 at Rheims, France.
He remained as naval commander occupying post-war Germany, where among his duties he authorised the formation of the German Mine Sweeping Administration. He then became Commander-in-Chief, The Nore in 1946. He retired in 1949, being created Knight Grand Cross of the order of the Bath (GCB) that year.{{London Gazette |issue=38493 |date=1 January 1949 |page=2 |supp=y }} He died on 22 October 1977 from pneumonia at the Moorhouse Nursing Home, Hindhead, Surrey.
Family
Burrough married in 1914, Nellie Wills, daughter of C.W Outhit of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and had two sons and three daughters. His wife died in 1972.
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite book |editor1-last=Parrish |editor1-first=Thomas |editor2-first=S. L. A. |editor2-last=Marshall |title=The Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of World War II |year=1978 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-0-671-24277-0}}
External links
{{Commons category|Harold Burrough}}
- [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BURROUGH.shtml King's College London: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives - Survey of the Papers of Senior UK Defence Personnel, 1900-1975]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070517235645/http://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/germsurr.shtml German Surrender Documents of World War II]
- [http://www.unithistories.com/officers/RN_officersB6.html#Burrough_HM Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-1945]
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{{succession box | title=Flag Officer Commanding Gibraltar and Mediterranean Approaches | years=1943–1945 | before=Sir Frederick Edward-Collins | after=Post disbanded}}
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{{succession box | title=Commander-in-Chief, The Nore | years=1946–1948 | before=Sir John Tovey | after=Sir Henry Moore}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burrough, Harold}}
Category:Military personnel from Herefordshire
Category:Royal Navy admirals of World War II
Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Deaths from pneumonia in England
Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I