Reginald Booth Stockdale
{{Short description|British Army general}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2018}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix=Major-General
|name = Reginald Booth Stockdale
|image = Reginald_Booth_Stockdale.jpg
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|birth_date = 12 January 1908
|death_date = 12 April 1979
|placeofburial_label =
|placeofburial =
|birth_place = Port Louis, Mauritius
|death_place = Salisbury, Wilts
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|allegiance ={{flag|United Kingdom|23px}}
|branch ={{army|United Kingdom}}
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|rank =Major-General
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Major-General Reginald Booth Stockdale CB CMG OBE FIMechE (12 January 1908 – 12 April 1979) was Colonel Commandant of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers between 1963 and 1968.Kelly’s Handbook To The Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1962, Published by Kelly’s Directories Limited 1962{{Cite book|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-159961|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U159961|chapter=Stockdale, Maj.-Gen. Reginald Booth, (12 Jan. 1908–12 April 1979), retired|title=Who Was Who|year=2007}}
Career
Reginald Booth Stockdale was born In Port Louis, Mauritius on 12 January 1908, the son of Reginald Hind Stockdale of Preston, Lancashire.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com|title=Who's Who|work=ukwhoswho.com|accessdate=10 July 2015}} He was educated by Loretto nuns in Mauritius and at Bedford Modern School.
Stockdale began his career in 1931 as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps. During World War II he served with the British Expeditionary Force (1939–40) and was at home (1940–42). He transferred to Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers as a major in 1942. He served in East Africa between 1946 and 1948 where he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted colonel in 1951.
Stockdale was with the British Army of the Rhine between 1952 and 1953, was deputy director of mechanical engineering in Southern Command between 1953 and 1956, and was DEME, BAOR between 1956 and 1959. He was promoted to brigadier in 1958 and major-general in 1960. Between 1960 and 1963 he was Commandant, Technical Group, REME, and its colonel commandant between 1963 and 1968.
In 1963, on retirement from the Army, Stockdale was appointed Inspector of the Arms Control Agency of Western European Union (WEU) in Paris and held this appointment until 1974.
Family life
Stockdale was a member of the Army and Navy Club. On 20 June 1940, Stockdale married Betty Celia Tucker, daughter of William Alexander Tucker of Bromley, Kent. They had two sons and a daughter. Stockdale died on 12 April 1979.
Stockdale spoke fluent French learnt during his upbringing in Mauritius. He was a keen rugby player and in later years a referee. He was a gardener and he also had an interest in meteorology and sundials. Known as ‘Stockie’ by his colleagues and ‘Rex’ by his family, he never used his given names.
There is a photographic portrait of Stockdale at the National Portrait Gallery.{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw236093/Reginald-Booth-Stockdale?LinkID=mp141862&role=sit&rNo=0|title=National Portrait Gallery - Portrait - NPG x185492; Reginald Booth Stockdale|publisher=npg.org.uk|accessdate=2014-07-17}}
In 2010 Letters from the Home Front, a collection of Betty Stockdale's letters to her husband during World War 2 was published by the Plant Press ({{ISBN|9781903257142}}).
References
External links
- [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp141862/reginald-booth-stockdale Reginald Booth Stockdale at the National Portrait Gallery]
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Category:People educated at Bedford Modern School
Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath
Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers
Category:Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers