Robert Bray (British Army officer)

Bray was educated at St Ronan's School, Worthing,[http://www.saintronans.co.uk/Default.aspx?ID=382 St Ronan's School] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003073754/http://www.saintronans.co.uk/Default.aspx?ID=382 |date=3 October 2011 }} followed by Gresham's School, Holt, and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.{{cite web|url=https://www.greshams.com/prep-schools-2/archives/roll-of-honour/military-roll-honour/|title=Military Roll of Honour|publisher=Gresham's School|accessdate=16 June 2020}}

Bray was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Duke of Wellington's (West Riding) Regiment on 2 February 1928.[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/BRAY1.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]

He served in North West Europe and the Middle East during the Second World War being promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel on 19 October 1942.{{cite web|url=http://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_B04.html#Bray_RNHC |title=Bray, Robert|publisher=Unit Histories|accessdate=17 June 2020}}

He became a Brigadier on the General Staff at the British Army of the Rhine in 1950 and then Director of Land-Air Warfare and North Atlantic Treaty Organization Standardization at the War Office in December 1954. Promoted to major-general on 29 October 1955, he became General Officer Commanding 56th (London) Armoured Division in April 1957. He then became GOC British Land Forces in the Arabian Peninsula in 1959 and GOC Middle East Land Forces in 1960.

He was promoted to lieutenant-general on 27 February 1961 and served as GOC-in-C at Southern Command from August 1961 to September 1963. He was promoted to full general on 25 February 1965. He was the colonel-in-chief of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment from 1965 to 1975.{{cite web|url=http://www.dwr.org.uk/history/colonels-of-the-regiment|title=Colonels of the Regiment 1702-2006}} He served as Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe between November 1963 and February 1967 and as Deputy Supreme Commander Europe at NATO's Allied Command between May 1967 and December 1970, succeeding Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Thomas Pike. He retired on 9 March 1971.

• 1944 – Distinguished Service Order for gallant and distinguished services in Normandy{{London Gazette|issue=36679|page=4044|date=31 August 1944 |supp=y }}
• 1945 – Bar to Distinguished Service Order for gallant and distinguished services in north west Europe{{London Gazette|issue=37061|page=1|date=1 May 1945 |supp=y }}
• 1952 – Commander of the Order of the British Empire{{London Gazette|issue=39555|page=3013|date=5 June 1952 |supp=y }}
• 1956 – Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB){{London Gazette|issue=40960|page=6|date=28 December 1956 |supp=y }}
• 1962 – Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB){{London Gazette|issue=42552|page=2|date=1 January 1962 |supp=y }}
• 1966 – Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE){{London Gazette|issue=43854|page=3|date=1 January 1966 |supp=y }}
• Colonel of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment, October 1965 to July 1975
• Mentioned in Despatches North West Frontier 1935
• Mentioned in Despatches 20 December 1940

{{notelist}}

{{reflist}}

• I Will Plant Me a Tree by Steve Benson and Martin Crossley Evans (James & James, London, 2002) {{ISBN|0-907383-92-0}}

• [http://www.ordersofbattle.com/PersonData.aspx?PerX=521 Military Career of RNHC Bray at ordersofbattle.com]
• [http://members.tripod.com/~Glosters/LC2.htm Glorious Gloucesters]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030302/http://www.dwr.org.uk/dwr.php?id=308 The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding)]
• [http://members.tripod.com/~Glosters/HA2.htm Honours and Awards of the Glosters]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120218092914/http://www.rafweb.org/NATO1.htm Multinational Commands RAF]
• [https://www.unithistories.com/officers/Army_officers_B04.html#Bray_RNHC British Army Officers 1939−1945]
• [https://generals.dk/general/Bray/Robert_Napier_Hubert_Campbell/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]

{{s-start}}

{{s-mil}}

{{s-bef|before=David Dawnay}}

{{s-ttl|title=GOC 56th (London) Armoured Division|years=1954–1959}}

{{s-aft|after=Peter Deakin}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Sir Nigel Poett}}

{{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C Southern Command|years=1961–1963}}

{{s-aft|after=Sir Kenneth Darling}}

|-

{{s-bef|before=Sir Harold Pyman}}

{{s-ttl|title=Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe|years=1963–1967}}

{{s-aft|after=Sir Kenneth Darling}}

|-

{{succession box|before=Sir Thomas Pike|title=Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe|after=Desmond Fitzpatrick|years=1967–1970}}

{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bray, Robert}}

Category:1908 births

Category:1983 deaths

Category:British Army generals

Category:British Army brigadiers of World War II

Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order

Category:Duke of Wellington's Regiment officers

Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

Category:NATO military personnel

Category:People educated at Gresham's School

Category:People from Worthing

Category:Military personnel of British India