Walter Oxley
{{short description|British military officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Walter Hayes Oxley
|image= File:Major-general W H Oxley, Cbe, Mc - General Officer Commanding Troops Malta Art.IWMARTLD3546.jpg
|image_size= 200px
|caption= Half-length portrait of Major-General Walter Hayes Oxley in military uniform, 1943.
|nickname=
|birth_date= 2 January 1891
|birth_place= London, England
|death_date= 23 January 1978 (aged 87)
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= British Army
|serviceyears= 1911–1948
|servicenumber= 543
|rank= Major General
|unit= Royal Engineers
|commands=232nd Infantry Brigade
7th Infantry Brigade
Malta
|battles= First World War
Second World War
|awards= Companion of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Military Cross{{London Gazette|issue=13186|page=49|date=2 January 1918|city=e}}
Mentioned in dispatches
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
Major General Walter Hayes Oxley, CB, CBE, MC (2 January 1891, London, Great Britain – 23 January 1978) was a British Army officer who fought during World War I and World War II.[https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/past-catalogues/lot.php?auction_id=93&lot_uid=128945 A Great War M.C. group of eleven to Major-General W. H. Oxley, Royal Engineers.]
Military career
Oxley was educated at Eastbourne College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, from where he was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in July 1911.[https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/past-catalogues/lot.php?auction_id=93&lot_uid=128945 Lot 1082, Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria (29 June 2006)].{{London Gazette|issue=28524|page=6227|date=22 August 1911}} Later he was promoted to lieutenant in 1913.
In the First World War Oxley served in Egypt, then he served at the Macedonian front. During 1916–1917 Oxley fought in Palestine and Egypt to the end of the war.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=241}}
He attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1925−1926, where the Australian Sydney Rowell was a classmate.{{sfn|Smart|2005|p=241}} He was promoted major in 1926 and lieutenant-colonel in 1931. Afterwards Oxley was military attaché at Belgrade, a post he held from May 1929{{London Gazette|issue=33497|page=3402|date=21 May 1929}} until 1932.
Oxley was promoted colonel in 1934. In 1937 he was assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general for the British Military Mission to Egypt. Oxley became a local brigadier in 1939.
File:General Oxley and Brigadier Blunt flying to Sophia in C45.jpg during his time with the Allied Control Commission.]]
Between 1939 and 1940,during the Second World War, Oxley was assistant adjutant and quartermaster-general in Malta and in 1940–1941 commanding officer of the Northern Brigade there. In 1942 Oxley served as commanding officer of the 7th Infantry Brigade. In 1942–1943 he was deputy director of military training in the War Office. During 1943–1944 he became a general officer commanding in Malta. During 1944–1947 Oxley served as a member of the Allied Control Commission in Bulgaria. He tried to resist the growing Soviet influence in the country, but did not receive support from London. In 1948 Oxley was retired.[http://hrono.ru/biograf/bio_o/oksli_uh.php Хронос, Биографический указатель- Оксли Уолтер Хейес.] Afterwards he went to live in Charminster, near Dorchester, where he farmed.[https://www.nzsappers.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/1978-September.pdf The Royal engineers journal. Volume No. 3, sep. 1978, p. 198.]
References
{{Reflist}}
Bibliography
- {{cite book|first=Nick|last=Smart|title=Biographical Dictionary of British Generals of the Second World War|isbn=1844150496|year=2005|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire|publisher=Pen and Sword Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ogTMDwAAQBAJ}}
External links
- [http://www.lostbulgaria.com/?p=436 Photo of the heads of the Allied Control Commission in Sofia]. Second from the left, General Walter Oxley (Great Britain), third from the left, General John Alden Crane (USA), in front, General Sergey Biryuzov (USSR), May 10, 1945.
- [https://www.generals.dk/general/Oxley/Walter_Hayes/Great_Britain.html Generals of World War II]
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=Ronald Scobie}}
{{s-ttl|title=GOC Malta|years=March−August 1943}}
{{s-aft|after=William Robb}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxley, Walter}}
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:British Army generals of World War II
Category:Military attachés for the United Kingdom
Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley
Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich
Category:Royal Engineers officers
Category:British Army major generals
Category:Recipients of the Military Cross
Category:People educated at Eastbourne College
Category:Military personnel from London