John D'Arcy (British Army officer)


John Conyers D'Arcy CBE MC was a senior British Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II, where he commanded the 9th Armoured Division.

Military career

Born the son of the Most Reverend Charles D'Arcy, D'Arcy was commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery in 1914. He fought in the First World War and while on leave saw active service with the British Army during the Easter Rising, leading the attack on the General Post Office, Dublin. He was wounded on the North-West Frontier of India in 1931 and awarded the Military Cross.
He served again in the Second World War, commanded 9th Armoured Division in the UK from 1942, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General and became General Officer Commanding British Forces in Palestine and Trans-Jordan from 1944. He retired in 1946.
He lived at Hyde Park in County Westmeath in Ireland.

Family

In 1920 he married Noël Patricia Wakefield; they had two sons.