British Army general (1908–1993)
General Sir Reginald Hackett Hewetson, GCB, CBE, DSO (4 August 1908 – 19 January 1993) was a senior British Army officer and a former Adjutant-General to the Forces.
Military career
Educated at Repton School and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Reginald Hewetson was commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1928.[1] He served in India from 1929 to 1935.[1]
During the Second World War Hewetson served in France, North Africa and Italy.[1] He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his service during the war.[1][2] In 1942 he served in the Tunisian campaign as a General Staff Officer (GSO) with the lines of communication of the British First Army, before being made a GSO Grade 1 (with the 78th Infantry Division, also serving with the First Army in the fighting in Tunisia. The division later fought in the Allied invasion of Sicily in July–August 1943 but Hewetson left to take command of the 121st Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, then fighting in Italy, before then assuming command of the 6th Field Regiment, also fighting in Italy, sometime in 1944. He returned again to the 78th Division, this time as the division's Commander, Royal Artillery. Once again, his stay was short as he was soon sent to X Corps as its Brigadier General Staff (BGS), a position he held until then end of the war in 1945.[2]
Hewetson was BGS of the British Army in Austria from 1945 to 1947.[1] In 1949 he attended the Imperial Defence College in London and then,[2] in 1953, he was appointed was Commander, Royal Artillery within the 2nd Division in Germany and in March 1956 he became General Officer Commanding 11th Armoured Division.[1] In April 1956 the 11th Armoured Division was reformed under his command as the 4th Division and in 1958 he became Commandant of the Staff College, Camberley.[1] In 1961 he was appointed Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong and in 1963 he became General Officer Commanding Far East Land Forces, a post he held until 1964 when he became Adjutant General.[1] He retired from the British Army in 1967.[1]
Hewetson was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery from 1962 to 1973. He was ADC General to the Queen from 1966 to 1967.[1] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1958, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1962 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1966.[1] He was also appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1943 and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1945.[1]
A service to commemorate his life was held on 12 February 1993.[3] He lived in Uckfield, East Sussex.[1]
Hewetson was also a first class cricket player who played for the Europeans[4] in the Bombay Quadrangular in 1929.[5]
Family
Hewetson married Patricia Burkitt.[6]
