Reginald Denning

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Lieutenant-General Sir Reginald Francis Stewart Denning (12 June 1894 – 23 May 1990) was a British Army officer and administrator. Born in Whitchurch, Hampshire, he came from a family of notable siblings, including Tom Denning and Norman Denning. He joined the army at the start of the First World War as a private with the Queen’s Westminsters and went to the Western Front in 1914. He later received a commission in the Bedfordshire Regiment in 1915. On 15 June 1915 he was badly wounded when a bullet struck him in the head during an assault. He was left for dead, regained consciousness about twelve hours later, and had a metal plate inserted in his head. After recovering, he returned to France in 1918 as a company commander, but the injury took its toll and he collapsed. He then moved to brigade headquarters with the Third Army and served as a staff captain for the rest of the war; in 1919 he went back to the regiment to help with training and later spent six years as an adjutant. He attended the Staff College, Camberley in 1925, and served with the Bedfordshire Regiment in India and England. He left the regiment in 1936 to join the staff, helped prepare the British Expeditionary Force, and after Dunkirk was posted to XI Corps defending South East England.

Paragraph 2: Denning rose through the ranks during World War II, being promoted to major general in 1943 to lead the planning for D-Day. He even asked to be demoted to brigadier so he could take part in the landings, but this request was denied. After D-Day, he was posted to Far East Command as Chief Administrative Officer for the South-East Asian campaign. In 1947 he became Chief of Staff of the Eastern Command and was made Colonel of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment. In 1949 he was promoted to lieutenant general and became General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland District. He retired in 1952 with the rank of Colonel and helped merge the county regiments into the Royal Anglian Regiment, serving as its first Colonel. After retirement he chaired the Soldiers’, Sailors’ and Airmen’s Families Association for over 20 years. He received the honors of Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO), Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE), and Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), and served as Deputy Lieutenant for Essex from 1959 to 1968.