General Sir Neil Methuen Ritchie, (29 July 1897 – 11 December 1983) was a British Army officer who saw service during both the world wars. He is most notable during the Second World War for commanding the British Eighth Army in the North African campaign from November 1941 until being dismissed in June 1942. Despite this, his career did not end. Ritchie later commanded XII Corps throughout the campaign in Northwest Europe, from June 1944 until Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) in May 1945.
Origins
Born near the Essequibo River in British Guiana on 29 July 1897, he was the second son of a Scottish planter, Dugald MacDougall Ritchie (1861-1925), and his wife Anna Catherine Leggatt (1860-1946), daughter of an English farmer. His elder brother was Alan MacDougall Ritchie, later a brigadier in the British Army, and he had two sisters.
Early life and First World War
After growing up in Malaya, he went to England and was educated at Lancing College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Four months after the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, he passed out from Sandhurst on 16 December 1914, when he was, at the age of just 17, commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). Among his fellow graduates was another future general, John Grover.
As he was too young, Ritchie was not sent overseas until after his 18th birthday in July 1915. He was promoted to lieutenant on 2 October, and served initially with the 1st Battalion, Black Watch, then part of the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division and one of the two Regular Army battalions in the regiment, in the trenches of the Western Front. Ritchie was wounded during the Battle of Loos. After recovering from his injuries he was promoted to the temporary rank of captain on 2 March 1916, and made an acting captain on 22 April.
He later served with the 2nd Battalion (the other Regular Army battalion in the regiment) which was part of the 21st (Bareilly) Brigade in the 7th (Meerut) Division , a British Indian Army division, in the Middle East. He served during the Sinai and Palestine campaign and the Mesopotamian campaign, including in the fall of Baghdad in March 1917. On 5 January 1917 he became his battalion's adjutant. He won the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) on 25 August 1917 and, having been confirmed in his rank of captain on 19 November 1917, was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 15 February 1919 for his actions during the Battle of Megiddo in September 1918. The citation for his MC reads:
Ritchie was also mentioned in despatches. The armistice of Mudros with the Ottoman Empire and the armistice with Germany followed soon after and brought the war to an end.
Between the wars
Ritchie remained in the army throughout the difficult interwar period. He served as adjutant to the 2nd Battalion, Black Watch until 28 February 1921. From 18 July 1923 until 30 September 1927, he was a General Staff Officer Grade 3 (GSO3) at the War Office. He attended the Staff College, Camberley as a student from 1929 to 1930.
Graduating from the two-year course in December 1929, Ritchie served with his regiment until being sent to India and made a GSO2 with Northern Command, India, a post he held from 2 April 1933 until 1 April 1937. While there he was promoted, for the first time in almost sixteen years, to brevet major on 1 July 1933, followed by major on 2 June 1934, and brevet lieutenant colonel on 1 January 1936.
On 3 January 1938 Ritchie transferred from the Black Watch, which by now he had been with for just over twenty-three years, to the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He became commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, King's Own on the same date and took command of the battalion in Palestine, then engaged in internal security duties during the Arab revolt. Aided throughout this difficult period by his adjutant, Captain Richard Anderson, he commanded the battalion until August 1939, shortly before the Second World War began in September. For his services in Palestine Ritchie was mentioned in despatches. After handing over the battalion to Lieutenant Colonel John Hardy, Ritchie returned to England, where he was promoted to colonel on 26 August 1939 (with seniority backdated to 1 January) and was made a GSO1 at the Senior Officers' School at Sheerness, Kent.