Francis St David Benwell Lejeune
(1899-1984), Major-GeneralSitter in 3 portraits
Francis St David Benwell Lejeune
by Walter Stoneman
bromide print, 2 February 1949
NPG x168900
Francis St David Benwell Lejeune
by Walter Stoneman
half-plate glass negative, 2 February 1949
NPG x189792
Francis St David Benwell Lejeune
by Walter Stoneman
half-plate glass negative, 2 February 1949
NPG x189793
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Fay Lejeune
21 June 2021, 17:35
Born on 1 March 1899, Francis St David Benwell Lejeune was educated at Bedford School and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He received his first commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1917 and served in France and Belgium during the First World War. He was seconded to the Royal Air Force, between 1920 and 1924, and served in operations in Somaliland and Iraq. He was Assistant Military Attache in Washington, between 1932 and 1934, and International Commissioner during the Spanish Civil War, between 1937 and 1939. During the Second World War he served in Italy and Burma. He was promoted to the rank of Major General, appointed as Chief of Staff of Anti-Aircraft Command and Commander of Anti-Aircraft Group, in 1944, as Director of Technical Training at the War Office, in 1946, and as President of the Ordnance Board, in 1947. He retired from the British Army in 1949, and served on the staff of NATO, between 1952 and 1962. Major General Francis St David Benwell Lejeune was invested as a Companion of the Order of the British Empire in 1944, and as a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1949. He died on 1 June 1984.