Cyril Deverell

[3] His brigade held a position on the 21st Division's right flank during the Battle of Bazentin Ridge and attacked the Switch Line to the east of High Wood.

[10] Deverell led the division at Arras in the spring of 1917, then participated in the latter stages of the Battle of Passchendaele in the final weeks of the year.

[15] Having been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1926 Birthday Honours,[16] he served as Quartermaster-General of India from 25 February 1927[17] and, having been promoted to lieutenant general on 13 March 1928[18] and advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the Kings Birthday Honours 1929,[19] he became Chief of the General Staff in India in 1930.

[11] In that capacity he advised the Government on the importance of maintaining the capability to mount an expeditionary force for operations on mainland Europe.

[25] In May 1937 Leslie Hore-Belisha, the newly appointed Secretary of State for War, sought to implement a new policy of limiting expenditure on the Army, particularly on the development of tanks, and when Deverell failed to show enthusiasm for that policy in the context of an increasing threat from Nazi Germany, Hore-Belisha wrote to him advising him that he had been removed from office.

[1] Deverell wrote a reply to the Secretary of State, strongly objecting to the adverse comments that had been made on his own performance, and retired from the British Army on 6 December 1937.

The Battle of Bazentin Ridge, at which Deverell commanded the 20th Brigade, during the First World War.
Memorial to Field Marshal Cyril John Deverell in York Minster .