General Sir Edward Pellew Quinan KCB, KCIE, DSO, OBE (9 January 1885 – 13 November 1960) was a British Army commander during the Second World War.
He continued serving in the Middle East until 1943, when he returned to India to command the North West Army, but retired later the same year due to a downgrading of his fitness status.
[4] Before the First World War, he saw active service on the North West Frontier of the British Indian Empire and was promoted to captain on 9 January 1913.
[6] He served at the battles of Neuve Chapelle, Loos and the attempt to relieve Kut al Amara; he was wounded at Beit Aisa.
While he was in command at Jhansi in 1930, Amy Johnson, the famous British pilot, made a heavy landing on the parade ground during her epic flight from London to Australia.
[13] He was promoted to major-general at the end of 1937[14] but in March 1938 he was forced to take sick leave due to high blood pressure and convalesced in Osborne House before being declared fit again for active service in July 1938[15][16] to take up command of the Western Independent District.
At that time, the pro-German government of Iraq led by Rashid Ali al-Kaylani had tried to capture the RAF base at Habbaniya and force the British to leave the country.
During the short Anglo-Iraqi War, Quinan's invasion from the south, supported by British troops from Trans-Jordan overthrew the Axis-leaning Iraqi government and replaced it with a pro-British one.
Quinan's command, designated Tenth Army in February 1942[19] was built up as German forces advancing into the Soviet Union began to pose a threat.
[19] In his War Diaries, the CIGS, General Sir Alan Brooke wrote on 4 August 1942, while working on reorganizing the Middle East and Persia and Iraq Commands, "Quinan unsuitable for 10th Army to be replaced..."[22] However, it was not until April 1943 that Quinan left the Middle East and was appointed GOC-in-C North Western Army, India.