For the Royal Marines officer, see Francis Worgan Festing. For the RAF officer (Festing's father), see Francis Leycester Festing.
Field Marshal
Sir Francis Festing
Nickname(s)
"Frontline Frankie" "Frankie"[1]
Born
(1902-08-28)28 August 1902 Dublin, Ireland
Died
3 August 1976(1976-08-03) (aged 73) Hexham, Northumberland, England
Allegiance
United Kingdom
Service/branch
British Army
Years of service
1921–1961
Rank
Field Marshal
Service number
611
Unit
Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own)
Commands held
Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1958–61) Far East Land Forces (1956–58) Eastern Command (1954–56) British Troops in Egypt (1952–54) Regular Commissions Board (1950–51) British Forces in Hong Kong (1945–46, 1949) 36th Infantry Division (1942–45) 29th Infantry Brigade (1941) 2nd Battalion East Lancashire Regiment (1940–41)
Battles/wars
Second World War
Awards
Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companion of the Distinguished Service Order Mentioned in Despatches Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) Order of the Cloud and Banner (China)
Field Marshal Sir Francis Wogan Festing, GCB, KBE, DSO, DL (Mandarin: 菲士廷, fēi shì tíng; 28 August 1902 – 3 August 1976) was a senior British Army officer. His most important posts were as Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong (1945–46 and 1949), General Officer Commanding (GOC) British Troops in Egypt (1952), GOC Eastern Command (1954), Commander-in-Chief Far East Land Forces (1956), and Chief of the Imperial General Staff (1958–61). He saw active service in the Second World War, taking a prominent role in Operation Ironclad (the Battle of Madagascar) and the Arakan offensive of the Burma campaign, and later advised the British government on ending conscription and reducing the size of the army by fifteen battalions.
three elder brothers are John Festing (a former High Sheriff of Northumberland), Major Michael Festing, and Andrew Festing (formerly President of the Royal...
Flying Corps in France. Festing was the son of Major General Sir FrancisFesting. He married Charlotte Katharine Grindall Festing (his second cousin) and...
Major General Sir Francis Worgan Festing, KCMG, CB (24 July 1833 – 21 November 1886) was a British Royal Marines officer. Festing, second son of Captain...
Sir FrancisFesting (1902–1976), British field marshal Sir Francis Worgan Festing (1833–1886), British Royal Marines major-general John Festing (1837–1902)...
Portrait Painters. Andrew Festing was born on 30 November 1941, the third son of four boys of Field Marshal Sir FrancisFesting and Mary Cecilia Riddell...
Sir FrancisFesting 1946–1948 Major-General Sir George Erskine 1948–1949 Major-General Francis Matthews Jun–Sep 1949 Lieutenant-General Sir Francis Festing...
John Churcher Preceded by Sir FrancisFesting Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong 1946–1948 Succeeded by Francis Matthews Preceded by Richard Gale...
Duties, War Office 1948–1950 Succeeded by Edric Bastyan Preceded by Sir FrancisFesting GOC British Troops in Egypt 1954–1956 Troops withdrawn Preceded by...
Volume 4: The Hinge of Fate. Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-144175-7. de Guingand, Francis (1947). Operation Victory. London: Hodder and Stoughton. Delaforce, Patrick...
Colchester, Essex, the son (and only child) of Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Francis Templer, of the Royal Irish Fusiliers, and Mabel Eileen Templer (née Johnston)...
October 1960. 1956 Princess Mary, Princess Royal 1897 1965 1956 Sir FrancisFesting 1902 1976 Promoted to field marshal in 1960. 1957 Sir Dudley Ward 1905...
General Francis Richard Dannatt, Baron Dannatt, GCB, CBE, MC, DL (born 23 December 1950) is a retired senior British Army officer and member of the House...
anthropologist, author of Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic Among the Azande FrancisFesting, Field Marshal Nowell Myres, archaeologist, Bodley's Librarian John...
of Alamein Sir William Slim Sir John Harding Sir Gerald Templer Sir FrancisFesting Sir Richard Hull Chiefs of the General Staff Sir Richard Hull Sir James...
Global Information