Rohan Delacombe

Major General Sir Rohan Delacombe, (25 October 1906 – 10 November 1991) was a senior British Army officer. He was the last British Governor of Victoria, Australia from 1963 to 1974. Early life Delacombe was born in St. Julian's, Malta, on 25 October 1906, the son of Addis and Emma Louise Mary Delacombe. Addis served as a pay officer in the British Army; several generations of Delacombes, whose seat was Shrewton Manor, Wiltshire, had served in the armed forces. Rohan was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Military career After passing out from Sandhurst, Delacombe was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Royal Scots, then the most senior line infantry regiment in the British Army, on 4 February 1926. Philip "Pip" Roberts, who was another future general officer, was among his fellow graduates. He was promoted to lieutenant on 4 February 1929. He saw service in Egypt, North China and Quetta in India (now Pakistan) with the regiment's 1st Battalion, and was promoted to captain on 2 March 1937. Delacombe then served in Palestine with the battalion during the Arab revolt from 1937 until the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939; he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1939 King's Birthday Honours. Delacombe was posted with the 4th Infantry Brigade, then commanded by Brigadier James Gammell and one of three brigades which formed part of Major General Charles Loyd's 2nd Infantry Division. The division was part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), which was sent to the Franco-Belgian border following Germany's invasion of Poland. After returning to England and attending a shortened course at the Staff College, Camberley, in 1940, Delacombe assisted Major General Adrian Carton de Wiart as a General Staff Officer Grade 2 (GSO2) during the Namsos campaign in Norway.