Charles Walter Allfrey

Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Walter Allfrey, KBE, CB, DSO, MC (24 October 1895 – 2 November 1964) was a British Army officer who served in both the First and Second World Wars.

Military career
Allfrey was born on 24 October 1895 in Southam, Northamptonshire, the son of Captain Henry Allfrey of the 60th Rifles and Kathleen Hankey. He joined the British Army in August 1914 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in October 1914. During the First World War he was wounded twice and was promoted to the rank of Captain in November 1917. Allfrey was awarded the Military Cross in 1918 for keeping his battery in action for an extended period of time even though it was under direct machine-gun and artillery fire from the enemy.

Between the World Wars Allfrey's employment included just over three years seconded to the Iraqi Army in the rank of major, where he won the DSO, and three years instructing at the Staff College, Camberley.

At the start of the Second World War Allfrey had just been promoted full colonel and held a senior staff job in the UK, continuing in this role in France and Belgium with the British Expeditionary Force. In February 1940 he returned to the UK to take up the post of Corps Commander Royal Artillery at II Corps in the rank of acting brigadier. In July, after a brief spell as CCRA at IV Corps, he was promoted to acting major-general to command Southwestern Area, Home Forces and then in February 1941 the 43rd (Wessex) Infantry Division. In March 1942 he was promoted to acting lieutenant-general to take command of V Corps. For nearly two and a half years he commanded V Corps in Operation Torch, the Tunisia Campaign and the Italian Campaign. He was made Companion of the Bath (CB) for his service in Tunisia. In August 1944 he was rested from field command to become General Officer Commanding, British Troops in Egypt. During his tenure, his rank of lieutenant-general was made permanent and he was knighted KBE. Egypt was his last posting and he retired from the army as a lieutenant-general in June 1948.

In addition to his United Kingdom awards he was made Commander of the Legion of Merit by the United States Government in 1943 for his service in the Tunisian Campaign.

Allfrey married Geraldine Clare Lucas-Scudamore in 1935, they had a son and a daughter. Allfrey died on 2 November 1964 in Bristol.

Honours and awards
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire 13 June 1946 Companion of the Order of the Bath 5 August 1943 Distinguished Service Order 6 October 1933 Military Cross 1 January 1918; bar 16 September 1918 Commander, Legion of Merit (United States) 10 August 1943