Archibald Nye

Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Edward Nye, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, KCB, KBE, MC (23 April 1895 – 13 November 1967) was a British Army general officer who served in both World War I and World War II. In the latter he served as Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

After World War II he served as Governor of Madras - after which appointment Nehru asked for him to stay on as High Commissioner in India. He subsequently served as High Commissioner to Canada.

Early life
Archibald Edward Nye was born on 23 April 1895 at Shipstreet Barracks, Dublin, to Charles Edward Nye and Mary Sexton. He was the second of three sons born to the couple who also had three daughters. Charles Edward Nye was a regimental sergeant major in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.

Nye was educated at the Duke of York's Royal Military School after the death of his father and desired to become a schoolmaster. But the First World War broke out at this juncture and Nye joined the army.

Army service
Nye went to France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914 serving as an NCO. In 1915, he was selected for a commission in the Prince of Wales' Leinster Regiment. Nye was wounded twice in action during the First World War. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery. The official citation for this ward reads:"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on 20th October, 1918 near Esscher. He made a reconnaissance, under heavy shell and machine-gun fire, of the forward positions along the whole battalion front adjusting a portion on his own initiative to complete the line. He was of great assistance to his commanding officer throughout the week's fighting."

When the Leinster Regiment was disbanded, Nye was transferred to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment with a regular commission. Between the world wars he had a number of regimental appointments. Promoted to captain in June 1923, he attended the staff officer's course at Staff College, Camberley in 1924-25 which he successfully completed. Brevetted major in July 1930, he completed his graduation in law and qualified as a barrister at the Inner Temple in 1932 and was posted as an instructor to the Staff College with the local rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was brevetted to lieutenant-colonel in July 1934 and received a promotion to major in September 1935. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel in September 1937, from late 1937 to early 1939 he commanded the 2nd battalion of his regiment.

In 1939 he was promoted to colonel and sent to India to raise a brigade, commanding the Nowshera Brigade from May 1939 to January 1940. In February 1940 he returned to London to take up the post of Deputy Director of Staff Duties, War Office and became Director of Staff Duties and an acting major-general that November. In December 1941, he became Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff and an acting lieutenant-general (the rank of major-general had been made permanent in November). His most important function in this role was to represent the CIGS, Alan Brooke, when he was unable to attend one of the many committees on which he sat such as the Chiefs of Staff Committee, the Defence Committee (Operations), the War Cabinet and the Army Council. The enormous burdens placed on Brooke meant that he needed to delegate many of his tasks and for this he relied heavily on Nye. The partnership was highly successful and Nye remained in the job for the rest of the war. It could be said that while Brooke ran the war, Nye ran the army. His rank of lieutenant-general was made substantive in September 1944. Nye retired on 29 March 1946.

Later Life
Following his retirement, Nye was appointed Governor of Madras on 26 February 1946 and took charge on 5 May 1946 and served as Governor till 7 September 1948. The day prior to his appointment as Governor there was a major labour strike in Madras. The rest of his term was plagued by peasant uprisings all over the province. These rebellions were aided and abetted by the Communists who established miniature governments along the northern frontiers of the Presidency thereby demanding military action. Nye attributed their success to the "zeal and energy of young men who conducted their own newspapers and who preached the creed of expropriating landlords and distributing their land to needy and hungry labourers". Nye was also the Colonel-in-chief of the Madras Regiment from 10 August 1946 to 31 March 1949. The Recruits Training Centre was moved from Madukkarai near Coimbatore to Wellington in February 1947. Nye inaugurated the Madras offices of the British Council in July–August 1948. In November 1947, when Sir Frederick Gentle, the Chief Justice of the Madras High Court resigned over the Government of India order that the Chief Minister of the particular state should be consulted along with the Union Home Minister with regard to the selection of High Court judges, Nye expressed support for Gentle against political interference in appointment of judges.

Nye presided over independence day celebrations in Madras city. On 15 August 1947, Nye was sworn-in by Chief Justice Gentle as the first Governor of Madras in the Dominion of India while O. P. Ramaswami Reddiar was sworn in as Premier. Nye unfurled the Indian Tricolor at the Island Grounds.

Nye was strongly critical of Britain's efforts to admit India into the British Commonwealth. He felt that from the defence point of view, India would be "an ailing child who has literally, nothing, whatever to offer but who, on the other hand, constitutes a grave liability".

Following his term in Madras, Nye was appointed the UK's High Commissioner to India, in which appointment he served from 1948 to 1952. He then served as the UK's High Commissioner to Canada from 1952 to 1956.

Family
In 1939, Nye married divorcee Una Sheila Colleen, daughter of Sir Harry Hugh Sidney Knox. The couple had one daughter.

Character
Nye was a keen billiards player and teetotaller.

Army promotions

 * Sergeant: 1914
 * Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Regular Army (5 December 1915)
 * Lieutenant (5 September 1916)
 * Actg. Captain (August 1917)
 * Captain (20 June 1923)
 * Brevet Major (1 July 1930)
 * Local Lieutenant-Colonel (1932)
 * Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel (1 July 1934)
 * Major (8 September 1935)
 * Lieutenant-Colonel (23 November 1937)
 * Colonel (20 May 1939)
 * Temp. Brigadier (20 May 1939)
 * Actg. Major-General (1 November 1940)
 * Major-General (18 November 1941)
 * Actg. Lieutenant-General (5 December 1941)
 * Temp. Lieutenant-General (5 December 1942)
 * Lieutenant-General (14 September 1944)

Honours
(ribbon bar, as it would look today)










 * Military Cross (MC) (1918)
 * Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Military Division (KBE) (1 June 1944)
 * Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Military Division (KCB) (1 January 1946)
 * Companion of the Order of the Bath, Military Division (CB) (June 1942)
 * Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) (8 February 1946)
 * Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (GCSI) (14 August 1947)
 * Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG) (7 June 1951)