Colville Wemyss

General Sir Henry Colville Barclay Wemyss KCB KBE DSO MC (1891–1959) was Adjutant-General to the Forces.

Military career
Colville Wemyss was son of Alexander Wemyss. He was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1910. He served in the First World War, being awarded the DSO and MC. In 1920 he transferred to the newly formed Royal Corps of Signals. In 1926 he became a General Staff Officer at the War Office and then in 1929 he was appointed an Instructor at the School of Signals at Catterick. He left the School of Signals in 1932 to become a General Staff Officer at Northern Command at York.

On 1 October 1935 he was promoted Colonel and appointed an Assistant Adjutant General at the War Office in London. He was a student at the Imperial Defence College between 18 January 1938 on January 1939. On completing the course, he was promoted Major General and appointed as the Director of Mobilisation at the War Office on 9 January 1939. On 19 February 1940 he transferred to the post of Deputy Adjutant General to the Forces at the War Office.

On 10 June 1940 he replaced General Robert Gordon-Finlayson as Adjutant-General to the Forces. He was promoted Acting Lieutenant General on assuming the role. The increasing importance of the role of the United States in the Second World War led to United Kingdom government establishing a military mission to Washington, D.C. and on 3 June 1941 Wemyss was appointed the Head of the British Army Mission to Washington. In January 1942, Prime Minister Winston Churchill decided to replace Wemyss in Washington with General Sir Sir John Dill so Wemyss returned to the United Kingdom. Wemyss was appointed Military Secretary to the Secretary of State for War on 16 June 1942. Wemyss was to remain in this key post for the rest of the war. He was promoted General on 15 October 1945 and retired from Army service on 23 November 1946.

Wemys was awarded the CB on 11 July 1940 and the KCB on 14 June 1945. He was also awarded the KBE on 1 July 1941.

In recognition of his links to the United States, on 23 July 1948, he was also awarded the U.S. Legion of Merit, Degree of Commander.