Arthur Dowler

Educated at Tonbridge School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Dowler was, after graduating from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in July 1914, commissioned as a second lieutenant into the East Surrey Regiment. He served in the First World War with the 2nd Battalion, East Surreys in France and Belgium.

He attended the Staff College, Camberley from 1931 to 1932, alongside Brian Horrocks, Sidney Kirkman, Cameron Nicholson and Thomas Rees, and later returned there as an instructor from 1937 until 1939.

Dowler also saw active service in the Second World War, initially in 1939 as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, East Surrey Regiment and then as a General Staff Officer with the 49th (West Riding) Infantry Division. In 1940 he was promoted to brigadier and served on the General Staff of V Corps and, promoted on 1 October 1940 to colonel, subsequently commanded the 2nd Infantry Brigade. He was involved in the Narvik expedition in 1940, part of the Norwegian Campaign. In 1942 he was made General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 38th (Welsh) Infantry Division and then Major-General in charge of Administration of Southern Command. He was put in charge of Administration for the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in 1944. In July 1944 he was made a substantive major general.

After the war Dowler was appointed chief of staff of the British Army of the Rhine, before becoming director of infantry at the War Office in 1947. He was promoted to substantive lieutenant general in July 1948, with seniority dated back to December 1944, and made GOC East Africa Command from 1948 to 1951 and subsequently colonel of the East Surrey Regiment from July 1946, when he succeeded General Sir Richard Foster, until his resignation from that role in 1954. He retired from the army in December 1951. In May 1958 he became deputy lieutenant of Surrey.