Edwin Bramall
 Edwin Bramall    (soldier) | ||||||||||
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| Born | 18 December 1923 | |||||||||
| Died | 12 November 2019 (Age 95) | |||||||||
| Nationality | UK | |||||||||
| Alma mater | Eton College | |||||||||
| Siblings | Ashley Bramall | |||||||||
| Interests | UK/VIPaedophile | |||||||||
UK senior officer accused by Carl Beech of being part of an organised ring of UK/VIPaedophiles.
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Field Marshal Edwin Noel Westby Bramall, Baron Bramall was a UK senior officer accused by Carl Beech of being part of an organised ring of UK/VIPaedophiles. Beech was convicted to 18 years prison for perjury for his statements.
Bramall was Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, between 1979 and 1982, and Chief of the Defence Staff, professional head of the British Armed Forces, from 1982 to 1985.
Early life and family
Bramall was born on 18 December 1923 in Tonbridge, Kent, England, the son of Major Edmund Haselden Bramall (1889−1964) (son of Ernest Edward Bramall (1864–1938), managing director of Desford Colliery, Leicester)[1] by his wife Katherine Bridget Westby.[2] He was educated at Eton College[3]
In 1949 he married Dorothy Avril Wentworth Vernon, by whom he had one son and one daughter.[2] His elder brother Ashley Bramall was a barrister, Labour politician and Leader of the Inner London Education Authority.[4]
Military career
After attending Eton College, he enlisted in the British Army in 1943 as a second Lieutenant of the King's Royal Rifle Corps. He took part in the Normandy landings in 1944 and was deployed to North-West Europe during the last years of the [[Second World War]. In 1946 he was promoted to lieutenant and was part of the occupation forces in Japan for the two years after the end of the war. Subsequently, he was an instructor at the infantry school (School of Infantry) in Warminster. He was promoted to captain in 1950. He was stationed in the Middle East from 1953 to 1958, and was promoted to major in 1957. In 1958, his unit, the King's Royal Rifle Corps, was incorporated into the Green Jackets Brigade as the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Green Jackets.[5]
He then taught for a further two years at the Army Staff College in Camberley and was on Lord Mountbatten's staff from 1963. In 1965, he was decorated as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and appointed commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Green Jackets, which was transferred to Malaysia during the clashes with Indonesia.[5]
In 1972 he became General Officer Commanding of the 1st Infantry Division and in the same year he was promoted to Major-General. In 1973, he became commander of the British troops in Hong Kong and was promoted to lieutenant-general. He was promoted to general in 1976. He was Commander-in-Chief, UK Land Forces from 1976 to 1978, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff in 1978 and 1979, and Chief of the General Staff of the Army from 1979 to 1982, succeeding Sir Roland Gibbs. In 1982, he was promoted to Field Marshal and succeeded Sir Terence Lewin as Chief of the Defence Staff, the highest military commander of the British Armed Forces, for three years. With his departure from this position, his military career ended.
Life peerage
After the end of his military career, Bramall succeeded Baroness Phillips as Lord Lieutenant of Greater London from 1986 to 1998. In addition, he also took over the post of Justice of the Peace for London in 1986. On 9 February 1987 he was created a Life Peer as Baron Bramall of Bushfield in the County of Hampshire, and thereby became a Member of the House of Lords.[6]
Bramall spoke out in the House of Lords against the involvement of the United Kingdom in the Second Iraq War warning that "unlike naked aggression, terrorism cannot be defeated by massive military means" but by "competent protection and positive diplomacy".[7]
On 27 August 2006 it was reported that Bramall, then aged 82, hit Lord Janner, then 78, after Bramall made what witnesses claim were a series of "anti-Israel" comments during an argument over the Lebanon conflict. Janner sought the advice of fellow peers about how and whether to make a formal complaint against Bramall, before deciding to accept an apology after which Janner said the matter was resolved.[39][8]
On 25 April 2013, Lord Bramall resigned from the House of Lords at his own request.[9]
Operation Midland
- Full article: Carl Beech
- Full article: Carl Beech
Bramall was one of several senior establishment figures accused by Carl Beech of being part of a UK/VIPaedophile ring: following complaints made by Beech, officers of the Metropolitan Police searched Bramall's home near Farnham on 4 March 2015 as part of the Operation Midland child sexual abuse investigation.[10] Bramall released a statement after the search, saying: "Categorically, never have I had a connection or anything to do with the matters being investigated."[11] On 30 April 2015, under the same investigation, Lord Bramall attended a police station in Surrey by appointment. While officers interviewed him for two hours, they did not charge or arrest him.[12]
On 15 January 2016, the police said that there was insufficient evidence to bring any charges and he would face no further action.[13]In October 2016, after what The Guardian described as a "chorus of calls" for an official apology to Lord Bramall,[14] the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised to Bramall.[15]
References
- ↑ Obituary, The Times, 1 September 1938. page 1 col A
- ↑ a b Who's Who 2010, A & C Black, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4081-1414-8
- ↑ https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/wise-old-war-horse
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120426071345/http://www.rgjassociation.info/ib/history/bramall.html
- ↑ a b T. A. Heathcote: The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 1999, ISBN 0-85052-696-5, page 54
- ↑ http://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/50834/page/2023
- ↑ https://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2004-05-26a.1330.0&m=100327
- ↑ http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/news/article-402473/War-hero-82-hits-fellow-peer-Lords.html
- ↑ https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/130425-0001.htm
- ↑ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11457405/Police-search-home-of-Lord-Bramall-as-part-of-paedophile-sex-abuse-inquiry.html
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-31795110
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/apr/30/lord-bramall-interviewed-by-police-over-historical-child-abuse-claims
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/15/lord-bramall-operation-midland-investigation
- ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/20/metropolitan-police-lord-edwin-bramall-offer-explain-abuse-inquiry-operation-midland
- ↑ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37651594
