Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Ralph Eastwood, KCB DSO MC
1890-1959
Full Dress Uniform, c. 1934
Eastwood
entered Eton College in 1904 and was accepted into the Royal Military
College at Sandhurst in 1908. He was gazetted to the 1st Battalion,
Rifle Brigade on the 19th of March, 1910, and advanced to lieutenant in
1911. Eastwood was assigned as Aide-de-Camp to the Governor of New
Zealand, Arthur Foljambe, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, in 1912. At the onset
of the Great War, Eastwood was released as A.D.C. and commissioned into
the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own), becoming a
captain on the 30th of December, 1914, and participating in the capture
of German Samoa. In April of 1915, Eastwood’s regiment was deployed to
Gallipoli, where he was awarded the Military Cross for leading a column
during a night assault on the 6th-7th of August. The regiment having
been transferred to France, Eastwood joined the general staff in 1917
and was subsequently made a brevet major in January of 1918. He
transferred back to the British Army that October and was made a
temporary lieutenant colonel, commanding the 12th Battalion, Rifle
Brigade. In August of 1919, Eastwood served for a short period on the
staff of Lord Rawlinson and participated in the ill-fated North Russia
Intervention. During the Great War, Eastwood was mentioned in
despatches seven times and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in
1919. Eastwood served in staff appointments until 1927, when he returned
to regimental duty with the 1st Battalion, Rifle Brigade in India with
the rank of major. Eastwood returned the following year and took command
of the Rifle Brigade Depot in 1931. He transferred to the King’s Royal
Rifle Corps on the 5th of April, 1934, to assume command of the 2nd
Battalion as lieutenant colonel, during which period the battalion was
posted to Belfast. Eastwood achieved his colonelcy in July of 1936. He
was made major general on the 12th of January 1938 and appointed
Commandant of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. At the outbreak
of the Second World War, Eastwood was made commanding general of the
59th (Staffordshire) Infantry Division. He was then given command of the
4th Infantry Division in May of 1940 and subsequently appointed
Inspector-General of the Home Guard. Eastwood was made an acting
lieutenant general in November of 1940 and assumed the role of
Director-General of the Home Guard. He was appointed as commanding
general of the Northern Command in June of 1941. On the 5th of December,
1941, Eastwood was made a permanent lieutenant general and went on to
become the Governor of Gibraltar in 1944. He retired from the service in
1947.
