Bertie Fisher

Lieutenant General Sir Bertie Drew Burdett Fisher, KCB, CMG, DSO (13 July 1878 – 24 July 1972) was a British Army general during the Second World War.

Sir Bertie Fisher
Born	(1878-07-13)13 July 1878
Died	24 July 1972(1972-07-24) (aged 94)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1900–1938 1939–1940
Rank	Lieutenant General
Service number	6400[1]
Unit	17th Lancers
Commands	Southern Command (1939–1940) Royal Military College, Sandhurst (1934–1938) Senior Officers' School (1927–1930) 2nd Cavalry Brigade (1923–1927) 17th/21st Lancers (1922–1923) 8th Infantry Brigade (1918–1919) Leicestershire Yeomanry (1915)
Battles / wars	Second Boer War First World War Second World War
Awards	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order

Military career

Fisher was commissioned into the 17th Lancers as second lieutenant on 23 May 1900,^[2] and served in the Second Boer War, during which he was promoted to lieutenant on 29 July 1901.^[3] Following the end of the war, he returned from Cape Town to England in the SS Maplemore in August 1902.^[4]

Fisher went to the Staff College in 1911.^[2] In 1913 he learned to fly,^[5] and became a General Staff Officer in the Military Aeronautics Department at the War Office.^[2] He served in the First World War, initially as a brigade major in the 6th Cavalry Brigade, which formed part of the British Expeditionary Force,^[2] and then, after serving as commander of the Leicestershire Yeomanry in 1915, as general staff officer, grade 1 (GSO1), essentially chief of staff, of the 1st Cavalry Division, holding this post from August 1915 until January 1918.^[2][6] He was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel while holding his appointment.^[7] He was then appointed commander of the 8th Infantry Brigade later in the year.^[2]

After the war, Fisher was the commander of the 17th Lancers at the time of their amalgamation with the 21st Lancers in 1922.^[2] He took command of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade in 1923 and was the commandant of the Senior Officer School in 1927.^[2] He was then a Brigadier on the General Staff at Aldershot Command from 1930 and Director Recruiting and Organisation at the War Office from 1932.^[2] He became Commandant of the Royal Military College Sandhurst in 1934 and retired in 1938.^[2] He had been promoted to lieutenant general in June 1931.^[8] In February 1938 he succeeded General The Hon. Sir Herbert Lawrence as colonel of the 17th/21st Lancers.^[9]

Fisher was recalled from retirement during the Second World War to be General Officer Commanding-in-Chief for Southern Command from 1939 to 1940, when he retired again.^[2] He lived in Basingstoke in Hampshire.^[10]

Family

Fisher married Majorie Frances Boyd; they had two sons.^[10]