Lancelot Perowne

Military career

The son of John Thomas Woolrych Perowne and Edith Marione Browne, Perowne was educated at Wellington College and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1923. Prior to the Second World War he was a searchlight specialist. During the war he served with the Commandos in France and then as commander of the 69th Anti-Aircraft Brigade from 1942, the 37th Anti-Aircraft Brigade in 1943 and then the Chindit-trained 23rd Infantry Brigade in India and Burma from later in 1943. As commander of the 23rd Brigade he fought a successful campaign in the Naga hills. He was present at the reoccupation of Malaya in 1945.

After the war Perowne became commander of the Penang Sub-Area and of the 74th Indian Infantry Brigade in Malaya.

Personal life

Perowne served as an adviser on military matters during the production of The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).

Perowne married Johanne Stein in 1927. His brother was the British diplomat Victor Perowne, and his cousin the author and archaeologist Stewart Perowne.

References

References

1. [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/PEROWNE.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]
2. (1 September 1938). "Capt Lancelot Edgar Conhop Mervyn Perowne, 'The training of the anti-aircraft searchlight spotter'". The Royal Engineers Journal.
3. (1986). "Blessings in Disguise". Penguin.
4. "Thomas Joesbury, '60 and 80 Column Chindits 1944' at Burma Star Association.".
5. "The Archivists' Guide to Film: The Bridge on the River Kwai".
6. [http://www.terrys.org.uk/charts/p/perow200.htm Perowne Chart]
7. Hodgkin, E. C.. "Perowne, Stewart Henry (1901–1989)".