Archibald Wavell, 2nd Earl Wavell
| The Earl Wavell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 May 1916 |
| Died | 24 December 1953 (aged 37) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1936–1953 |
| Rank | Major |
| Unit | Black Watch |
| Battles/wars |
Second World War Mau Mau Uprising |
| Awards | MC |
Major Archibald John Arthur Wavell, 2nd Earl Wavell MC (11 May 1916 – 24 December 1953) was the second and last Earl Wavell and Viscount Keren of Eritrea. He was educated at Winchester College and succeeded his father in 1950.
Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Black Watch on 30 January 1936, Wavell's first posting was in the British Mandate for Palestine from 1936 to 1939. Promoted to lieutenant on 30 January 1939, he then fought in World War II. He lost his left hand fighting the Japanese in Burma in June 1944 in Operation Thursday where he fought with the Chindits. Evacuated to India he served on his father's staff, his father Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell being the then Viceroy of India.
He was promoted to captain on 28 January 1944 and was awarded the Military Cross on 23 January 1947.
Wavell was promoted to major on 30 January 1949 and succeeded to the titles of his father with his death on 24 May 1950.
On 23 December 1953, Major Wavell led a patrol of the Black Watch and Kenyan police in pursuit of a sixty-strong Mau Mau gang that had beheaded a loyal Kikuyu tribesman and then fled. Twenty of them were surrounded in a copse at Thika, 25 miles north of Nairobi. Wavell was shot and killed in the first contact of a 10-hour battle.
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