Jock Lewes
| Jock Lewes | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Steel Lewes |
| Nickname(s) | Jock |
| Born |
21 December 1913 Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India |
| Died | 30 December 1941 (aged 28) Cyrenaica, Italian Libya |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1935-1941 |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Service number | 65419 |
| Unit |
Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) Welsh Guards L Detachment, Special Air Service Brigade |
| Battles/wars | |
| Memorials | Alamein Memorial |
Lieutenant John Steel "Jock" Lewes (21 December 1913 – 31 December 1941) was a British Army officer prominent during World War II. He invented an explosive device, the eponymous Lewes bomb, and was the founding principal training officer of the Special Air Service. Its founding commander, David Stirling said later of Lewes: "Jock could far more genuinely claim to be founder of the SAS than I."
Lewes was born in Calcutta to a British father, chartered accountant Arthur Harold Lewes, and an Australian mother, Elsie Steel Lewes. He grew up in New South Wales and attended The King's School, Parramatta.
Lewes attended Christ Church, Oxford from September 1933 where he read PPE. Lewes was the President of the Oxford University Boat Club in 1936–37, but gave up his place in the 1937 Blue boat which ended up winning the 1937 University Boat Race, ending a 15-year Cambridge winning streak. While an undergraduate, Lewes travelled to Germany and became an admirer of Hitler and the Nazi State, before casting off his illusions after the events of Kristallnacht.
Lewes was first commissioned as a University Candidate to the General List on 5 July 1935 whilst a student at Oxford. At the outbreak of World War II he was briefly transferred to a Territorial Army unit, the 1st Battalion, Tower Hamlets Rifles, Rifle Brigade on 2 September 1939 before joining the Welsh Guards on 28 October 1939.
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