John Francis Gathorne-Hardy

Sir John Gathorne-Hardy
Born	14 January 1874
Died	21 August 1949 (aged 75)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	General
Unit	Second Boer War Great War Second World War
Commands held	Northern Command Aldershot Command
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order

General the Honourable Sir John Francis Gathorne-Hardy , GCB, GCVO, CMG, DSO (14 January 1874 – 21 August 1949) was a British First World War General officer who served in Italy and the Western Front.

Gathorne-Hardy was born in 1874, a younger son of John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbrook and Cicely Marguerite Wilhelmina Ridgway. He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

Gathorne-Hardy joined the British Army as a commissioned second lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards on 10 October 1894, and was promoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1898. In early February 1900 he was seconded for special service in South Africa, where he was involved with Army transport duties during the Second Boer War. He was promoted to captain on 2 May 1900, and later brevet major. During later stages of the war he served with the Lovat Scouts, and only left South Africa after the war had ended, in July 1902. He served as a General Staff Officer in the First World War. After commands as a General in Egypt and India, he was Commander in Chief at Northern Command from 1931 to 1933 and at Aldershot Command from 1933 to 1937.