Arthur Edward Grasett
Sir Arthur Edward Grasett was a British-Canadian soldier who served with the British Army in Canada, England, India and China.Education
Grasett was born in 1888 in Plymouth, the eldest son of Arthur Wanton Grasell of Toronto, Ontario and Catharine Frances Hewett of Halifax, Nova Scotia, daughter of Army officer Edward Osborne Hewett. He was educated at Upper Canada College in Toronto. He enrolled at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario in 1906, remaining there until 1909 as student #729. He was College Battalion Sergeant Major from 1908 to 1909.Military service
Grasett was commissioned into the Royal Engineers on 24 June 1909.
He served with distinction during World War I, earning the Military Cross in 1915, the Distinguished Service Order in 1918, and five times mentioned in despatches. He then attended Staff College, Camberley from 1920 to 1921. He served on operations on the North West Frontier of India from 1921 and then as a General Staff Officer at the Staff College from 1935. As a Brigadier, he served on the General Staff in the headquarters of Northern Command from 1937 and was appointed Commander of British Troops in China in 1938.
Grasett served in World War II as General Officer Commanding of the 48th Division from 1941 and, promoted to acting lieutenant general on 7 November 1941, was made GOC of VIII Corps on the South Coast of England from November 1941. In 1944 he was posted to the War Office and he was with SHAEF from 1944 to 1945. He was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Jersey and Colonel Commandant Royal Engineers in 1945 and retired in 1947.Awards and recognition
In 1935, he married Joan Mary, who was the daughter of JK Foster of Egton Manor, Yorkshire.
