Francis Nosworthy
Sir Francis Poitiers Nosworthy KCB DSO MC was a British Army officer who became Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command during World War II.Military career
Educated at Exeter School and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, Nosworthy was commissioned into the Royal Engineers in 1907. He took part in the Abor and Mishmi expedition to India in 1912 and served in World War I as a General Staff Officer in France. After taking part in the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, he attended the Staff College, Quetta from 1919 to 1920,,and was appointed second-in-command of the Sudan Defence Force in 1926, followed by attendance at the Imperial Defence College in 1931, he commanded the 5th Infantry Brigade at Aldershot Command in 1935 and Deputy Chief of the General Staff at Army Headquarters in India in 1938.
He served in World War II as Commander of IV Corps from 1940: after the Norwegian Campaign ended, the Corps commanded most of the armoured reserves preparing to face the proposed German invasion of Britain, while the other corps headquarters which had been evacuated from Dunkirk in Operation Dynamo were reorganised. Under Nosworthy's command IV Corps was envisaged as a counter-attack force. He continued as Commander of IX Corps in Tunisia from 1942 and as Commander-in-Chief of West Africa Command from 1943. He retired in February 1945.
