BRITAIN'S oldest general has died just over a month after celebrating
his 100th birthday.
General Sir Philip Christison died peacefully at St John's Nursing
Home, Melrose. It was there on November 17, surrounded by three
generations of his family and a small regiment of guests, that he
watched Army bands play on the lawn and helicopters fly past in his
honour.
The funeral will be held next Wednesday at Holy Trinity Church,
Melrose, where the general had sung in the choir and worshipped for many
years. In addition to his distinguished military career Sir Philip was a
former Oxford rugby blue, National Mod performer, and accomplished
clarsach player.
Sir Philip was a fourth baronet but one of his grandfathers was a
Borders shepherd. He returned to those roots when he retired from the
Army and ran a fruit farm near Melrose with his wife, Betty, a daughter
of the Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney.
His career began as a subaltern in the Cameron Highlanders in 1914
when he broke off studying medicine at Oxford to join up. He won an MC
for gallantry at Loos.
As a divisional commander in Burma his units were the first to stem
the Japanese advance in the Arakan and turn the tide towards the
eventual British victory. As Commander-in-Chief Allied Land Forces in
South-east Asia he accepted the surrender of all Japanese forces at
Singapore in 1945.
Sir Philip was highly regarded in Japan partly because he returned the
sword of the surrendering Japanese general to the officer's widow a few
years ago.
Before his retirement Sir Philip was Commander-in-Chief Scottish
Command and Governor of Edinburgh Castle. Afterwards he devoted his
considerable energies to being chairman or president of nearly 60
organisations ranging from the Scottish Conservative Party to the
Clarsach Society.
Sir Philip was a distinguished ornithologist and military historian
and his book on Bannockburn has been adopted by the National Trust as
the official handbook for visitors to the battlefield.
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