Black Watch officer who served in Korea and Kenya and helped steer Rhodesia towards independence

Born: May 4, 1931;

Died: May 22, 2019

BRIGADIER Adam Gurdon, who has died aged 88, was an officer with the Black Watch who played a vital role as chief of staff for the Commonwealth Monitoring Force (CMF) during the protracted negotiations that led to the handover of power in Rhodesia in 1980.

In 1965 Rhodesia declared Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) and considered itself a sovereign state. The internal strife persisted and in 1979 the Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith revoked UDI and appealed for help from the British government. After lengthy talks in London, the black majority parties agreed to the interim return of British rule on condition national elections were held.

To ensure the elections were fair, the CMF was created and Gurdon, who had experience of African politics, was appointed as the Foundation’s chief of staff. It proved an inspired choice.

The internal strife and the Rhodesian economy were in a dire state: support by the Soviet Union for the guerrillas crippled the power of the Smith administration and Gurdon’s calm advice did much to keep the negotiations on track.

The first problem was to persuade the guerrillas to trust the CMF. Eventually Gurdon and his superior officer Major-General John Acland set up camps so voters could assemble to vote.

Tensions ran high and Gurdon and CMF colleagues (one of whom was the future Tory leader Ian Duncan Smith) had to employ the utmost tact and diplomacy to overcome years of distrust. To add to Gurdon’s task, he was appointed the principal coordinator between the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in London and visiting parliamentary delegations.

The election passed off peacefully and Robert Mugabe, who was then accepted by the international community, was elected prime minister. Gurdon was appointed CBE. The citation stated that the pressure on him over the three months was enormous but that he constantly found solutions to apparently insoluble problems and proved himself to be the linchpin of the organisation at Government House.

Adam Brampton Douglas Gurdon, the elder son of Major General Edward Gurdon, was born in Suffolk, attended Rugby School and intended to do his national service in his father’s old regiment, the Black Watch – especially when he heard it was soon to be posted on active service to Korea.

After a year with the 1st Battalion in Berlin he was sent to Korea and involved in the defence of The Hook, a strategically important piece of terrain which had to be held as the Chinese could have marched unhindered into Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Gurdon later described the battle in his autobiography, A Chance to Serve, as educational, maturing and frightening.

After service in Kenya in 1953 patrolling the Mau Mau uprising, he returned to Berlin as regimental signals officer and then served in Cyprus and Tanganyika. Other postings included Hong Kong before Gurdon spent six years at the Ministry of Defence in Military Operations for which he was appointed OBE in 1973.

In 1982, he was promoted to brigadier and moved to the Cabinet Office, where he was in charge of the co-ordination and publishing of intelligence. It was a particularly testing appointment as it included the months of the Falklands conflict.

Gurdon was a particularly impressive figure in full-dress Black Watch uniform. In preparation for a contentious meeting to brief on ceasefire proposals, and gain the support of, the president of Mozambique, Gurdon arrived at Maputo airport in style. From the plane he emerged wearing the full-dress uniform of the Black Watch - his kilt blowing gently in the breeze and his monocle glinting in the sun. The president agreed to all the UK’s proposals.

Colonel Roddy Riddell, vice chairman of the Black Watch Association, confirmed Gurdon and his family had had a long and distinguished connection to the Black Watch. “Adam was a great supporter of the regiment," he said. "His father was a BW officer, a Major General, his brother Robert also served in the BW retiring as a Colonel and he married the daughter of a BW officer who commanded our 5th Battalion in Normandy.”

Gurdon retired from the army in 1985 and became a stalwart in his community in Suffolk. He was deputy lieutenant, managed the Open Churches Trust of Suffolk which ensures many churches are open and available to the public. He also served on the board of his son-in-law, Lord Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group.

Gurdon, a much respected and warm figure, was a stalwart of his village and acted as warden at Burgh Church for 27 years. He had a life-long interest in medieval church architecture and gardening.

He met Gillian Thomson at the wedding of a fellow officer in the Black Watch. She survives him as do their four daughters.

ALASDAIR STEVEN