Ferryman , Eric Edward Mockler- , 1896-1978 , Colonel , botanist

Eric Edward Mockler-Ferryman was born on 27 June 1896 at Maidstone, Kent. After attending the Wellington Royal Military Academy he joined the Royal Artillery in 1915. During the First World War he served in France and Flanders. In 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. Between the wars he served with the army in Ireland and Australia. Early in the Second World War he served in military intelligence and was promoted to Brigadier in August 1940 to head the intelligence branch of General Headquarters Home Forces. He served in the intelligence branch of General Eisenhower's Anglo-American Army and the Special Operations Executive, where he became its director of operations in North West Europe. After the war he had a spell with the Allied Control Commission in Hungary from 1945 to 1946. He retired from the army in 1947. He was awarded a CBE in 1941 as well as high orders from the United States, Belgium, France and Holland. He received an honorary MA from the University of London. He died in 1978.