Robert Gordon-Finlayson

General Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson, (15 April 1881 – 23 May 1956) was a senior British military officer who was appointed Adjutant-General to the Forces in 1939. Military career Finlayson entered the British Army from the Suffolk Militia and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery as second lieutenant on 17 March 1900. He was promoted to lieutenant on 3 April 1901, and was attached to 131 Battery of the Royal Artillery, stationed at Chatham. Seconded to serve with the Imperial Yeomanry during the Second Boer War in South Africa from 25 April 1902, he received the temporary rank of captain serving in the 24th battalion, Imperial Yeomanry. He vacated his appointment with the Imperial Yeomanry on 1 August 1902, and returned to the Royal Artillery. Finlayson served during the First World War, initially as a Royal Artillery officer with 7th Division from 1914 and transferring to 3rd Division in 1915. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1915. He became Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, 1 Army Corps in 1916 and then General Staff Officer to a Special Mission to Russia in 1917. After the war Finlayson was Deputy Commander, North Russia Forces, a post he held from 1918 to 1919. He then became an instructor at the Senior Officer School in 1919 before attending the Staff College, Camberley and being appointed Military Assistant to Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1921. He went on to be a General Staff Officer at the War Office in 1922 and joined the Staff College in 1925.