General
Sir Basil Ian Spencer Gourlay
,
KCB
,
CVO
,
OBE
,
MC
(13 November 1920 ? 17 July 2013) was a
Royal Marines
officer who served as
Commandant General Royal Marines
from 1971 to 1975.
Early life
[
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]
Gourlay was born on 13 November 1920 to Brigadier K. I. Gourlay and Victoria May Gourlay (nee Oldrini). He was educated at
Eastbourne College
, a
private school
in
Eastbourne
,
East Sussex
.
[1]
Military career
[
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]
Gourlay was
commissioned
into the
Royal Marines
in 1940.
[2]
His commission was confirmed on 20 January 1942 and he was given seniority in the rank of
lieutenant
from 14 June 1941.
[3]
He served on the
aircraft carrier
HMS
Formidable
,
[4]
with which he saw active service in the Arctic, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean between 1941 and 1944.
[1]
Promoted to
acting
captain
on 16 June 1944,
[5]
he served in
43 Commando
in Yugoslavia and Italy from 1944 to 1945.
[1]
He was awarded the
Military Cross
for his actions fighting at
?olta
in the
Dalmatian Islands
in 1944.
[6]
Promoted to captain on 15 June 1949,
[7]
Gourlay was
mentioned in despatches
in January 1957 "for distinguished services in operations against terrorists in Cyprus".
[8]
In the
Queen's Birthday Honours
that year, he was also appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire
"in recognition of distinguished services in the Operations in the Near East, October To December, 1956".
[9]
Gourlay was appointed commanding officer of
42 Commando
in 1963, Colonel on the General Staff of the Commandant General Royal Marines in 1965, and commander of
3 Commando Brigade
in 1966. He went on to be Commander, Training Group Royal Marines in 1968 and
Commandant General Royal Marines
in 1971,
[4]
[1]
with promotion to
lieutenant-general
on 1 November 1971,
[10]
and to full
general
on 1 November 1973.
[11]
He was described by
Lord Mountbatten
, who had been
Colonel Commandant
of the Royal Marines, as "the best Commandant General the Royal Marines had ever had".
[12]
Gourlay was appointed
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
in the
1973 Birthday Honours
,
[13]
and retired from the Royal Marines on 9 June 1975.
[14]
Later life
[
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]
In retirement, Gourlay became Director-General of the
United World Colleges
, serving from 1975 to 1990. He had been convinced to take up the position by Lord Mountbatten during the end of his time in the Royal Marines.
[15]
He was appointed
Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
in the
1990 New Year Honours
in recognition of his services in the role.
[16]
Gourlay died on 17 July 2013.
[17]
Personal life
[
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]
In 1948, Gourlay married Natasha Zinovieff; they had one son and one daughter.
[4]
Lady Gourlay died in 2018 at the age of 97.
[18]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]