John Alan Lyde Caunter facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
John Alan Lyde Caunter
|
|
|---|---|
| Born | 17 December 1889 Banwell, United Kingdom |
| Died | 20 April 1981 (aged 91) East Looe, United Kingdom |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/ |
British Army |
| Rank | Brigadier |
| Service number | 12034 |
| Unit | Gloucestershire Regiment Royal Tank Regiment |
| Commands held | 1st Battalion, Royal Tank Corps 4th Armoured Brigade |
| Battles/wars | First World War Second World War |
| Awards | Commander of the Order of the British Empire Military Cross |
Brigadier John Alan Lyde Caunter CBE, MC & Bar (born December 17, 1889 – died April 20, 1981) was a brave British Army officer. He was also a pioneer in shark fishing off the coast of Britain. He wrote a book about escaping from a German prison camp during World War I.
Contents
Military Career
John Caunter was born in Banwell, England. He went to Uppingham School and then the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. In 1909, he joined the Gloucestershire Regiment as an officer.
World War I and Escape
During World War I, German forces captured John in October 1914. He was a prisoner of war for most of the war. In the summer of 1917, he managed to escape from a camp in Schwarmstedt.
He successfully crossed into the neutral Netherlands. From there, he reached England, still wearing his prisoner of war clothes. The next year, he published a book about his escape. It was called 13 Days: The Chronicle of an Escape from a German Prison.
Service Between Wars and World War II
After his escape, Caunter served with the British Salonika Army in 1918. In 1920, he married Helen Margaret Napier Napier. They had a daughter, Pamela, born in 1921, and a son, John, born in 1924.
In 1935, Caunter became the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Royal Tank Corps in Egypt. In January 1940, he took command of the 4th Armoured Brigade. He saw action during the Western Desert campaign in Libya. This included the Battle of Beda Fomm in February 1941.
In 1941, he became the Deputy Director of Staff Duties for Armoured Troops at GHQ India. He retired from the army in 1944. His first wife died in New Delhi in 1942. Caunter later married Muriel Lilian Murphy in 1945.
Shark Angling
After his military career, John Caunter started fishing for sharks. He fished off the coast of Cornwall, England, around 1945.
In 1953, he founded the Shark Angling Club of Great Britain. He was the first president of this club. Caunter also wrote a book called Shark Angling in Great Britain in 1961. This was the first book published in Britain that focused on sharks and shark fishing in British waters.
Brigadier Caunter passed away in East Looe, Cornwall, in 1981.
Works
- Books
- 13 Days: The Chronicle of an Escape from a German Prison (1918) (Digitised version of this book, with illustrations by the author.)
- Shark Angling in Great Britain (1961)
