Brigadier A P Block CB CBE DSO

Brigadier A P BlockCommanded 2/7th Bn The Queen's Royal Regiment from July 1941 to September 1943.

Allen Prichard Block was born on 13th January 1899 and was educated at Repton School and the RMC Sandhurst. He was commissioned In The Queen's Royal Regiment in April 1918 and served with the 8th Battalion in France and Belgium. After the 1914-18 War he served with the 2nd Battalion in India including operations in Waziristan in 1921.

From 1925 to 1927 he was seconded to the Army Signals School at Poona. He returned to UK in 1.927. From 1934 to 1938 he was adjutant of the 24th London Regiment (re-named in 1937 7th (Southwark) Bn The Queen's Royal Regiment) and in 1938 joined the 1st Battalion in India. In 1940 he returned to England and commanded the 50th Holding Battalion (later named the 15th Battalion) from May 1940 to July 1941 when he was appointed to command the 2/7th Battalion. He commanded that Battalion until September 1943 when he was promoted to command 139th Infantry Brigade of 46th Division and commanded the Brigade in Italy and Greece. At the end of the 1939-45 War he joined the Allied Military Government in Austria.

In 1947 he was appointed to command 131st Infantry Brigade (TA). From 1950 to 1953 he was Military Adviser to the UK High Commissioner in Pakistan. He retired from the Army on 5th May 1953. He was twice Mentioned in Despatches. In 1943 he was awarded the DSO for his fine leadership of the 2/7th Battalion. In 1944 he was made a CBE and in 1945 a CB.

He died on 22nd May 1973.

See J M A Tamplin's The Lambeth and Southwark Volunteers page 258.

For obituary see The Queen's Royal Surrey Regimental Association Newsletter No.14 November 1973 page 14.

 

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