- Ion Calvocoressi
Major Ion Melville Calvocoressi MBE MC (
12 April 1919 –7 July 2007 ) was an officer in theBritish Army in theSecond World War and later astockbroker in theCity of London . He wasHigh Sheriff of Kent in 1978-79.Calvocoressi was born in
Calcutta , the only child of Matthew John Calvocoressi (1873-1939). His father was descended from a Greek family fromChios ; two uncles married into the Ralli family. He was a director of the Indian branch of Greek merchant business,Ralli Brothers . His mother, Agnes Hermione Melville, was of Anglo-Scottish ancestry and was the granddaughter ofMichael Linning Melville . His parents moved toLondon in 1922. He was educated atEton College and read Modern Languages atMagdalen College, Oxford After the outbreak of the
Second World War , he was commissioned into theScots Guards in 1940, and was posted toEgypt with the 2nd Battalion in 1941. He won an immediateMilitary Cross in 1942, while serving as a lieutenant in command of a platoon of six-pounder anti-tank guns. The battalion was defending a ridge atBir El Rigel inLibya . After days of intense fighting, the battalion was attacked by two armoured columns from the21st Panzer Division on13 June 1942 . His platoon destroyed five German tanks before it was overrun. Calvocoressi was captured, but escaped the following night. He rejoined his unit the next day after walking convert|17|mi|km|0 across the desert.He was wounded in July 1942, rescuing members of the battalion's
forward observation post , and becameaide-de-camp to the commander ofXXX Corps , Lieutenant-General SirOliver Leese in 1943. He accompanied Leese in North Africa, and, after Leese took command of the Eighth Army, into Italy, and finally to the Far East, where Leese became commander ofAllied Land Forces South East Asia . He received the MBE for his service.He became a stockbroker after the war, concentrating on private client work. He moved to
Westerham inKent in 1950, near the country home ofWinston Churchill atChartwell . He was instrumental in the erection of a statue of Churchill byOscar Nemon in the town in 1965. He wasHigh Sheriff of Kent in 1978-79.After he retired, he was chairman of the appeal for the
Guards Museum atWellington Barracks . He was also a life member of the MCC, a Fellow of theAncient Monuments Society , and a financial adviser to theRoyal Society of Musicians .He was survived by his wife, Katherine Kennedy (the sister of Sir
Ludovic Kennedy ), whom he married on29 April 1947 , their three sons (James, Richard, and Andrew) and daughter (Iona). His son, art historianRichard Calvocoressi , was a curator at theTate Gallery (1979-87) and director of theScottish National Gallery of Modern Art (1987-2007), and became director of theHenry Moore Foundation in 2007.His cousin,
Peter Calvocoressi , worked inRAF Intelligence atBletchley Park in the Second World War and is an author.References
* [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article2081022.ece Obituary, "The Times", 16 July 2007]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/08/09/db0902.xml Obituary, "The Daily Telegraph", 9 August 2007]External links
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p250.htm#i2499 The Peerage]
* [http://www.pages-tambour.com/vlasto/fg07/fg07_061.html Family tree] Persondata
NAME = Calvocoressi, Ion
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Calvocoressi, Ion Melville
SHORT DESCRIPTION = British army officer and stockbrocker
DATE OF BIRTH =12 April 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH =Calcutta ,India
DATE OF DEATH =7 July 2007
PLACE OF DEATH =
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