Scotsman Obituaries: Gen Sir Frank Kitson, officer whose tactics during the Troubles brought condemnation

What brought him to a prominence which he spent the rest of his life trying to escape from was his appointment in September 1970 to command 39 Brigade in Northern Ireland as communal violence there worsened and the IRA prepared for all-out war against the security forces. He was already the author of a book in 1960, Gangs and Counter-gangs, based on his service in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus. It set out the case for ruthless measures against insurgency within a population and the importance of intelligence gathering and undercover operations.

As the Troubles in Northern Ireland intensified, Kitson, whose brigade’s remit covered the greater Belfast area, began to apply some of these “lessons” and early in 1971 he brought out another book to justify them, Low Intensity Operations. He also set up the Military Reaction Force, a small unit whose members wore long hair, denim jackets and flared jeans. This was to help them merge within the republican areas in order to identify and “take out” targets. In 2013 a BBC Panorama programme drew upon confessions by former MRF soldiers to the murder of unarmed Catholics. Two years later Kitson was served with court papers accusing him of responsibility for these events but no legal action followed. However, a former member of the MRF is now to stand trial for the murder of an innocent Catholic in May 1972 as well as the attempted murder of six others.

Officers junior to Kitson at this time revered him. One of them, a Captain Michael Jackson, who later became Chief of the Defence Staff, was serving with the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment in 39 Brigade. He later wrote of him that “he was the sun around which the planets revolved. He very much set the tone for the operational style in Belfast”.

When Kitson authorised the deployment of 1 Para in Derry ahead of the 30 January 1972 Civil Rights march in the city’s Bogside area, this “operational style” went with them, though only a few members of its Support Company were guilty of the Bloody Sunday killings of Catholic civilians. Kitson remained in Belfast on the day but, soon after these events, Capt Jackson recalled hearing him talking to 1 Para’s CO, Derek Wilford, about Support Company’s move into the Bogside and asking him why “having got in that far in, you didn’t go on and sort out the whole bloody mess?”

By then Kitson’s days in Northern Ireland were numbered and in June 1972 he was appointed to command the army’s infantry school at Walminster. Paddy Devlin, a founder of Northern Ireland’s Social and Democratic Labour Party, still blamed Kitson for causing irreparable damage to relations between the Catholic community and the army.

Kitson found himself back in a Britain of mounting strike action, notably in the coalfields. In 1974 a national miners strike helped bring down the Edward Heath government and the October election saw a surge in support for Scottish independence. Voices on the left drew upon passages in Kitson’s writings to identify him as a dangerous enemy. The late Bob Purdie, then an active and articulate Marxist, wrote in Calgacus, a Scottish socialist and republican magazine in 1975, that “the essence of “Kitsonism” is that the Army has a role in dealing with civil disturbances long before they reach the stage of violent confrontation”.

Frank Kitson never served again in Northern Ireland and rose high in the army, taking command of its Staff College at Camberley in Surrey and attaining the rank of General. Prior to his retirement in 1985 he was made Commander in Chief of UK Land Forces.

Northern Ireland, however, remained to haunt him. In 2003 he was called as a witness to the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday. Despite having brought out some well-researched books on military history not long prior to this his memory seemed to fail him in response to some crucial questions about his role that were put to him.

Frank Edward Kitson was born on 15 December 1926 and was the elder son of a Vice Admiral. Despite this he chose a career in the army after attending Stowe boarding school. After Sandhurst he was commissioned in 1945 as an officer in the Rifle Brigade, a famous regiment later incorporated within the Royal Green Jackets, one of whose battalions he later commanded. He spent several of the post-war years in West Germany before his posting to Kenya. His courage was never in doubt and he was awarded the Military Cross for his leadership there, with a bar later added to it for service in Malaya.

A succession of this and other awards and honours followed, culminating in his knighthood in 1980. Three years later he was appointed Aide de Camp – personal assistant to Queen Elizabeth II. Whether he was as taciturn in her presence as he famously was with women other than his wife, Elizabeth, must remain a matter of conjecture. Elizabeth was from an army family and they married in 1962.

On his retirement he went with her to live in Devon in as much seclusion as possible, and always with tight security. They were both enthusiasts for field sports but he continued to write. His books included Warfare as a Whole in 1987 and Directing Operations in 1989, as well as later works on Prince Rupert, the 17th century Royalist commander, and on naval history.

General Sir Frank Kitson is survived by his wife and their three daughters.

Obituaries

If you would like to submit an obituary (800-1000 words preferred, with jpeg image), contact [email protected]