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Rank : Major

Army Number : 149534

Unit : 7th Bn

Biography :

Educated at Harrow School, Jeffrey Lockett served as a private soldier (Gunner) in a TA Royal Artillery unit from 2.9.1939 until 31.5.1940 when he began officer training in 162 OCTU. Commissioned into The Seaforth Highlanders on 27.9.1940, serving in 5th Bn at Lythe, N Yorks, till 1.8.1941. The photo shows him as a 2Lt. He served in No. 4 Commando at Troon, Ayrshire, 1.8.1941–17.5.1942, whereafter he was posted to India. Awarded the Royal Humane Society's testimonial on vellum on 11.5.1943 for saving a life in a river in the Central Provinces of India on 27.7.1942. In India/Burma in 77th Indian Inf Bde he was OC Commando Squad in No. 3 Colm in the 1st Chindit Expedition 8.2.43-22.4.43 for which he was awarded the M.C. (L.G. 5.8.1943). For the 2nd Chindit Expedition, Major-General Orde Wingate ordered that Lockett, despite his relative lack of seniority, should command 74 Column in 7th Bn The Leicestershire Regt in which appointment he served 1.11.1943–15.9.1944 and for which was awarded the D.S.O. (L.G. 26.4.1945). After the injury-depleted 7th Leicesters amalgamated with 2nd Leicesters (another 2nd Chindit Expedition battalion), Lockett served in Ist Bn The King's Regiment 20.10.1944–14.2.45. As a member of the Special Operations Executive of Allied Land Forces South East Asia from 20.2.1945–2.7.1945, he parachuted into Siam with a medical team to help released Allied prisoners, taking with him a topee which he had acquired from Major-General Orde Wingate on the 1st Chindit Expedition in 1943. He was awarded a Mention in Despatches (L.G. 5.12.1946). He also served as a company commander in The Arab Legion in 1948 in Jordan (including Beit Gibrin and the surroundings (Oct. 1948), and Faluja Pocket (Nov. 1948)). He later served with the SAS in Malaya. Retired from the Army on 4.11.1953, and became a wine merchant in East Africa.
He died in 1960, aged 46 years.

This page was last updated on 13.3.2020.

An extract from The Green Tiger regimental magazine, Nov 1945, is

"7th* BATTALION LEICESTERSHIRE OFFICER HAS WINGATE’S TOPEE
(Reprinted from the 'Leicester Mercury')
"Off on as extraordinary mission as any ever conceived by its owner, a dirty and battered, old-fashioned Wolsey topee, belonging to the late General Wingate, leader of the Chindits, has been parachuted into the wilds of Siam. General Wingate owned two such sun helmets. The one he was wearing when he was killed in an aircraft crash eighteen months ago near the Indo-Burma border, was recovered to be sent home to his young widow, Mrs. Lorna Wingate, of Monymusk, Aberdeenshire. It was taken from the crashed aircraft and was the only definite identification of the General. Now, from an Army observer in South-East Asia comes the news of the second topee.
"Major Geoffrey Lockett DSO, known as a fearless Chindit, has parachuted with it into Siam with a medical team to help released Allied prisoners. This was at least the third time that Lockett has operated in ‘doubtful’ territory in S.E.A.C.
"He was A.D.C. to Wingate in the first Chindit expedition two years ago, gaining the MC last year in the airborne landings made by the Chindits in Burma. He commanded No. 74 column of the 7th Battalion of The Leicestershire Regiment belonging to No. 14 Brigade, known to the force as the ‘P.T. Brigade’ because of its fitness.
"Due to Lockett's forceful personality, this column achieved the ‘almost impossible’ when, with men aged up to 45, it won a neck-to-neck race with the Japanese to seize a strategic 1,600-ft. pass in Burma. A 55-mile forced march through hilly jungle was made, and sometimes the going was so bad that the column made only one mile in twenty-four hours.
[*The 7th Battalion has now been amalgamated with the 2nd Battalion - Editor.]"

Date of Birth : 11.11.1913

Place of Birth : England

Date of Death : 20.2.1960

Place of Death : Bulawayo, Rhodesia

Civil Occupation : Wine Merchant

Period of Service : 1939-1953

Conflicts : WW2, Israeli War of Independence, Malayan Emergency

Places Served : UK, India, Burma, Siam, Jordan, Malaya