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{{short description|British Army officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]]
| name = Anne Field
| honorific_suffix = [[Companion of the Order of the Bath|CB]] [[Order of the British Empire|CBE]] [[Aide-de-Camp|ADC Hon]]
| birth_name = Anne Hodgson
| nickname =
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| death_place =
| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| branch = [[Auxiliary Territorial Service]] <br /> [[Women's Royal Army Corps]]
| serviceyears = 1947 to 19821947–1982
| rank = [[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]]
| servicenumber = 399675
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| module =
}}
[[Brigadier (United Kingdom)|Brigadier]] '''Anne Field''', [[Companion of the Order of the Bath{{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB]],|CBE}} [[Aide-de-Camp|ADC Hon]] (née '''Hodgson'''; 4 April 1926 – 25 June 2011) was a senior British military officer. She served as Director of the [[Women's Royal Army Corps]] from 1977 to 1982.
 
==Military career==
Field began her military career as a [[Private (rank)|private]] in the [[Auxiliary Territorial Service]] (ATS).<ref name="Oxford DNB">{{cite webODNB|last1=Natzio|first1=Georgina|title=Field, Anne (1926–2011)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/103764|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=5 April 2015|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/103764|date=January 2015|isbn=978-0-19-861411-1 }}</ref> She had joined the ATS in September 1947, having been exempt from [[Conscription in the United Kingdom|conscription]] during [[World War II]] because she had been a university student.<ref name="obit - Telegraph">{{cite news|title=Brigadier Anne Field|url=httphttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/army-obituaries/8663793/Brigadier-Anne-Field.html|accessdate=5 April 2015|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 July 2011}}</ref> Following training, her first posting was as a clerical instructor with the rank of [[lance corporal]]. She was selected for [[officer training]] and benefited from having instructors that had seen active service during the war. She was commissioned in December 1948 as a second subaltern (equivalent to [[Second lieutenant#United Kingdom and Commonwealth|second lieutenant]]).<ref name="Oxford DNB" />
 
Her first posting as an officer was as a [[platoon commander]] based in the United Kingdom.<ref name="obit - Scotsman">{{cite news|title=Obituary: Brigadier Anne Field CB, CBE, army professional|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-brigadier-anne-field-cb-cbe-army-professional-1-1776862|accessdate=5 April 2015|work=The Scotsman|date=27 July 2011}}</ref> On 1 February 1949, the ATS became the [[Women's Royal Army Corps]] (WRAC). Therefore, she became an officer of the WRAC and, for the first time, became subject to [[military law]].<ref name="Oxford DNB" /> She had applied for overseas service upon her commission. The opportunity came for this during the [[Malayan Emergency]] (1948 to 1960) and she was posted to [[Singapore]].<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /><ref name="obit - Times">{{cite news|title=Brigadier Anne Field|url=http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/obituaries/article3077583.ece|accessdate=5 April 2015|work=The Times|date=29 June 2011}}</ref> From 1951 to 1953, she served there as [[officer commanding]] of the 4th Independent Company, WRAC; a unit of 400 female personnel.<ref name="Oxford DNB" /><ref name="obit - Times" />
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In 1961, she was promoted to [[Major (United Kingdom)|major]] and appointed chief instructor at the WRAC Centre, [[Guildford]].<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /> In 1963, after two years as an instructor, she was posted as a grade 2 staff officer to HQ [[British Forces Aden|Middle East Command]] in [[Aden]]. The British [[Colony of Aden]] had become the [[State of Aden]] but there was an [[insurgency]] against British rule that became the [[Aden Emergency]].<ref name="Oxford DNB" /> She was responsible for the [[welfare]] of soldiers and their families based in the region. She made a point of visiting troops in even the most dangerous places, which won her approval from her male colleagues.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" /> She had the additional role of notifying the families of casualties and her experience of the conditions that they had faced gave her letters authenticity.<ref name="obit - Scotsman" />
 
After a spell in Germany, she was promoted to colonel in December 1971, and appointed as Commandant of the WRAC College, Camberley. In 1975 she was appointed as Deputy Director WRAC. In 1977 she was promoted to Brigadier and appointed as Director WRAC.<ref name="obit - Telegraph" />
 
==Later life==
Having served in [[Aden]] in the 1960s during the [[Aden Emergency]], she became patron of the Aden Veterans' Association in 2002.<ref name="Oxford DNB" /> She died on 25 June 2011, aged 85.<ref name="Oxford DNB" /> and is buried in the churchyard of [[St_Kentigern's_Church,_Crosthwaite| St Kentigern's parish church, Crosthwaite, Keswick, Cumbria]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Field |first1=Anne |title=Brigadier |url=https://billiongraves.com/grave/Brig-Anne-Field-Hodgson-CB-CBE/117309739 |website=BillionGraves |access-date=25 February 2024}}</ref>
 
==Personal life==
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==Honours and decorations==
On 1 June 1977, Field was appointed [[Aide-de-Camp|Honorary Aide-de-Camp]] (ADC Hon) to [[Queen Elizabeth II]].<ref name="LG 13 June 1977">{{London Gazette |issue=47245 |date=13 June 1977 |page=7649 |supp=y }}</ref> In the 1980 [[New Year Honours]], she was appointed [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] (CB).<ref name="LG 28 December 1979">{{London Gazette |issue=48041 |date=28 December 1979 |page=2 |supp=y }}</ref> This honour was in recognition of her role as head of the WRAC, but it should be noted that up until ten years previously the directors were made [[Dame (title)|dames]] upon appointment.<ref name="obit - Times" /> She was subsequently appointed CBE in the [[1996 New Year Honours]].
 
==References==
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[[Category:Women's Royal Army Corps officers]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:BritishCommanders militaryof personnelthe Order of the MalayanBritish EmergencyEmpire]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Aden Emergency]]
[[Category:British Army brigadiers]]
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