Description
Physical description
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capbadge missing
History note
Joseph Charles Haydon (1899-1970) was educated at Downside School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He was commissioned into the Irish Guards in 1917 and served with the regiment in France and Belgium, 1917 - 1918. After serving with the Irish Guards and the Horse Guards during the 1920s and 1930s, including a year in Egypt as 2nd-in-Command of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards and attendance at the Staff College, Camberley, in 1935 - 1936, Haydon was appointed Military Assistant to the Secretary of State for War in 1938, a post he held until the spring of 1939. At the outbreak of the Second World War, he was Commanding Officer of the newly re-formed 2nd Battalion Irish Guards, in which capacity he took part in the defensive operations at the Hook of Holland and Boulogne in May 1940. In late 1940 Haydon was appointed to form and command the 1st Special Service Brigade (Commandos), and was Military Commander during the raids on the Lofoten Islands (March 1941) and on Vaagso Island (December 1941). During 1942 - 1943, he served as Vice-Chief Combined Operations, before being appointed to command 1st Guards Brigade at the beginning of 1944, during the campaign in Italy. Haydon's subsequent military appointments were as Army Director of Plans with the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington, USA, 1944 - 1945, and Representative of the CIGS with the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Australia, 1946 - 1947, before becoming Chief of the Intelligence Division of the Control Commission for Germany (British Element), 1948 - 1950. Major General Haydon was retired from the army in 1951, and subsequently held senior posts in the Foreign Office (1951 - 1958) and with the companies of F G Miles and Beagle Aircraft Ltd (1958 - 1968). Exhibits and Firearms holds a number of items of uniform relating to Haydon's service in the army (Ref: UNI 1267; UNI 1803; UNI 8875; UNI 2209-2210:) Papers are held by Documents Archive (Ref: 93/28/24).