Brooke-Popham, Air Chief Marshal Sir (Henry) Robert

Brooke-Popham, Air Chief Marshal Sir (Henry) Robert (1878–1953),British airman who returned to the RAF in 1939 after serving as governor and C-in-C Kenya. He led the mission to Canada which helped form the British Empire Air Training Scheme, and then went to South Africa to help that country form its own air training scheme. In October 1940 he was appointed to the newly created post of C-in-C Far East. This made him responsible to the British Chiefs of Staff for the defences of Singapore, Malaya, Burma, British Borneo, and Hong Kong. His appointment, which ‘was designed to solve the problem of co-ordinating the defence of that area, did little more than add another cog to an already somewhat complex machine. Since control of naval forces was excluded, there were two Commanders-in-Chief in Singapore, each responsible to a different authority in London. The Governors of the Straits Settlements [see Malaya, Hong Kong, and Burma] received their policy directives from the Colonial Office while, for the administration and financing of local defence, the General Officers Commanding, Malaya, Hong Kong, and Burma, continued to be responsible to the War Office, and the Air Officer Commanding, Far East, to the Air Ministry’ ( S. W. Kirby, The War Against Japan, Vol. 1, London, 1957, p. 51).

To add to this recipe for disaster, Brooke-Popham was not an inspiring leader and he was somewhat out of touch with ideas of modern warfare. His recommendations for increased forces, particularly air power, were largely ignored and he did little to press them. Inevitably, he was blamed for the disasters which followed; he was replaced by Lt-General Henry Pownall on 27 December 1941 and retired in May 1942. He was knighted in 1927. See also Automedon.