A Military Man - Sir Frank Walter Messervy

Welcome to the blog that is all about the Messervy surname and the history and people around it.  The first few posts are previously published on an old website that I maintained on the Messervy One-Name stusy.  I have nows transferred to a website supported by the Guild of One-Name Studies, that will be sustained by them as long as the Guild operates.  Indeed, the convenience of using a Guild supported website and its potential longevity are the main reasons for the transition (well, the fact that the previous system support disappeared might have been something to do with it!).  So, it has been a long process and is still ongoing.  Please visit the website: http://messervey.one-name.net/

You can choose to follow the blog or link to it from the website. 

So, for those who have not yet read these blog posts, I hope you enjoy them and look to the new ones that will be coming soon.  

Peggy Homans Chapman 

Sir Frank Walter Messervy, although not born in Jersey, was the son of Walter John Messervy of St. Helier, Jersey (1861-1955).  Walter was an accountant who took up a position as a bank manager in Trinidad.  There he met his wife, Naida Myra de Boissière (b. abt. 1869) and their three children were born there.  The de Boissières were a family of note in Trinidad, having descended from Jean Valleton de Boissière who emigrated to Trinidad in the late 1700s. The family held extensive estates and is distinct from other French immigrants by religion (Protestant) and their sometimes unconventional lifestyle.  You can read more about the family here: http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.ca/2008_02_01_archive.html

Frank Walter Messervy was born in Kingston Jamaica on 9 December 1893.  As a child, he was sent to live with an aunt and uncle in England, Arthur and Charlotte Hoskyns. Charlotte Lydia Messervy Hoskyns was the sister of Frank’s father and was born in St.Helier, Jersey in 1847. The Hoskyns were extremely wealthy from their tea plantation in Ceylon.  In the 1901 Census, they were noted as “Living on Own Means” and Frank, at the age of 7 years was already living with them (nephew) at their home in Ashley Gardens, near Hanover Square London, complete with a list of seven servants for three people.  In the 1911 Census (when Frank would be almost 18 years) he was a boarder at Eton College.

In World War I, the young cavalry officer, commissioned into the Indian Army, served in France, Palestine, Syria and Kurdistan. After studying at the military school at Camberley, he was sent to India and then became an instructor at Quetta and continued to progress to more responsible positions of command.  Frank Messervy was described by R. G. Satterthwaite (his son-in-law)  as being “ …an extraordinary figure: tall and athletic looking, with a facial expression that clearly showed his sense of purpose.” Satterthwaite, from his own personal knowledge, recounts how Messervy said to pronounce his surname: “The accent is not on the Mess, but on the ‘serve’”. 1

In World War II, Messervy distinguished himself and in 1941, when Major-General J.C. Campbell died, he took over as commander of the “desert rats.” By 1943, he took command as Major General of the 7^th Indian Division. In 1944, he was asked to lead the 4^th Corps, and played a crucial role in the defeat of the Japanese Army in Burma.  After the surrender of the Japanese, Messervy was appointed general officer commanding-in-chief, Malaya. In 1946 he returned to India as general officer commanding-in-chief, northern command, and on the creation of Pakistan in 1947 he became that government’s first commander-in-chief. He retired in 1948 with the honorary rank of general.

Somewhere in his busy career, Frank met and married Patricia Courtney, who was the daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Waldegrave Courtney.  Marriage took place in 1927 in Farnham, Surrey, England.  Three children were born to the Messervys, a daughter Rosemary Ann born in 1929, a son Derek Arthur Frank born in 1934 in Quetta, India and the youngest Nigel John, born in 1937 in Muree, Bengal, India.   Passenger lists show Patricia Messervy and her three children took the lengthy journey between India and England several times, and never in the company of her husband.
Unfortunately, Nigel died 10 April 1965 at the age of 28 years.  At the time of his death, Nigel lived at 41 Lansdowne Road in London, but place of death was Blindley Heath, Surrey. Some sources state he died in a car accident. Derek Messervy married Jennifer Irvine in Chelsea, London.  Electoral rolls show them living in Hampshire in 2004.  Rosemary Messervy married Richard Satterthwaite in Marylebone, London in 1949.

After World War II, Messervy was the first Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army (1947-48) during the period of upheaval as India became independent from Britain.  It is said that Messervy’s involvement in the politics of the Pakistan’s leader, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, led to his early retirement in 1948.  He returned to England and remained there until his death. Messervy died on 2 February 1974 at his home, North End House, Heyshott, near Midhurst, Sussex.

Sir Frank Walter Messervy received the following honours during his career:

Order of the Nile (Egypt) 1920

Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) 1942

§  Distinguished Service Order (DSO) – 1941

§  Bar to DSO – 1944

§  Knighted on July 5 1945

§  Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire – 1947

1.     Satterthwaite, R.G. Caribbean History Archives. http://caribbeanhistoryarchives.blogspot.ca/2012/01/frank-messervy.html