David Stirling
Founder of the SAS and post-war activist in Africa.
Stirling was captured in Tunisia in January 1943 and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at Colditz Castle.[1]
Quick Facts
- Birth name
- Archibald David Stirling
- Nickname
- "The Phantom Major"
- Born
- 15 November 1915
- Birthplace
- 15 Cambridge Square, London, England
- Died
- 4 November 1990
- Place of death
- Westminster, London, England
- Burial place
- St Cumin's Church, Loch Morar, Scotland
- Allegiance
- United Kingdom
Facts from the source article.
Life and work
Stirling was born on 15 November 1915 at 15 Cambridge Square, London, according to newspaper announcements.[2] He was commissioned into the Scots Guards on 24 July 1937.[3] When war broke out, Stirling was in Montana working as a cattle-rancher and returned to Britain on 16 September 1939.[3] Stirling suffered a serious spinal injury on his first parachute jump and spent eight months studying maps while convalescing.[4]
He used his social connections to get his plan for a new parachute raiding force endorsed by Middle East Headquarters.[5] He was captured in January 1943 and made four further escape attempts before being sent to Colditz Castle.[1] Stirling and his older brother Bill both attended the Catholic boarding school Ampleforth College in England.[6] At Cambridge, Stirling's college master presented him with a list of 28 rule violations and requested he pick the three that would "be the least offensive to his mother", after which he was sent down.[4]
In June 1940, Stirling signed up for the newly formed No. 8 (Guards) Commando, which was under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Laycock.[7] Jock Lewes created the Lewes bomb, a hand-held device combining explosive and incendiary capabilities, while Stirling led the unit.[8]
What the cited sources add
The National Army Museum account describes Stirling as strikingly tall, ungainly but athletically built.[5] The same source notes that Stirling found Army life intensely disagreeable despite his military background.[5] A Spectator article reports that Stirling's first parachute jump left him unable to walk for eight months.[4] The National Army Museum records that Stirling worked tirelessly to overcome opposition from the military bureaucracy of Middle East HQ.[5]
A BBC News report confirms that the SAS memorial statue was erected at the Hill of Row in 2002.[9]
References
- Wikipedia, "David Stirling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Stirling: The Phantom Major | National Army Museum", www.nam.ac.uk; Alleyne, "SAS founder's life story to be made into a film", The Daily Telegraph, 19 February 2007; Saxon, "Sir David Stirling, 74, the Founder of Britain's Elite Commando Unit", The New York Times, 6 November 1990; "Sir David Stirling British officer", Encyclopedia Britannica; Mclean, "Stirling, Sir (Archibald) David (1915–1990)", Oxford University Press, 2004; "Sir David Stirling British officer", Encyclopedia Britannica; Reid, "Colditz, The Full Story", St. en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Stirling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David Stirling: The Phantom Major", National Army Museum; "Births", The Scotsman newspaper, British Newspaper Archives, 20 November 1915; "Births", The Stirling Observer, British Newspaper Archives, 23 November 1915 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Stirling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; Macintyre, "Rogue Warriors", Crown Publishing Group, 2016, p. 48–49,143–146,149–154; "Archibald David Stirling Migration, United States Border Crossings from Canada to United States, 1895–1956. Manifests of Alien and Citizen Arrivals at Babb, Montana, June 1928 – October, 1956.", FamilySearch, 5 August 1 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Jolliffe, "Derring-do in the desert", The Spectator, 6 October 2016. facts only, no text reused. spectator.co.uk
- "David Stirling: The Phantom Major | National Army Museum", www.nam.ac.uk. facts only, no text reused. nam.ac.uk
- Wikipedia, "David Stirling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "David & William Stirling", Rough Bounds (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Stirling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Macintyre, "Rogue Warriors", Crown Publishing Group, 2016, p. 48–49,143–146,149–154 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "David Stirling" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mortimer, "Stirling's Desert Triumph: The SAS Egyptian Airfield Raids 1942", Bloomsbury, 20 April 2015, p. 37 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- "Police probe after plaques stolen from SAS memorial", BBC News, 5 June 2014. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article David Stirling (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Rulers & Leaders
Elsewhere in Historical Figures
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced