Hugh Kenyon Molesworth Kindersley, 2nd Baron Kindersley CBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

, MC

Military Cross

The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....

 (7 May 1899 – 6 October 1976) was a British businessman, banker and soldier. His father was businessman Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley

Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley

Robert Molesworth Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley GBE was an English businessman, stockbroker, merchant banker, and public servant who organised the National Savings movement.Kindersley was born in Wanstead, Essex...

 GBE.

Kindersley was born in Knightsbridge, London. He was educated at Eton College.

Kindersley was a managing director of Lazard Brothers

Lazard

Lazard Ltd is the parent company of Lazard Group LLC, a global, independent investment bank with approximately 2,300 employees in 42 cities across 27 countries throughout Europe, North America, Asia, Australia, Central and South America...

, London from 1927 to 1964, Chairman from 1953, and a director from 1965 to 1971. During his service at Lazard, he was also a director of the Bank of England

Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...

 from 1947 to 1967, Chairman of Royal Exchange Assurance

Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation

The Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation, founded in 1720, was a British insurance company. It took its name from the location of its offices at the Royal Exchange, London.-Origins:...

 from 1955 to 1967, and Chairman of Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited

Rolls-Royce Limited was a renowned British car and, from 1914 on, aero-engine manufacturing company founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Henry Royce on 15 March 1906 as the result of a partnership formed in 1904....

 from 1956 to 1968.

War Service

Kindersley was commissioned into the Scots Guards

Scots Guards

The Scots Guards is a regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, whose origins lie in the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland...

 in 1917 and served during the First World War. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1918. At the outbreak of the Second World War he rejoined the Scots Guards. He later commanded a tank battalion of the Scots Guards in the Guards Armoured Division. He completed a parachute training course and also qualified as a glider pilot. In May 1943, promoted to Brigadier, The Honourable Hugh Kindersley was appointed Commanding officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of the 6th Airlanding Brigade

6th Airlanding Brigade (United Kingdom)

The 6th Airlanding Brigade was a glider infantry brigade forming part of the British airborne forces during the Second World War. Composed of three infantry battalions and supporting units, it was assigned to the 6th Airborne Division....

. It was on his recommendation that Major John Howard

John Howard

John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....

 and D Company 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

The Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army.The regiment was formed as a consequence of Childers reforms, a continuation of the Cardwell reforms, by the amalgamation of the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 52nd Regiment of Foot , forming the 1st...

 (the 52nd) were selected to lead the coup de main operation at Pegasus Bridge

Pegasus Bridge

Pegasus Bridge is a bascule bridge , built in 1934, that crossed the Caen Canal, between Caen and Ouistreham, in Normandy, France....

 and Horsa Bridge

Horsa Bridge

Horsa Bridge, also known as Ranville bridge, over the Orne River, was, with Pegasus Bridge, captured during Operation Deadstick by gliderborne troops of the 2nd Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry in a coup de main operation in the opening minutes of D Day, 6 June 1944, before the main...

 before the Allied invasion of the Normandy beaches began. Kindersley commanded 6 Airlanding Brigade, part of 6th Airborne Division, during the Normandy landings on D Day, 6 June 1944, landing at 03.30 hours with 6 Airborne divisional headquarters. He was later wounded during the Battle of Breville

Battle of Bréville

The Battle of Bréville was fought by the British 6th Airborne Division and the German 346th Infantry Division, between the 8 and 13 June 1944, during the invasion of Normandy in the Second World War....

, and evacuated to England. He was replaced as commanding officer of 6 Airlanding Brigade by Brigadier Edward Flavell.

Kindersley was appointed MBE in 1941 and CBE in 1945. He was chairman of the Officers Association from 1946 to 1956. He was Honorary Colonel of 10th Parachute Battalion from 1947 to 1952. He was High Sheriff of London in 1951. He succeeded his father as second baron in 1954. He was appointed Commander, Royal Order of St Olav of Norway in 1958. He lived in Leigh, near Tonbridge, Kent. He was succeeded in the barony by his son, Robert Hugh Molesworth Kindersley.