Charles Harris commanded the 2nd Royal Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) from June 1941 to March 1942 during which time he converted the regiment from horses to armoured cars.
Charles Edwin Laurence Harris was born on 10 May 1896 and had joined the 2nd Lancers while they were serving in France in 1916, taking part in the charge at Cambrai in November 1917. He went with them to Palestine and fought there and in Syria. He attended a course at the Cavalry School at Saugor and was posted back to the 2nd Lancers at Poona as Adjutant. He took part in all the mounted sports like pig-sticking and polo, winning many prizes. He also hunted big game, shooting a tiger and a bear.
He went back to England to teach at Sandhurst and then came back to the Staff College at Quetta. He returned to the regiment at Meerut and captained their polo team with great success. In the years before the War he instructed cavalry at the Staff College in Quetta and went on leave to Devon. WW2 broke out and he returned to India on a troopship, marching for 9 days to Sialkot. He was posted to a course in mechanised training at Ahmedmagar and took his new skills back to the regiment to instruct them in preparation for mechanisation. In June 1941 he was appointed commandant with orders to reconstitute the 2nd Royal Lancers, as it was then titled, as an Indian Armoured Car Regiment. He then took them to Mena Camp in Egypt, and in September 1941 he led them up to Deir-ez-Zor on the Euphrates where they maintained internal security and provided a defence for Syria. This lasted 6 months, at the end of which Harris was promoted to Brigadier and put in command of the Desert Brigade (8th Division). The British armoured units were defeated at Bir Hacheim and the 2nd Lancers were sent back to Syria.
Brigadier Harris had several other postings and was Deputy Director of Military Training at Delhi, concentrating on jungle warfare. A year later he joined General Slim’s 14th Army in West Bengal but became ill with pneumonia and malaria. He was evacuated to England where his health was restored. He then retired from the army and took up a new career as a clergyman. He entered Ridley Hall in Cambridge and after 18 months was ordained. His first job was as prison chaplain at Dorchester. Two years later he was given the living at Burbage. In 1965 he retired to Kent. He was an active Conservative and still took occasional church services. He was opposed to the alteration of the Book of Common Prayer. He died six days before his 100th birthday, on 4 May 1996.
