John Vereker (Lord Gort)

In 1944–5 Gort was high commissioner and commander-in-chief in Palestine. When informed that his predecessor, Sir Harold MacMichael, had been fired upon he characteristically remarked that the post looked like being fun; but in reality he was terminally ill with cancer of the liver, and he had only just begun to gain the respect of both Arabs and Jews, and to reduce terrorist activities, when he was forced to return home. Image courtesy of The National Portrait Gallery