Brigadier Freddie De Butts
April 17, 1916 - August 24, 2005

Decorated soldier who played a pivotal part in the formation of the United Arab Emirates


A CURIOUS quirk in the British Army’s promotion and appointments system led to Freddie De Butts being switched from a conventional military career into one almost exclusively concerned with the Arab world. Advancement to brevet lieutenant-colonel indicated a swift subsequent rise but, with command of his own regiment blocked, he was sent to command a battalion of the Aden Protectorate Levies. This began an association with Arabia, of which the climax was his recall from retirement to advise on the formation of the Union Defence Force of the seven sheikdoms which were to become the United Arab Emirates (UAE), when British forces withdrew from the Persian Gulf in 1971.
The region and the rulers of the sheikdoms were well known to De Butts through his period in command of the Trucial Oman Scouts (TOS) in 1964-67. Raised in 1952 to keep the peace in the Trucial States, this force had expanded almost to brigade-size under his direction and, as it was manned by soldiers drawn from the seven sheikdoms, command brought him into direct contact with the rulers. They were a disparate group, varying from the immensely rich to the proudly poor, and with more rivalry than fraternity between them.

Political matters tended to be paramount. The Scouts played a key stabilising role when the ruling Qawasim family deposed the unprogressive, pro-Nasser Sheikh Saqr of Sharjah, to install his cousin Khalid bin Muhammad as ruler in 1965. Not a shot was fired, and Saqr left for exile with dignity. The TOS were again on hand a year later when the acting Political Resident, Glen Balfour Paul, had to persuade the reactionary Sheikh Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi to step down in favour of his more enlightened brother Sheikh Zaid.

The return of De Butts to the Gulf in 1971 was precipitated by Britain’s abrupt decision to withdraw from this strategically important region by the end of the year. Sir William Luce, who had served as Chief Political Resident when De Butts was commanding the TOS, had also been recalled from retirement and instructed by the then Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas Home, to consult the rulers and propose a policy that would ensure stability when the British withdrew.

It was Luce who asked for De Butts as director of his Military Liaison Office and, later, to be the first chief of staff of the armed forces of the UAE, which were formed amid general rejoicing on December 25, 1971. This date marked only a start to the work of transforming the TOS into the Union Defence Force and adding naval and air force elements.

De Butts had scarcely begun work when the deposed Sheikh Saqr returned secretly from Cairo and, with a handful of supporters forced an entry to the palace where the ruler, Sheikh Khalid, was shot and killed. De Butts ordered the UDF and Sharjah National Guard to surround the palace and, following the arrival of the young Minister of the Defence of the union, Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid of Dubai, Saqr and his followers surrendered without further violence.

While this attempted coup demonstrated the early fragility of the union, decisive action by the UDF augured well. De Butts worked with the British UDF commander to establish naval and air wings during 1972 and also to set up a military academy in Abu Dhabi to train new Arab officers for the expanding force. At Sheikh Muhammad’s specific request, he remained chief of staff beyond his initial contract until a suitably experienced Arab successor could be found.

De Butts was not an Arabist in the usual sense. He spoke Arabic only colloquially and remained objective about the reliability of Arab soldiers under foreign officers, especially if any conflict with tribal loyalty was at stake. His outward distinctions of an athletic build, falcon nose and, when it was required, piercing gaze, were complemented by a remarkable facility to listen in silence, to sift the essentials from within the courtesies and convolutions of Arab conversation and to set out realistic objectives.

The Aden Levies command proved a useful apprenticeship. Originally raised by the RAF in 1928, as ground support for Lord Trenchard’s philosophy of controlling rebellious tribesmen by selective bombing of their villages, the force was neither particularly well equipped nor highly motivated. The arrival of De Butts coincided with the start of an insurrection that was to continue with increasing intensity until the British withdrew from Aden in 1967. De Butts trained his battalion hard and led it with success during operations in the Western Aden Protectorate throughout 1960-61, for which services he was appointed OBE. Unusually for a soldier, he was appointed CM, in 1967, at the end of his period of command of the TOS.

Frederick Manus De Butts was born on April 17, 1916, into a Huguenot family that had left the Netherlands for Ireland in the 17th century. His father, Brigadier F. C. De Butts, CB, DSO, MC, his grandfather and great grandfather were regular officers. With no career other than the army ever in mind, he attended Wellington College but at his father’s insistence read modern history at Oriel College, Oxford as an alternative to Sandhurst. He rowed for Oriel’s first eight in his final year and received a direct commission into the Somerset Light Infantry in 1937.

After two years with his regiment in India, a chance requirement for an officer to serve as field cashier of Force Heron, sent from India to reinforce the Canal Zone in 1939, detached De Butts from his regiment on the eve of war. He was not to return to it until the final days of British India, when the 1st Battalion Somerset Light Infantry became the last British Army unit to leave through Bombay’s Gateway of India in 1948.

Finding a willing substitute for the unromantic post of field cashier soon after reaching Egypt, De Butts transferred first to the cypher and then intelligence staff of HQ British Troops Egypt in Cairo. Mussolini’s declaration of war in June 1940 led to his move to the intelligence section of Western Desert Force, the forerunner of the Eighth Army, located to the east of Nersa Matruh. He took part in General Sir Richard O’Connor’s defeat of Marshal Rodolfo Graziani’s Italian 10th Army in the winter of 1940-41, only to witness the reversal of fortune as Rommel and the Africa Corps arrived to turn the first tide.

He served with the 1st battlion Durham Light Infantry in the fighting for Fort Capuzzo and around Halfaya pass, where the superiority of German Army weapons and training led to heavy British casualties. After accompanying the Durhams in the brief campaign against the Vichy French in the Lebanon in 1941, De Butts returned to the staff as OSO 2 Intelligence XIII Corps for the second Western Desert offensive, the withdrawal to El Alamein and the decisive British victory at Alam Halfa.

Following a wartime staff course at Haifa, De Butts joined the intelligence staff of HQ Eighth Army for the battles of Mareth, Wadi Akarit and Enfidaville. As soon as Tunis fell into Allied hands, he was returned to Cairo to take part in planning the invasion of Sicily, in which he duly took part with HQ Eighth Army up to the capture of Syracuse.

Requesting to get nearer to the “sharp end”, De Butts was posted as Brigade Major of 15 Infantry Brigade of the predominently Yorkshire the 5th Division, dispersed around Mount Etna in preparation of the Allied invasion of Italy. Fifteen Brigade crossed the Straits of Messina on September 3 but the Italian capitulation of September 8 made no difference to determined German resistance. 5th Division battled up the toe of Italy, then towards the key Foggia airfield before being switched to the Naples front, as part of the US Fifth Army.

After being mentioned in dispatches for a second time, the first being in the Western Desert, De Butts was sent as a lieutenant-colonel to be an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, in February 1944. It was his first return to England for six years but he was to stay there for two four-month courses only, before joining Montgomery’s 21st Army Group for the concluding campaign of the war in Europe.
He rejoined the 1st battalion Somerset Light Infantry in India in 1947, initially as commanding officer and then, as more senior men arrived, as second-in-command and finally as adjutant; a strange downward sequence but one compatible with a fast-reducing army. He took part in the anti-terrorist campaign in Malaya with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry 1948-9, and again from 1952-4 with his own regiment, when he was mentioned in dispatches for a third time.

Returning home by sea, he and his family took to the ship’s boats when the troopship Windrush caught fire and sank in the Mediterranean. Before going to Aden, he was in Cyprus during the Eoka terrorist campaign as GSO 1 (Operations), GHQ Middle East Command.

In retirement De Butts entered the life of Hertfordshire with vigour. He became chairman of the Hertfordshire Society, commissioner of the Hertfordshire Scouts, vice-president of the Hertfordshire Girl Guides and Deputy Lieutenant from 1975. He was chairman of the governors of Abbot’s Hill School from the same year.

Always a keen athlete and sportsman, De Butts trekked to the Everest base camp in 1983 and skied every winter until his late seventies. He is survived by his wife “Simone” (Evelyn Cecilia), daughter of Sir Walter Hasley, 2nd Baronet, a son and a daughter.

Brigadier F. M. De Butts, CMG, OBE, DL, Chief of Staff, Ministry of Defence of the United Arab Emirates 1971-73, was born on April 17, 1916. He died on August 24, 2005, aged 89.