Colonel John William Brownlow Stuart was born on the 30th May 1917. The son of Brigadier-General Burleigh Francis Brownlow Stuart (who also served with the Worcestershire Regiment and commanded the 3rd Battalion) and Evelyn Margaret Clarke.

Colonel John William Brownlow Stuart was educated in Rugby School, Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Berkshire.

Colonel Stuart was commissioned into The Regiment from Sandhurst on 28th January 1937, and was first posted to the 1st Battalion with which he served as a Subaltern until December 1940, and as Battalion Adjutant, in Sudan and Eritrea from December 1940 to July 1941, He was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry in the Palestine operations in 1939.

From 1941 to 1942 he was successively Staff Captain, then D.A.A. and Q.M.G., 29th Indian Infantry Brigade Group in the Western Desert and in Egypt. From September 1942 to August 1943, he was D.A.Q.M.G., Middle East Forces, Cairo.

From August 1943 to January 1944, he attended and qualified at a Wartime Staff Course at the Middle East Staff College, Haifa, which was followed by his appointment as Brigade Major 15th Infantry Brigade, 5th British Division which included active service at Anzio, followed by re-training in Palestine and Syria.

He was awarded the M.B.E. in December 1945. Then followed the further Staff appointments of D.A.A. and Q.M.G. of 182nd Infantry Brigade in Kent (of which the 9th Battalion The Worcestershire Regiment, commanded by the then Lieut.-Colonel C. P. G. Wills, was one of the Battalions in this Brigade) and G.S.O. 2, 56th (London) Infantry Division, in Italy and Trieste.

From July 1946 to February 1947, he returned again to the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment and commanded “C” Company, of the 1st Battalion, at Gandersheim (B.A.O.R.), Trieste and Pola.

From March 1947 to July 1950, he was a Company Instructor, and Regimental representative, at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst.

This was followed during the period August 1950 to January 1952, by the appointment G.S.O. 2 (Operations), G.H.Q., M.E.L.F., at Fayid, Egypt, and by a tour of duty with the Army Team of Lecturers in England.

Colonel J. W. B. Stuart, MBE, MC

He married Anthea Joan Herman, daughter of Ashley Ernest Herman, on the 27th February 1954.

In April 1956, he was appointed G.S.O. 1, G.H.Q., East Africa Command, Nairobi, and this was followed by his return to the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment as “C” Company Commander in British Guiana, West Indies, this appointment also earned him the complementary appointment of O.C. Troops, British Guiana

From November 1958 to May 1959, he was Second-in-Command of the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment in Jamaica, West Indies, and in May 1959, he was appointed Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, in succession to Lieut.-Colonel T. F. Hughes, D.S.O.

His first year of command with the 1st Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was spent in the West Indies (Caribbean Area), followed by almost exactly a year at the traditional home of The Regiment, Norton Barracks, Worcester.

He was succeeded, in July 1961, as Commanding Officer, by Lieut.-Colonel P. G. B. Hall, D.S.O.

Lieut.-Colonel John William Brownlow Stuart terminated his two-and-a-quarter year tenure of command of the 1st Battalion and was, on the same date, appointed Secretary, Joint Planning Staff, Ministry of Defence,The War Office, on 4th July 1961 and promoted to Temporary Colonel and GSO1 Training H.Q. Allied Land Forces SE Europe, Izmir, in 1962. In September 1964, he moved to SHAPE (Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe) as GSO1 SD and became DAMS MS at MOD in June 1967. He re-badged WFR on Amalgamation and retired on 30th October 1972 in, the honorary rank of Colonel. He was Garrison Adjutant, Worcester, from May 1973 to February 1975 and came out of retirement to stand in as Assistant Regimental Secretary from January 1976 to January 1977 on the death of Colonel Peter Vaughan.