Did you know? UK-Ethiopia Profile of the Month

Major- General Orde Charles Wingate

The Second World War hero and a British army officer, Major- General Orde Charles Wingate, was born on 26 February 1903, in Naini Tal, near Almora, in Kumaon, India. Most of Wingate’s childhood was spent in England. For the first 12 years of his life, he socialized primarily with his siblings. The seven Wingate children received a typical Christian education for the era. Each day time was set aside for studying and memorizing the Scriptures. In 1923 Wingate received his Royal Artillery officer’s commission and was posted to the 5th Medium Brigade at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain.

Wingate’s father’s “Cousin Rex”, Sir Reginald Wingate, a retired army general who had been governor-general of Sudan between 1899 and 1916 and high commissioner of Egypt from 1917 to 1919, had a considerable influence over Wingate’s career. In June 1927 with Cousin Rex’s encouragement, Wingate obtained six-months leave in order to mount an expedition in the Sudan. At the outbreak of World War II, Wingate was the commander of an anti-aircraft unit in Britain. Eventually his friend Wavell, by this time commander-in-chief of Middle East Command which was based in Cairo, invited him to Sudan to begin operations against Italian occupation forces in Ethiopia. Under William Platt, the British commander in Sudan, he created the Gideon Force, a guerrilla force composed of British, Sudanese and Ethiopian soldiers.

With the blessing of the Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie I, the group began to operate in February 1941. Wingate was temporarily promoted to lieutenant colonel and put in command. The small Gideon Force of no more than 1,700 men together with the Ethiopian patriots won a pivotal battle and forced the surrender of about 20,000 Italians toward the end of the campaign.

For his service to the people of Ethiopia, a prestigious high school (now a technical and vocational school) was named after him in Addis Ababa, located in a district of Kolfe- Keranyo. In its long years of service, the school has trained several prominent Ethiopians who contributed for the well-being of the nation. It’s best-known alumni is the late PM Meles Zenawi, who attended back in late 60s.

In 1944, Wingate died because of a plane crash in Manipur, North Eastern part of India. However, the sacrifice of Major General Orde Wingate and his comrades is remains in people’s memories as part of the long and historical relationship between the United Kingdom and the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.