General Hastings Lionel Ismay, 1st Baron Ismay of Wormington (June 21, 1887 - 1965) was a British soldier and diplomat.

He joined the Indian Army and served during World War I in Somaliland. During World War II he was Winston Churchill's Chief of Staff, retiring from the British Army in 1946. He then served as chief of staff to Lord Mountbatten, then Viceroy of India. In 1951 he was made Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, and in 1952 became the first Secretary General of NATO, a post he held until 1957.

In January 1947 he was raised to the peerage, taking the title Baron Ismay of Wormington. On his death without heirs, the title became extinct.

Biography

• Born in 1887
• Educated at Charterhouse and Royal Military College, Sandhurst
• Commissioned 1905
• Joined 21 Cavalry (Frontier Force) , Indian Army, 1907
• North-West Frontier, India, 1908
• World War I, 1914-1918
• Operations in Somaliland against the Mad Mullah, 1914-1920
• Staff College, Quetta , India, 1922
• Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, Army Headquarters, India, 1923
• RAF Staff College, Andover , 1924
• Army Headquarters, India, 1925
• Assistant Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence , 1926-1930
• Military Secretary to Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Earl of Willingdon, Viceroy of India, 1931-1933
• General Staff Officer Grade 1, War Office, 1933-1936
• Deputy Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1936-1938
• Secretary, Committee of Imperial Defence, 1938
• Chief of Staff to Ministry of Defence, 1940-1945
• Deputy Secretary (Military) to War Cabinet, 1940-1945
• Additional Secretary (Military) to the Cabinet, 1945
• Made Baron Ismay of Wormington, 1947
• Chief of Staff to Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, last Viceroy of India, Mar-Nov 1947
• Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, 1951-1952
• Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), 1952-1957
• Vice Chairman, North Atlantic Council, 1952-1956
• Chairman, North Atlantic Council, 1956-1957
• Died in 1965

Source: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives

Publications

• The memoirs of General the Lord Ismay (Heinemann, London, 1960)

Preceded by: Patrick Gordon Walker

Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations 1951—1952

Followed by: The Marquess of Salisbury