Lieutenant-Colonel D.G.B. Ridout
1/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment

For two weeks now, Lieutenant-Colonel D.G.B. Ridout had been in considerable pain. On August 8th, with great regret, he had to go back for treatment, and Major R.J. MacDonald, second in command, took over. Colonel Ridout could not have wished for a more worthy successor. Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) MacDonald was always with the leading troops, sharing their dangers and their comradeship.

(Quoted in Your Men in Battle: The Story of the South Staffordshire, 24)

Born on 5 February 1906, Dudley Gethin Bramley Ridout was the son of Sir Dudley Ridout (1866–1941), a Royal Engineer major-general. The elder Ridout had been born in British India and was educated at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston. He retired as general officer commanding the Troops in the Straits Settlements in Malaya in 1924. Commissioned officer with the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry since 1926, the younger Ridout followed his father with service in the Far East during the 1930s. He was seconded to the Straits Settlements Volunteer Force and served as adjutant until 1936.

By 1938, Rideout was a staff captain in Burma. He completed staff college at Quetta in 1940, and after a posting with an Indian Army infantry brigade group returned for duty in the United Kingdom. He commanded the 9th Battalion, East Surrey Regiment from January 1943 to April 1943, when he was appointed commanding officer of the1/6th Battalion, South Staffordshire Regiment. The battalion deployed to France with the 59th (Staffordshire) Division later in June 1944.

He was evacuated for medical treatment in early August 1944 just before the division was broken up for reinforcements. Major R.J. Macdonald assumed command until the battalion was deactivated. By September, Ridout was assigned to be liaison officer with 21st Army Group, and then served as GSO I from November 1944 to April 1945. By 1946, he had been appointed commanding officer of his original unit, 1st Battalion, KOYLI in the occupation of Germany.

For his dedicated work as Cadet County Commandant since 1949, he was made Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1953.

Ridout died on 27 February 1989 in Thruxton, Herefordshire.