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Brigadier M R Frisby OBE
Late Coldstream Guards
by Brigadier R J Heywood OBE DL
formerly Coldstream Guards
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 Myles Frisby’s untimely death in December at the age of 71 came as a great shock to his family and many friends. To all who knew him, he was hospitable, perceptive and incisive; he was also totally unpompous and probably not the classical image of a Guards officer, who had been to Eton and Oxford.
Myles went to prep school in Broadstairs and thence to Eton, where he was awarded his House Colours for prowess in the Field Game. His father was a General, so his holidays were spent at various different military locations. After Eton he read History at Christ Church, or the House as he insisted it should be called. He joined the Army as a University Candidate; perhaps truer to say he joined the Coldstream rather than enlisting in the Army. I suspect he did so out of a sense of tradition and loyalty to his family. When he joined, at the end of 1965 the 2nd Battalion had just returned from a year in Aden, its first operational tour since Malaya and not a good time for a young officer to arrive. However, if your name was Frisby and one of your forebears had won the VC in the 1st World War, you certainly had more credibility than most. Our Quartermaster, one Norman Duckworth, who had won the MM as a sergeant at the end of the 2nd World War, took Myles under his wing, taught him cribbage and a lot of military know-how. ‘Mylesy’ as Norman called him learnt quickly.
Myles much enjoyed a training exercise in Canada in 1967 and not long afterwards we found ourselves in Germany as Captains, he serving on the staff at Headquarters 4th Guards Armoured Brigade. It was there that we started playing golf together and travelling round Europe; he was good company, self-effacing and kept his personal life to himself.
The 2nd Battalion was in Cyprus at the time of the coup d’état and Turkish invasion in 1974 and by then Myles was commanding a company. It was an interesting and testing time and he earned a well-deserved GOC’s Commendation. Before the end of the tour he departed for the Staff College. Most of us prepared for the selection exam by going on courses. However, Myles’s sole preparation for the exam was to read the set books and then contact Blackwells, the famous Oxford Bookshop, and ask them to send him a dozen or so more to complement the recommended reading list. He passed the exam effortlessly.
Myles was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1983 to become the Military Assistant to the Commander in Chief, United Kingdom Land Forces (UKLF); for most of the appointment this was working with General Frank Kitson and latterly with General Jimmy Glover; he ended the tour with an OBE. Much the most important thing for both of us in our military careers was commanding the 2nd Battalion. Handing over such a prize is a hard thing to do; in my case in early 1986 it was made much easier as I was doing so to a great friend in Myles and someone I knew would do the job with care, skill and a sense of fun. During his command the Battalion did a tour of South Armagh, without any serious casualties and a training exercise in Kenya as well as a mass of Public Duties from Wellington Barracks. Towards the end of his command he took the Battalion back to Cyprus.
In August 1988 he went, on promotion to Colonel, to a job in Army Programmes in the MOD and thereafter the Army took full advantage of his skills as a Staff Officer for the rest of his career. He attended the Canadian National Defence College in 1991 and afterwards became a Brigadier Assistant Chief of Staff, HQ UKLF. He was not offered a Brigade and I suspect knowing that, and that further promotion was not coming his way he took redundancy when he was 50.
On leaving I thought he might get involved in politics; he did work for some MPs, who were thrilled at his ability to do a mass of reading and then précis it all for them. At about the time that I retired he told me he was not getting value for money from his membership of the Royal St George’s Golf Club; I said I thought I could help him and thereafter we made three annual pilgrimages to Sandwich. He did much for the Guards Golfing Society; he was Captain for four years and since 2001 ran the Household Division, Colonel in Chief’s Inter Regimental Cup with skill and devotion. He enjoyed racing, especially his annual visits to the Cheltenham Festival, was an enthusiastic bird-watcher and liked finding special churches and cathedrals.
During retirement he met and married Ash Lewis, who meant so much to him. Our loss at Myles’s sad departure is great, but hers must be devastating. It was wonderful that she was there for him when he needed it most; our hearts go out to her.
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