Isles, Donald – Major General became Bmarco boss who backed boxing

Donald Isles (1924-2008)

MAJOR-General Donald Isles was Director-General of Weapons (Army) from 1975 to 1978, being closely involved in the selection of a tank gun for the British, American and German main battle tanks.

The choice lay between the British rifled-bore gun or the German smooth-bore. The US Army eventually chose the German gun, in what many believed was a political decision linked to the purchase by the Germans of the American AWACS plane.

Donald Edward Isles was born in Leeds and educated at Roundhay School before going up to Leeds University to read Chemistry.

He was commissioned into the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (DWR) in 1943 and joined the 1st Battalion at Anzio the following year.

He fought in the remainder of the Italian campaign as a platoon commander and was wounded at Ronta during the battle of the German Gothic Line.

In 1945 Isles accompanied the battalion to Palestine on internal security operations before returning to England and serving as GSO III (Training) at HQ 49 Armoured Division (TA) from 1948 to 1950. After attending the Royal Military College of Science he rejoined 1DWR in Gibraltar.

He commanded a company of the battalion in Kenya and British Honduras from 1961 to 1963 before moving to the embassy in Paris as assistant military attaché.

In 1965 Isles took command of 1 DWR in BAOR followed by a six-month tour in Cyprus where the battalion, part of UNFICYP, was responsible for the Limassol Zone.

During this period there were four major flare-ups between fighters from the Greek and Turkish communities, involving the firing of some 2,000 rounds of small arms and larger calibre ammunition on each occasion.

After two staff appointments at the MoD, in 1972 Isles was posted to Washington DC as director of munitions on the British Defence Staff. He was promoted to major-general on his appointment as Director-General Weapons (Army) and retired from the Army in 1978.

He moved his home to Denton when he joined BMARC as deputy managing director. When the company, part of the Swiss Oerlikon group, was sold in 1984 he stayed on as a consultant.

As a younger man Isles had been a useful rugby player. He played for Yorkshire and was capped by Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire and Derbyshire in 1948 and twice turned out for the Army in 1950.
He was a big supporter of Grantham Amateur Boxing Club.

Isles was Deputy Lieutenant for Lincolnshire from 1990 to 2000, awarded an OBE in 1968 and CB in 1978.

In retirement he was an active supporter of the British Legion and enjoyed shooting. He also wrote History of the Service Battalions of The Duke of Wellington’s (West Riding) Regiment 1914-1918 (2007).