Career
Oliver was commissioned into the Queen"s Own Royal West Kent Regiment in 1920. He became Adjutant of his Regiment in 1927 and went on to be an Instructor at the Army School of Physical Training at Aldershot in 1931. He went out to India as a Staff Captain in 1936 and then became a General Staff Officer in 1937.
He served in World World War II as a Lieutenant Colonel on the staff of the Tactical School in 1940 before becoming a General Staff Officer at Southern Command in 1940.
He was appointed Commanding Officer of 70th Bn the Welch Regiment in 1941 and then became a General Staff Officer with responsibility for operations at Eastern Command in 1942. He was Deputy Director of Military Operations at the War Office later in 1942 and then Brigadier on the General Staff at 9th Army Headquarters in the Middle East from 1943.
He was made Director of Military Operations for Middle East Land Forces in 1944 and then returned to his post as Brigadier on the General Staff at 9th Army Headquarters in the Middle East in 1944. After the War he became Commander 31st Independent Infantry Brigade, part of British Army of the Rhine, from 1948 and Chief Army Instructor at the Imperial Defence College from 1949.
He was made Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin in 1954 and Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1955.
He retired in 1957. He was Principal Staff Officer to the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations from 1957 to 1959 and British High Commissioner to Australia from 1959 to 1965. Finally he was United Kingdom Commissioner General for Expo 67 in Montreal.
