of England. He would sometimes join her for religious services in her own church. They decided to settle in Berkshire, the home of his old regiment, and conveniently close to horse racing venues. They moved to the Old Vicarage at Greenham, and then to Coombe House in Yattendon. He was commissioned as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant in the county of Berkshire in 1950. Dempsey was Chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board from 1947 to 1951, and he bred and raced his own horses. He was chairman of H&G Simonds from 1953 to 1963, and of Greene King and Sons from 1955 to 1967, and the first non-family chairman and Deputy Chairman of Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co from 1961 to 1966. He declined to write any memoirs about his military experiences, and ordered that his diaries be burned. However, some of his diaries and letters have survived, and are in the National Archives and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. His engagement diary for the first half of 1944 sold at auction in 2014 for £1,125. He oversaw the July 1947 publication of An Account of the Operations of Second Army in Europe 1944–1945, for which he wrote the foreword and Pyman edited, but only 48 copies were printed; one sold at auction for £8,750 in 2012. Death During a visit to his nephew Michael in Kenya, Dempsey felt a pain in his back. When he returned to England it was diagnosed as cancer. He died at his home in Yattendon soon afterwards, on 5 June 1969. "Bimbo died", author and historian Peter Caddick-Adams wrote, "the way he had lived his life, in relative obscurity." He was buried in the churchyard at Yattendon. A memorial service was held at the Farm Street Church, which was attended by Montgomery and Mountbatten. Reputation Although modest and unassuming, Dempsey was considered to be a highly competent officer. He asserted effective control over the Second Army without taking the limelight. He was described thus by military historian Carlo D'Este: Horrocks wrote that Footnotes Notes References External links British Army Officers 1939–1945 Generals of World War II |- |- |- |- |- |- |- |- 1896 births 1969 deaths Burials in Berkshire English people of Irish descent Berkshire cricketers British Army generals of World War II British Army personnel of World War I British military personnel of the Palestine Emergency Commanders of the