John Vaughan, who died on 13th October 1984, was commissioned into the 4th Hussars in April 1940, having previously served in the Inns of Court Regiment (TA) from 1937.
He went out to Egypt with the Regiment from Husbands Bosworth in November 1940 and was with the Regiment continuously until he left from Austria in September 1945 for leave and demobilisation.
John is thought to be the only 4th Hussars Officer to have served with the Regiment without break from its departure overseas until the end of the War.
He held with distinction the positions of IO, Adjutant, Squadron Leader and Second in Command of the Regiment and saw service in Greece, the Western Desert, Cyprus, Italy and Austria.
He was one of only 12 officers and 150 other ranks who managed to get away from Greece in April 1941 and back to Egypt.
He was a very efficient and assiduous Adjutant, first under Colonel Dick Sheppard and then under Colonel Kidd. He held this important and demanding position during the ‘Knightsbridge’ disaster in June 1942 and the subsequent months at the Southern end of the Alamein Line (including the anticipated Alam Halfa Battle when Rommel tried to break through to Cairo), and the Alamein Battle itself followed by the ensuing 400-mile chase across the Desert.
During all these arduous times John had only his Tank to use as an office from which, far into the night, he could be heard relaying messages in morse to Brigade, W/T communications in clear being impossible due to atmospheric conditions.
When Colonel Tony Barne assumed command of the Regiment in November 1944 (after the Gothic Line battles earlier that year during which John was in command of ‘A’ Squadron), he was appointed Second in Command of the Regiment.
After leaving the Army he resumed his pre-war profession of Chartered Accountancy — he had qualified with honours very high up in the list of candidates in 1938 — and early in 1946 at the invitation of its Chairman, Sir Nutcombe Hume, he joined the Charterhouse Group of Companies in the City of London and was made a Director in 1948.
In 1950 he went to Australia to open a Charterhouse Subsidiary of which he was Managing Director for the next five years. In 1968 he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the main Company and Chairman in 1971, a position he had until ill health forced him to retire in 1977, at which time he was appointed President.
A fitting tribute to John appears from an entry in the Regimental War Diary of September 1945, reading, ‘This month saw the departure of several Officers who have given much gallant service to the Regiment during the War years, Major J. G. Vaughan being the most prominent.’
Both during his service with the 4th Hussars and during the following 30 years in the City he displayed steadfast loyalty and, thanks to his attributes of diligence, drive, clear thinking and capacity for hard work, he was eminently successful in all he was called upon to do.
As a successor of his Adjutant and one who became a colleague of his at Charterhouse writes ‘He was a wholly admirable Taskmaster and had the drive and powers of persuasion so necessary as both a Leader in War and in “Big Business” in the City.
John’s courage and determination are evidenced by the fact that after the amputation of a leg and the fitting of an artificial limb he insisted on continuing to live in his very pleasant flat in St.John’s Wood, accessible only by three flights of stairs.
