Horatio Pettus Mackintosh Berney-Ficklin was born on 13 June 1892 and educated at Rugby School and went on to Jesus College, Cambridge. On 26 Feb 1913 he was confirmed as second lieutenant in the Norfolk Regiment. In 1914 he was appointed adjutant in the 8th Battalion. He served on the Western front from July 1915, and on 5 June 1916 he was awarded the MC. He was a temporary major on 1 July 1916 and fought on the Somme. In March 1918 he was wounded and taken prisoner, released in 1919.
In 1932 he transferred from the Norfolks to the Highland Light Infantry. He was CO of the 2nd Battalion from Dec 1936 while they were in India. He also commanded the Peshawar Brigade in 1938, but then the battalion was moved to Palestine during the Arab riots. Just before WW2 he was given command of the 15th Infantry Brigade, and when war broke out they were part of the BEF. The brigade was later withdrawn from France and sent to Norway. Berney-Ficklin went ahead of them, flying to Norway via Orkney in early 1940. But the plane crashed at Kirkwall and he and his staff were injured.
He was deemed fit for duty by May 1940 and in July was appointed GOC 5th Infantry Division in Scotland. There was a posting to Northern Ireland to counter a possible German Invasion. They were then destined for India which was threatened by the Japanese. Two of his brigades, the 13th and 17th were wiped out in Operation Ironclad in Madagascar. There was some time spent in India but the monsoon put paid to operations in Burma. They then went to Persia and Iraq, and into Russia in September 1942, prepared to support the Russians if the Germans broke through. But Stalingrad saw the defeat of the Germans and the Division was available for service in the Middle East and North Africa.
The 5th Division was then part of the invasion of Sicily and fought Italian, then German troops, in particular in the Plain of Catania. But Berney-Ficklin did not impress Montgomery or Dempsey and was relieved of command. On his return to England Berney-Ficklin was given command of 48th Reserve Division which provided training. But in July 1944 he relinquished that command in exchange for the 55th West Lancs Division serving in Northern Ireland.
After the war he was appointed to the British Military Tribunal at Lüneburg in Sep and Nov 1945, which tried war criminals from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He was appointed Colonel of the Royal Norfolk Regiment on 1 May 1946 until 3 Oct 1947. Major-General Berney Ficklin retired from the army on 14 Jan 1948. He was married to the daughter of a Russian General and they moved to Cape Town SA where he died on 17 February 1961, aged 68.
