§ Lord HARRIS of GREENWICHasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many officers of the rank of major-general, and officers of equivalent ranks in the Royal Navy and the Army were serving on 1st April 1980; and how many were serving in these ranks in 1937, 1944 and 1947 respectively.
§ Lord STRATHCONA and MOUNT ROYALThe numbers of major-generals and equivalent ranks at 1st January 1980, the latest date for which this information is readily available, was as follows:
Royal Navy/Royal Marines —46 Army —81 Royal Air Force —47 Comparable information for 1937 and 1947 is not available, without disproportionate effort but in 1944 the numbers of major-generals and their equivalents serving on the Active List were as follows:
Royal Navy/Royal Marines —79 Army —245 Royal Air Force —125 During the war, a substantial number of senior officers retired and were reemployed either in their retired ranks or in lower ranks, but there is no way of establishing how many such officers were serving in 1944 as major-generals or their equivalents in the other Services.