Hakewill-Smith was born in
Kimberley,
Cape Colony, on 17 March 1896. He was educated at the Diocesan College ("Bishops") in Rondebosch,
Cape Town, and, during the
First World War, he went to England to attend the
Royal Military College, Sandhurst, where he was
commissioned as a
second lieutenant into the
Royal Scots Fusiliers, a
line infantry regiment of the
British Army, on 16 June 1915. He served with the 2nd (Regular) Battalion of his regiment on the
Western Front, where he was wounded twice and, during the final
Hundred Days Offensive in the latter half of 1918, was awarded the
Military Cross. The citation for the award read: After the war Hakewill-Smith remained in the army and served with the British Military Mission to South Russia in 1920. He later served on the staff of the
War Office from 1934 to 1936. He then became Director of Organization at the War Office, before assuming command of the
155th Infantry Brigade in mid-February 1943. On 26 December, after his major-general's rank was made temporary, he assumed command of the
mountain warfare-trained
52nd (Lowland) Infantry Division from Major General
Neil Ritchie as its
General Officer Commanding (GOC). He commanded the 52nd Division during the last few months of the
campaign in North-West Europe from October 1944 until May 1945. He served as the
Honorary Colonel of the Royal Scots Fusiliers from 1946 to 1957. later being appointed
Lieutenant Governor of the castle (1964–1972) and was created a
Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1967. He died in
Kingston upon Thames,
Surrey in 1986 at the age of 90. ==References==