Malloch, Francis Gibson

Francis Gibson Malloch
	15 February 1887 – 14 March 1965
	;
Nickname	Frank
Place of death	Hamilton Ontario
Place of burial	Hamilton Cemetery, Section: T
Allegiance	Canada
Service/branch	Canadian Army
Years of service	1904 - 1945
Rank	Colonel
Awards	OBE, MC, VD

Colonel Francis Gibson Malloch OBE, MC, VD (15 February 1887 - 14 March 1965) was a Canadian soldier and a member of the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals who served in key positions during both the Great War and the Second World War.^[1]

Education

Francis Malloch attended the Royal Military College (College Number 672) from 1904 to 1907. He then attended McGill University where he received his degree in Civil Engineering.^[2]

Service

At the outset of the Great War, in October 1914, he originally joined the Mississauga Horse but later transferred to the Royal Canadian Engineers at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa as an officer in the 2nd Divisional Signal Company. He proceeded oversees in May 1915 and then to France with the rest of 2nd Division. He served in various appointments during the war and, at it's end, was serving as the Officer Commanding 4th Canadian Divisional Signal Company. During his service in the Great War, Capt Malloch was awarded the Military Cross (MC) in Jan 1918^[3] and was Mentioned in Despatches twice^[4]^[5].

After the Great War, he returned to civilian life (Mills, Spence and Co., bond dealers, of Toronto) but remained on the reserve of Officers. He served as the Commanding Officer of 2 Signal Battalion from 1920 until 1925. In addition, he helped found the Canadian Signals Association (CSA) and served as it's founding President from October 1926 until September 1929 and again from September 1930 until September 1931.^[6]

During the Second World War, Malloch served as the Officer Commanding the Canadian Signal Training Centre at Vimy Barracks in Kingston Ontario where he supervised the training of over a thousand officers and some 22,000 other ranks. He held the position from 12 September 1940 until 3 December 1945 when he retired. For his service in the Second World War, Col Malloch was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).^[7]

Col Malloch passed away on the 14th of March 1965 in Hamilton and is buried in the Hamilton Cemetery.

Malloch Trophy

For further details, see Malloch Trophy.

During his time as the President of the Canadian Signals Association, Malloch presented an antique sterling silver tankard as a Challenge Trophy for annual competition in General Proficiency by Signal Companies, an award first presented in 1928.^[8]