Gerald Templer, English field marshal and politician, British High Commissioner in Malaya (d. 1979)
Field Marshal Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer, (11 September 1898 – 25 October 1979) was a senior British Army officer. He fought in both the world wars and had taken part in the crushing of the Arab Revolt in Palestine. As Chief of the Imperial General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, from 1955 to 1958, he was Prime Minister Anthony Eden's chief military adviser during the Suez Crisis. He is also credited as a founder of the United Kingdom's National Army Museum.
He is best known for implementing strategies that heavily contributed to the defeat of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) during the Malayan Emergency. Although some historians have described his approach as a successful example of a "hearts and minds" campaign, other scholars have dismissed this as a myth due to his reliance on population control and coercion. Despite the ethics of his actions being hotly debated in the British parliament, many of the strategies he enforced were later (unsuccessfully) implemented by the United States in Vietnam.