Trythall, Anthony John 1927-2006

OBITUARY NOTICE— See index for CA sketch: Born March 30, 1927, in Rugby, England; died of cancer, December 2, 2006. Military officer, educator, and author. A retired general in the British Army, Trythall was a former director of army education who also headed Brassey’s Defence Publishers. Educated at St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, where he completed a history degree in 1947, he did his compulsory National Service the next year. Trythall earned a diploma in education in 1951 and embarked on a career as a secondary-school teacher, but found it did not pay well. He therefore returned to the military in 1953. Specializing as an educationist, he pursued a long career in officer education. He served in Malaya for three years, then joined the War Office in 1956 and commanded the Royal Army Education Corps in Germany. Receiving a master’s degree in education from the University of London in 1969, from that year until 1971 he was education advisor to the Regular Commissions Board. This was followed by assignments as chief inspector of army education, a post in the Ministry of Defense, and work as chief education officer for the United Kingdom Land Forces from 1976 to 1980. That year, Trythall was named director of army education. He retired from this job in 1984 and was going to leave the military completely. However, Trythall had the opportunity to head the military’s publishing house, Brassey’s. Taking over the reins in 1984, he was credited with turning the publisher around, spurring it on to release many respected publications. At Brassey’s he was managing director from 1984 to 1987, executive department chair from 1988 to 1995, director of Brassey’s (U.K.) from 1984 to 1997 and of Brassey’s (U.S.) from 1987 to 1995, also serving as vice chair of the latter from 1994 to 1997. With the Cold War over, interest in military publications declined, and Trythall decided to leave Brassey’s. He accepted a job as governor of the Selwyn School for girls in 1996, and was named its chair in 1997. Trythall, who retired as a major-general, was also named Companion of the Bath. He was the author of Boney Fuller: The Intellectual General, 1878-1966 (1977), The Downfall of Leslie HoreBelisha in the Second World War (1982), and J.P.C. Fuller: Staff Officer Extraordinary in the British General Staff (2002).