A DISTINGUISHED Army officer, decorated for valour in North Africa during the Second World War, has died, aged 87.

Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Consett died of a heart attack at his home at Osgoodby, near Thirsk.

In 1941, he won the Distinguished Service Order, followed a year later by the Military Cross.

Peter Consett, 88, of Brawith Hall, Thirsk, said his brother was reluctant to talk about his DSO.

"He was a captain so it must have been something quite outstanding. I asked him myself and he was very shy about it.

"His MC was as a colonel. It was in the retreat at Gazala in Egypt when Rommel was making a push. Christopher wanted to make a stand the whole time."

Christopher Darcy Preston Consett was born on December 6, 1910, in London, the son of a Naval officer, and educated at Eton College and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.

He was commissioned in August, 1930, and served with the King's Royal Rifle Corps at Tidworth in Wiltshire.

From 1934 to 1939, he served with the Somaliland Camel Corps in East Africa.

In 1939, he became a company commander with the 1st Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, being promoted to second-in-command in 1941.

Between May 1942, and January 1943 he commanded the regiment's 1st Battalion in North Africa, and saw action at El Alamein.

From July, 1943, to March, 1944, he was second-in-command of the 11th Battalion in North Africa and Italy. He commanded the 2nd Battalion from December 1944 to July 1945.

He retired from military service in 1948 and farmed in the former Rhodesia and southern England. He retired to North Yorkshire in the mid-1980s.

He is survived by a widow, Virginia. He had four daughters from his first marriage.

Peter Consett added: "He was an outstanding personality and was very well loved by his family and friends."

The funeral service will take place at 12.30pm on Tuesday at Leake Church, near Thirsk.

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