ERROLL: The Extraordinary Life of Erroll Prior-Palmer

Soldier. Reformer. Industrial pioneer. 

Erroll Prior-Palmer was one of the few men to reach the highest levels of both the British Army and British industry. A brilliant but unconventional leader, he combined battlefield command with a restless appetite for innovation that would later reshape global trade.

Born in 1903 and marked early by adversity, Erroll overcame severe dyslexia and a brutal schooling to pass out top at Sandhurst, uniquely winning both the Sword of Honour and the Saddle of Honour.

In war, he proved a formidable commander, leading from the front in Normandy and beyond. As a brigadier, he commanded the swimming tanks that landed on Sword Beach on D-Day, then took the 8th Armoured Brigade through every major battle to the end of the war in Europe.

Forced to leave the army after a near-fatal polo accident, Erroll began a second career that would eclipse even his military achievements. Recruited into a struggling shipping empire, he engineered a dramatic turnaround before leading one of the most significant industrial revolutions of the twentieth century: the shift to containerisation. As founding chief executive of Overseas Containers Limited, he drove the creation of the world’s first trans-oceanic container route, overcoming political resistance, industrial unrest and immense financial risk.

A man of contradictions, shaped by privilege, hardship and unrelenting drive, Erroll’s life spanned war, empire, and technological transformation.

This is the story of a leader who refused to accept limits, and in doing so helped change the modern world.

ISBN: 978-1-917837-82-8 (hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-917837-83-5 (epub)

“We owe a considerable debt to Simon for rescuing the remarkable story of his father from obscurity. He was one of the unsung titans of his age. This well-crafted biography allows the reader to view a family that successfully straddled the old age of empire with the rapidly shrinking post war world of globalisation. Prior Palmer played a very significant and practical role in both. One wonders that the two great events of his professional life – landing at Sword beach on 6 June 1944 in command of his ‘swimming’ Shermans to implementing the containerisation of international trade – were the product not of an officer in the Royal Navy but of the Cavalry.”  Robert Lyman, historian and author

“A fascinating life with insights into the D-Day invasion, wartime tank battles, Burgess and Maclean, and much in-between!” Nigel West, intelligence historian

“Erroll Prior-Palmer was a most remarkable person who did, indeed, live an extraordinary life.  This well researched, highly readable  biography is a vivid account of that life and a perceptive portrait of the man.” Lieutenant General (retd) Sir John Kiszely, author of General Hastings “Pug” Ismay: Soldier, Statesman, Diplomat. A New Biography