ROWLEY MANS was essentially a good-humoured man. On taking over a staff appointment in Malaya during the communist insurrection of the 1950s, he telephoned the adjutant of one of the infantry battalions and said “I believe my predecessor was a bit of a nuisance to you. Don’t worry, it will be different now”, and it was. Earlier, he had served with African troops throughout the Second World War and grown to value them so highly that he devoted much of his eventual retirement to their interests.

He first saw active service in East Africa in 1941. The Italian Viceroy of Ethiopia had sent two divisions into British Somaliland and occupied the French port of Djibouti in the summer of 1940. Three Commonwealth divisions were assembled in Kenya to drive them out of that country and Ethiopia, colonised by Italy after the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36.

Mans served with 1/6th King’s African Rifles during 12th African Division’s advance to the port of Kismayu in Italian Somaliland, then up the coast to Mogadishu. Resupply through these ports allowed the force to turn north-westwards into Ethiopia. The provincial capital of Harar was taken on March 29, 1941, and Addis Ababa on April 6.

It had been a swift and successful campaign complemented by the drive of the 4th and 5th Indian Divisions into Italian Eritrea then into northern Ethiopia, providing a much needed victory in an otherwise depressing year for Britain. The stalwart nature, but perhaps above all the irrepressible cheerfulness, of African soldiers in face of danger and hardship made a marked impression on Mans, leaving him more than content to spend the rest of the war with them.

He led a column of 1/6th KAR in the second phase of the British takeover of Madagascar in 1942. The island was held by the Vichy French, but it was feared the Japanese might use the northern port of Diego Suarez as a base for operations against British shipping sailing round the Cape for the Middle East.

The campaign lasted only six weeks and included some elements of farce between the two former allies, but some stiff fighting occurred before the whole island was relinquished to British control. Mans led his column on a forced march of 80 miles in 21 hours to reach his objective. This established an operational forced march record which was only surpassed by the Royal Marines, on training, a quarter of a century later.

Rowland Spencer Noel Mans was the son of Thomas F. Mans and May Seigenberg. He was educated at Surbiton Grammar School and RMC Sandhurst, from where he was commissioned into The Queen’s Royal Regiment in 1939.

On return from Africa in 1945 he joined a battalion of his regiment in Palestine, then in the grip of the Irgun and Stern Gang insurrection against Britain as the Manadatory power. He later served with 1st Queen’s in Germany and Malaya, before joining the staff of 17th Gurkha Division in Malaya.

He was an instructor at the Staff College, Camberley, and then the Canadian Staff College 1959-63, but returned to Africa to take command of 1st Battalion the Tanganyika Rifles later in 1963. In 1947 he had formed a dinner club of officers who had served with East African soldiers during the war and, aside from their annual dinner, this group continued to watch the interests of their former askaris. He represented former Tanganyika soldiers on the British and Commonwealth Ex-Servicemen's League 1963-64 and launched the Askari Appeal in 1998. This raised a quarter of a million pounds to provide small gratuities for former askaris. The oldest of these had served in German East Africa in the First World War and was aged 110 in 2002, having lived in the same house, except for his war service, for 100 years.

On promotion to brigadier in 1969, Mans first became the Deputy Commander of South East District, with its Headquarters at Aldershot, and then Deputy Director of Personnel Services in the Ministry of Defence. This appointment, concerned with soldiers’ conditions of service and pay, reflected his close interest in these matters and experience on the staff. Appointed MBE in 1956 was advanced to OBE in 1966, and CBE in 1971.

He was promoted major-general in 1973 to become the Director of the Military Assistance Office in London. This involved frequent visits to the former British colonies in Africa and elsewhere to discuss their military training and equipment needs, and suited his outgoing and consistently friendly personality. He had kept up his Ki-Swahili which, together with French, fluent since schooldays, served him well on visits to Francophone countries.

On retirement from full-time service in 1973, he became the Deputy Colonel of The Queen’s Regiment, 1973-77, and Colonel of the Regiment, 1978-83. He was chairman of the Surrey Committee of the Army Benevolent Fund for several years and served on the boards of a variety of other Service charities. He published Kenyatta’s Middle Road in a Changing Africa in 1977 and Canada’s Constitutional Crisis, dealing with the problems of Quebec’s possible secession, in 1978. He was a member of Hampshire County Council 1984-89 and president of the East African Forces Association 1997-2002.

He married Veeo Sutton in 1945. She survives him together with their three sons, the eldest of whom was the Conservative MP for Wyre, 1987-97.

Major-General Rowland Mans, CBE, Director Military Assistance Office, Ministry of Defence, 1973-75, was born on January 16, 1921. He died on October 16, 2002, aged 81.