William Dobbie Lieutenant - General Sir William George Shedden Dobbie GCMG , KCB , DSO ( 12 July 1879 – 3 October 1964 ) was a British Army veteran of the Second Boer War , and First and Second World Wars . Early life . William was born in Madras to a civil servant father , W . H . Dobbie of the Indian Civil Service - and to a family with a long military lineage . When he was only nine months old , his parents left him in the care of relatives in England , so that he might receive an education in keeping with his family ' s station . At thirteen , young William won a scholarship to Charterhouse School and became a top - ranking classical scholar and a keen student of ancient military campaigns . Upon graduation , he proved to be qualified for a military career at the Royal Military Academy , Woolwich , from which , in due course , he went to the Royal School of Military Engineering at Chatham . Second Boer War . Sir William Dobbie was plunged into the Second Boer War shortly after the funeral of Queen Victoria in 1901 . Interestingly , he later took the view that it was a rather unjust war . World War I . During World War I , Dobbie happened to have been the staff officer on duty in November 1918 and his is the only signature on the cease - fire telegram that was sent to all troops . In later years , when asked what he did in The Great War , Dobbie would reply " I stopped the bloody thing ! " . After the War Dobbie was awarded the Croix de Guerre by Belgium . Interwar years . He was General Officer Commanding Malaya Command from 1935 to 1939 . World War II . Dobbie , then holding the rank of major - general , was informed that after Malaya he would be retired , because new War Office regulations deemed him too old for a further position . After war was declared in September , he was frustrated in his attempts to return to active service , until in April 1940 he encountered the Chief of the Imperial General Staff , Edmund Ironside , who offered him the position of Governor - General and Commander - in - chief of Malta . He remained Governor of Malta until May 1942 . While in Malta , he was criticised for his approach to leadership during the 3 year siege and for what critics argue to have been an unacceptable delay in the creation of bomb shelter s ; as well as in implementing efficient food - rationing and creating an effective civil - defence system . Issues surrounding the unloading of ordnance were also a criticism . He was also the former Commandant of the Royal School of Military Engineering . Dobbie was a member of the Protestant Plymouth Brethren , and when living in The Paragon , Blackheath , attended the large Brethren assembly in Nightingale Vale , Woolwich Common , London SE18 . On 31 July 1944 a German V - 1 flying bomb fell on houses in Milward Street and Nightingale Vale , Woolwich , and the Brethren ' s Gospel Hall was severely damaged , but none of the 450 members perished . Later years . He died on 3 October 1964 in Kensington , London , England at the age of 85 years . He was buried in Charlton Cemetery , near the Chindit memorial of his nephew Major - General Orde Charles Wingate , DSO ( 1903 – 1944 ) . His wife Sybil and other members of his family are also buried there . Dobbie ' s hypothesis to the fall of Singapore . In 1936 , Dobbie , then General Officer Commanding ( Malaya ) stationed in Singapore , made an inquiry to find out if more forces were required on mainland Malaya , so as to prevent the likelihood of Japanese landings and capturing forward bases to attack Singapore . Percival , then his Chief Staff Officer , was tasked to draw up a tactical appreciation on how the Japanese were most likely to attack . Percival ' s finalised report in the late 1937 , did confirm that north Malaya was a strategic position for the conquest of Singapore and Borneo . Both Dobbie and Percival made it clear that Singapore could no longer be seen as a self - contained naval base , and that its survival rested on the defence of mainland Malaya . So in May 1938 , Dobbie wrote to the Chief Of Staff : " . . . It is an attack from the northward that I regard as the greatest potential danger to the Fortress ( Singapore ) . Such an attack could be carried out in the northeast monsoon . The jungle is not in most places , impassable for infantry . . . " Dobbie further added that an attack might be possible between the months of November and March , despite high winds and waves produced by the northeast monsoon . The recent landing of " 5000 smuggled coolies " during this period , dissolved any preconceptions that the monsoon offered protection . On the contrary , this monsoon would provide good cloud cover for the invaders .