F. G. L. Chester

Francis George Leach 'Gort' Chester
Chester (centre) with AGAS 1 Party
Born	(1899-06-14)14 June 1899
Died	18 August 1946(1946-08-18) (aged 47)
Buried	Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu) Anglican Cemetery, North Borneo
Allegiance	United Kingdom  Australia
Service/branch	British Army Australian Army
Rank	Lieutenant-Colonel
Service number	255581
Unit	King Edward's Horse General List Z Special Unit
Battles/wars	First World War Second World War
Awards	Distinguished Service Order Officer of the Order of the British Empire

Francis Chester redirects here. For those of the same or a similar name, see Chester baronets and

Lieutenant-Colonel Francis George Leach "Gort" Chester DSO, OBE (14 June 1899 – 18 August 1946) was a British soldier who led several Z Special Unit operations in Borneo during World War II.

Chester was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on 14 June 1899, the son of Arthur and Edith Florence Rose (née Murphy) Chester, both British. He was educated at Highfield School, Liphook, Hampshire, England, and then from May 1914-July 1916 at King's School, Canterbury, Kent. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and during the First World War he served in King Edward's Horse, a cavalry regiment of the British Army, in 1917. He gained the nickname "Gort" due to his physical resemblance to the British Army Field Marshal John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort.

Chester was a rubber planter at the Lokawee Estate near Jesselton in the West Coast area of North Borneo for twenty years before the Japanese invasion of January 1942. He was in Australia when the Far Eastern war broke out; he rejoined the British Army and was appointed second lieutenant on the General List on 1 May 1942, this commission was eventually backdated to 21 June 1941. At some point he was attached to the Australian Army's Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) Z Special Unit.