He was the son of Alderman FW Iredale, Chairman and Managing Director of Workington Brewery Company and his wife Jane, a Justice of the Peace. The couple had two sons and a daughter.
His brother, Peter, died of complications of appendicitis in October 1944, while Tim was away on active service. His father had died before the war.
Tim was well known in rugby and golfing circles in the Workington area before the war. He had worked in the brewery since the 1930s. In 1965 he succeeded his uncle as Chairman of the Workington Brewery, retiring in 1975, as the company, then known as Lakeland Brewers, was taken over by Matthew Brown and Co of Blackburn.
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fife and Angus Scout Section | Scout Section Commander | 01 Dec 1941 | 08 Nov 1943 |
| Operation Kipling | SAS combatant | 17 Aug 1944 | 26 Sep 1944 |
| Shetland Islands | Group Commander | Unknown | Unknown |
Before the war he served in the Territorial Army and was embodied at the outbreak of war.
John Iredale was a Scout Section Officer, initially in Fife and Angus, before commanding a "Demonstration Squad" which travelled around. Over what area is unclear.
He was also sent to the Shetlands to set up an offical organisaiton that appears to have been identical to Auxiliary Units, but without appearing on the Auxilary Units nominal rolls or any other correspondence.
In "The Last Ditch", the story of Aux Units published in 1968, David Lampe describes how Tim Iredale was trained in explosive techniques at Coleshill House before heading to Shetland to swim out and attach explosives to a German U Boot that had been spotted repeatedly surfacing in a cove. The story seems far fetched and Lampe says as much, though he states that Aux Units Officers insisted that the attack took place. However, with absolute confirmation that Iredale served with Aux Units, SOE and the SAS, perhaps it isn't so unlikely.
Auxiliary Units Part II Orders No 43 record that he ceased to be a Scout Section Officer on 8th November 1943. He was posted to STS HQ (Special Training Schools Headquarters, otherwise known as SOE, the Special Operations Executive).
1 Apr 1944 Lieutenant John Iredale joined the SASR (Special Air Service Regiment)
At the end of Mar 1945, he was reportedly home on leave for the Easter holidays.
He was seriously injured in fighting in Germany April 1945, while patrolling through woods. He was almost certainly hit by friendly fire. It was recognised that he needed urgent medical attention, which wasn’t available to the spearhead of the Allied advance. Instead another officer, Neville Edwards, took him in a jeep, flying a white flag, across enemy lines to be treated by the Germans. He also took a German prisoner to tell them to care for him properly and remind them that the SAS were holding 89 of their comrades at that moment. Edwards returned safely and Tim Iredale was treated correctly by the Germans. He had his leg amputated on a school desk and had his wound dressed with “loo roll” (most likely paper bandages as the Germans had no supplies of cotton by this stage of the war). He was then transferred to a German military hospital where he was looked after until being repatriated shortly after the end of the war. According to friend and fellow SAS officer, Roy Close, he spoke well of the German surgeon as he never had any problems with the stump, unlike others treated by the British!
Auxiliary Units Part II Orders No 43
The National Archives HS9/777/8
Workington Star 13 Oct 1944, 27 Apr 1945
West Cumberland Times 2 Aug 1975
Whitehaven News 7 Aug 1975