Headquarters Wales was a district command of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

from 1967 and 1991.

History

The district was formed from

53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division The 53rd (Welsh) Infantry Division was an infantry division of the British Army that fought in both the First and Second World Wars. Originally raised in 1908 as the Welsh Division, part of the Territorial Force (TF), the division saw service in ...

as part of the Territorial Army Volunteer Reserve in 1967. It had its headquarters at

The Barracks, Brecon The Barracks, Watton is a military installation in Brecon in Wales. History The original barracks, which were constructed of red brick, were built at the Watton in 1805 and then extended in 1813.Tones, p. 126 In 1873, as part of the Cardwell R ...

, and was placed under the command of HQ UK Land Forces in 1972. In 1991, the first of the minor districts to be amalgamated were North West District, the former West Midlands District (by then Western District) and Wales, to form a new Wales and Western District. It was disbanded again on the formation of HQ

Land Command Land Command (or 'HQ Land') was a military command and part of the structure of the British Army from 1995 to 2008. Its headquarters was at Erskine Barracks, at Fugglestone St Peter, some four kilometres northwest of Salisbury in Wiltshire. It ass ...

in 1995.

Commanders

General officers commanding included:
Headquarters Wales *1967–1968 Major-General

Douglas Darling Major General Douglas Lyall Darling & Bar, MC & Bar (3 October 1914 – 28 December 1978) was a British Army officer who was highly decorated for gallantry and leadership during the Second World War. Early life Darling was born in India, the ...

*1968–1970 Major-General

Jeremy Spencer-Smith Major-General Jeremy Michael Spencer-Smith (28 July 1917 – 1985) was a British Army officer. Military career Educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford, Spencer-Smith was commissioned into the Welsh Guards on 4 July 1940 during the Seco ...

*1970–1973 Major-General

John Woodrow Major-General Albert John Woodrow (1919–1988) was a British Army officer. Military career Woodrow was commissioned into the Royal Corps of Signals on 25 May 1940 during the Second World War. He became commanding officer of 1 Divisional Signal ...

*1973–1976 Major-General Peter Leuchars *1976–1978 Major-General John Graham *1978–1980 Major-General

Arthur Stewart-Cox Major-General Arthur George Ernest Stewart-Cox (11 April 1925 – 11 November 2003) was a British Army officer. Military career Stewart-Cox was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Stewart Cox (1888-1973) and Dorothea Stirling Sinclair May, daug ...

*1980–1983 Major-General

Lennox Napier Major-General Lennox Alexander Hawkins Napier (28 June 1928 – 21 July 2020) was a British Army officer. Military career Educated at Radley College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Napier was commissioned into the South Wales Bor ...

*1983–1985 Major-General

Peter Chiswell Peter Chiswell (18 February 1934 – 6 December 2013) was a bishop of the Anglican Church of Australia. He was the Bishop of Armidale, in northern New South Wales, from 1976 to 1999. Chiswell was educated at the University of New South Wales an ...

*1985–1987 Major-General

Peter de la Billière General Sir Peter Edgar de la Cour de la Billière, (born 29 April 1934) is a former British Army officer who was Director SAS during the Iranian Embassy siege, and Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Operation Granby (the Gulf War). ...

*1987–1990 Major-General

Morgan Llewellyn Richard Morgan Llewellyn, (born 22 August 1937) is a retired senior British Army officer. He was general officer commanding, Wales District from 1987 to 1990, and chief of staff at HQ Land Forces from 1990 to 1991. Upon retirement the army, ...

*1990–1991 Major-General Peter Davies Wales and Western District *1991–1994 Major-General Michael Regan *1994–1995 Major-General

Ian Freer Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

References

{{reflist Districts of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1967 Military units and formations disestablished in 1995