Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

Sir John Peter Barry Condliffe Watts (27 August 1930 – 10 December 2003) was a

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 ...

officer who became Chief of Defence Staff for the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces.

Military career

Educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

Phillips Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

and the

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial officer training centre. It is located in the town of ...

, Watts was commissioned into the

Royal Ulster Rifles The Royal Irish Rifles (became the Royal Ulster Rifles from 1 January 1921) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army, first created in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and the 86th (Royal County ...

in 1951.Obituary: Lieutenant-General Sir John Watts
The Times, 15 December 2003 He served with 22 Special Air Service Regiment and, as Commander of B Squadron, took part in counter-terrorism operations in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

in 1958 and then, as Commander of D Squadron, he took part in the regiment's successful assault on Jebel Akhdar in

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

in January 1959. The dissidents there were largely captured or dispersed and for his achievement in scaling the mountain he was awarded the MC. He was appointed

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of 22 Special Air Service Regiment in 1970, an instructor at the

Staff College, Camberley Staff College, Camberley, Surrey, was a staff college for the British Army and the presidency armies of British India (later merged to form the Indian Army). It had its origins in the Royal Military College, High Wycombe, founded in 1799, which i ...

in 1972 and Director SAS in 1975. He went on to be Commander of the Sultan of Oman's Land Forces in 1979 and Chief of Defence Staff for the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces in 1984 before retiring in 1987. In retirement he read history and lived in a village in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

.Obituary: Lieutenant General Sir John Watts
The Telegraph, 15 December 2003

Family

He was married to Mary Flynn; they had four sons and three daughters before the marriage was dissolved in 1986; he subsequently married Diana Walker.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watts, John 1930 births 2003 deaths British Army generals Companions of the Order of the Bath Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Westminster School, London Phillips Academy alumni Recipients of the Military Cross Royal Ulster Rifles officers Royal Irish Rangers officers Special Air Service officers British military personnel of the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency British military personnel of the Cyprus Emergency British military personnel of the Aden Emergency Academics of the Staff College, Camberley