Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Patrick Claude Marriott (born 23 February 1958) is a former

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

Commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. His early career was with the

17th/21st Lancers The 17th/21st Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers and the 21st Lancers in 1922 and, after service in the Second World War, it amalgamated with the 16th/5th The Quee ...

and the

Queen's Royal Lancers The Queen's Royal Lancers (QRL) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1993 and amalgamated with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) on 2 May 2015 to form the Royal Lancers. History The regiment was formed in ...

, which he commanded for two years. Postings include the

Multinational Force A Multinational force is a multinational operation which may be defensive, offensive, or for peacekeeping purposes. In multinational operations, many countries form an alliance to carry them out. Multinational forces include: * Supreme Headquar ...

Sinai Sinai commonly refers to: * Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Mount Sinai, a mountain in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt * Biblical Mount Sinai, the site in the Bible where Moses received the Law of God Sinai may also refer to: * Sinai, South Dakota, a place ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) is the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's (NATO) Allied Command Operations (ACO) that commands all NATO operations worldwide. ACO's and SHAPE's commander is t ...

, and two years in command of the

7th Armoured Brigade 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

, including six months in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

. On 1 August 2022 he was appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Sutherland The Lord Lieutenant of Sutherland is the British monarch's personal representative in an area which has been defined since 1975 as consisting of the local government district of Sutherland in Scotland, and this definition was renewed by the Lord-Li ...

Early life

The son of Captain Peter Barnsley Marriott (1915–1989), by his marriage to Francis Jill Davis, a former Leading Wren (died 2009), Marriott was educated at Granville School, Sevenoaks; Claremont School, Sussex; Gresham's School, (Farfield House), Holt, and at Sandhurst.MARRIOTT, Major-General Patrick Claude
in ''Who's Who 2011'' online at ukwhoswho.com (accessed 20 February 2011)

Career

Military

After Sandhurst, Marriott was commissioned as a regular officer in May 1977, joining the

. During 1982 he was a company commander in the

Multinational Force and Observers The Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) is an international peacekeeping force overseeing the terms of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. The MFO generally operates in and around the Sinai peninsula, ensuring free navigation through ...

, returning to his regiment as Adjutant later that year. In 1985 he was posted as an assistant to the Vice Chief of the Defence Staff (Personnel & Logistics), in 1987 returned to the 17th/21st Lancers as a squadron leader, then in 1990 attended the Canadian Staff College in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. He was an instructor at the Staff College from 1991, before service with the

in 1993 and taking up an appointment at the British Army Training Unit Suffield in 1995. This was followed by a brief posting to

SHAPE A shape or figure is a graphical representation of an object or its external boundary, outline, or external surface, as opposed to other properties such as color, texture, or material type. A plane shape or plane figure is constrained to lie ...

in 1998. Later that year he became Commanding Officer of the Queen's Royal Lancers, after which he was Chief of Staff, HQ 1 (UK) Armoured Division from 2000. He took the Higher Command and Staff Course in 2004, then commanded

from 2005 to 2007, when he was appointed as Assistant Chief of Staff (Operations) at

Permanent Joint Headquarters The Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) is the British tri-service headquarters from where all overseas military operations are planned and controlled. It is situated at Northwood Headquarters in Northwood, London. The Permanent Joint Headquar ...

. He was

of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 2009 to 2012. While serving in post-invasion

as commander of the 7th Armoured Brigade, Marriott was also in command of all British troops in southern Iraq from 2005 to 2006. While many soldiers were complaining about the politicians who had sent them into action without enough men or equipment, Marriott took the view that the British could never have gained the trust of the people of

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is han ...

, thanks to their history. In an interview with the journalist Oliver Poole he said "The people were immersed in cruelty. There's a sad culture of mistrust, especially of authority." In celebration of his Brigade's nickname, "the

Desert Rats The 7th Armoured Division was an armoured division of the British Army that saw distinguished active service during the Second World War, where its exploits in the Western Desert Campaign gained it the ''Desert Rats'' nickname. After the Muni ...

", Marriott kept a large silver rat on his desk in Basra. In 2012 he was appointed as Colonel of the Queen's Royal Lancers, retiring on 2 May 2015, when the regiment amalgamated with the

9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1960 by the amalgamation of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers. In the later years of its existence, the regiment served a ...

to form the

Royal Lancers The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by an amalgamation of 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) and the Queen's Royal Lancers on 2 May 2015. It serves as the Formati ...

Ecclesiastical

Marriott served as a member of the

House of Laity The House of Laity is the lower house in the tricameral General Synod of the Church of England legislature. They are responsible for representing the laity of the Church of England in the legislature. They are indirectly elected every 5 years by m ...

of the

General Synod of the Church of England The General Synod is the tricameral deliberative and legislative organ of the Church of England. The synod was instituted in 1970, replacing the Church Assembly, and is the culmination of a process of rediscovering self-government for the Church ...

from 2005 to 2012, and was a director of the

British Forces Foundation The British Forces Foundation is a British charitable foundation, launched in May 1999 by comedian Jim Davidson (comedian), Jim Davidson OBE to support the well-being of the members of Britain's British Forces, armed forces through the provision of ...

from 2009 to 2012.

Historian

Marriott authored a history of the Battle of Littleferry 1746 which was published in 2022.

Private life

In 1989, Marriott married Karin Henrietta Warde Ingram, and they have two sons and one daughter. In 2005, he was granted a

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

by the

College of Arms The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the British Sovere ...

. In 2013, soon after Marriott's retirement from the army, the

appointed him as a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Sutherland. On 1 August 2022 he was appointed

Honours

* Officer of the Order of the British Empire, April 2000, "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in the

former Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

during 1999" *

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

, 2003 *

Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service The King's Commendation for Valuable Service is a British military award for meritorious service in an operational theatre. It was established in 1994, when the award of the Queen's Commendation for Brave Conduct and the Queen's Commendation for ...

, 2006 * Companion of the Order of the Bath (Military Division), in

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

New Year Honours List 2012: full list

Telegraph.co.uk ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

* Deputy Lieutenant for the

County of Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

, 18 September 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marriott, Patrick 1958 births Academics of the Staff College, Camberley 17th/21st Lancers officers British Army major generals British Army personnel of the Iraq War Commandants of Sandhurst Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of the Bath Deputy Lieutenants of Sutherland Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Living people People educated at Gresham's School Queen's Royal Lancers officers Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service