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 a ...
Richard Eustace John Gerrard-Wright (9 May 1930 – 12 May 2012) 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.
Military career
Educated at
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. The school was founded in 1552 and received its first royal charter in 1553. ...
and the
Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Tabor was commissioned into the
Royal Lincolnshire Regiment
The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army raised on 20 June 1685 as the Earl of Bath's Regiment for its first Colonel, John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath. In 1751, it was numbered like most other Army regiments ...
in 1949.
He was deployed to the
Suez Canal Zone and to
Kenya
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and then saw action during the
Malayan Emergency.
[ He became commanding officer of a battalion of the ]Royal Anglian Regiment
The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...
and in that role was deployed to 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 ...
during the Troubles
The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...
.[ He went on to be commander of 39th Infantry Brigade in 1975, Chief of Staff of I (British) Corps in 1978 and General Officer Commanding Eastern District in 1980.][ His last appointment was as Director Territorial Army and Cadets at the Ministry of Defence in 1982 before retiring in 1985.]
He married Susan Young in 1960; they had two sons and two daughters.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerrard-Wright, Richard
1930 births
2012 deaths
Companions of the Order of the Bath
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
British Army major generals
Royal Lincolnshire Regiment officers
British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency
Royal Anglian Regiment officers