Edward Richard Holmes,
CBE
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 o ...
,
TD,
JP, VR (29 March 1946 – 30 April 2011),
known as Richard Holmes, was a British
military historian
Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships.
Professional historians norma ...
. He was co-director of
Cranfield University
, mottoeng = After clouds light
, established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name)
, type = Public research uni ...
's Security and Resilience Group from 1989 to 2009 and became Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield in 1995.
Early life and education
Holmes was educated at
Forest School Forest School or Forrest School may refer to:
Educational philosophy
* Forest school (learning style), a learner centred outdoor learning approach.
Religious philosophy
* Thai Forest Tradition, a Theravada school of Buddhism in Thailand.
* Sri La ...
, Walthamstow,
Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...
,
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...
, and the
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...
, where he was awarded a PhD in 1975.
[ ]
Military career
In 1964, he enlisted in the
Territorial Army, the volunteer reserve 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 ...
.
Two years later he received a
commission as a
second lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank.
Australia
The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...
with the Territorial Army, and was promoted to lieutenant on 17 June 1968. He was promoted to acting
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
in 1972, substantive captain in 1973, acting
major
Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...
in 1978 and substantive major in 1980. In 1979, he was awarded the
Territorial Decoration
__NOTOC__
The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...
.
Holmes was promoted to
lieutenant-colonel
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
in 1986, whereupon he transferred to and took command of the
2nd Battalion, The Wessex Regiment (Volunteers), filling the appointment until 1988. In the 1988
Queen's Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...
, he was appointed
Officer 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 o ...
(OBE) (Military Division). He was promoted to
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...
on 29 January 1989. In June 1991, he was appointed
aide-de-camp to the
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
, holding the post until February 1997.
In January 1994, he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the
Southampton University
, mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour
, type = Public research university
, established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...
Officer Training Corps
The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...
, and that February he was appointed
brigadier
Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...
of the Territorial Army at Headquarters
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, he became Professor of Military and Security Studies at
Cranfield University
, mottoeng = After clouds light
, established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name)
, type = Public research uni ...
.
From 1997 until his retirement in 2000, Holmes was Director General, Reserve Forces and Cadets, the Army's senior reservist. In the 1998
New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
, he was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (Military Division).
From September 1999 to 1 February 2007, he was
Colonel of the Regiment
Colonel (Col) is a rank of the British Army and Royal Marines, ranking below brigadier, and above lieutenant colonel. British colonels are not usually field commanders; typically they serve as staff officers between field commands at battalion ...
of the
Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Qu ...
(successor to The
Queen's and
Royal Hampshire Regiments). On 19 September 2000, he was awarded the
Volunteer Reserves Service Medal
The Volunteer Reserves Service Medal (VRSM) is a medal which may be awarded to members of the Volunteer Reserves of all branches of the British Armed Forces - the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Marines Reserve, the Army Reserve and the Royal Auxil ...
.
Academic career
Between 1969 and 1985, Holmes was a lecturer at the Department of War Studies at the
RMA Sandhurst
The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...
, becoming Deputy Head of the department in 1984.
In 1989 he was appointed as the co-director of
Cranfield University
, mottoeng = After clouds light
, established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name)
, type = Public research uni ...
's Security Studies Institute at the
Royal Military College of Science
The Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) was a British postgraduate school, research institution and training provider with origins dating back to 1772. It became part of the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom in 2009, and ceased to exist ...
, at
Shrivenham
Shrivenham is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, England, about south-west of Faringdon. The village is close to the county boundary with Wiltshire and about east-northeast of Swindon. The 2011 Census recorde ...
. He became Professor of Military and Security Studies there in 1995, retiring from both positions, although retaining some part-time responsibilities in 2009.
Holmes was also President of the British Commission for Military History, and the Battlefields Trust.
He was also a patron of the Guild of Battlefield Guides.
He received the
Order of the Dannebrog
The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...
and held
honorary doctorate
An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
s from the universities of
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
and
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
.
Publications and television work
Holmes wrote more than twenty published books, including ''Firing Line'' and ''Redcoat'', and was also Editor-in-Chief of the
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
' ''Companion to Military History''. His television works included writing and presenting documentary series on the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
, such as ''
Rebels and Redcoats
''Rebels and Redcoats: How Britain Lost America'' is a British television documentary series about the story of the American Revolutionary War, presented narrated by Richard Holmes, in four parts. Throughout the entire program there are clear ex ...
'' in 2003 and ''Battlefields'', a series concentrating on the bloody battles of
the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. His ''
War Walks
''War Walks'' is a BBC television documentary series presented by the historian Richard Holmes, then Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University. The series is about battlefields (though it could be questioned whether the ...
'' television series has been regularly repeated on British terrestrial and digital television channels, including BBC Two and UKTV History. One of his documentary series was ''Wellington: The Iron Duke'', in which he chronicled the
Duke of Wellington's life, travelling to India, to
Waterloo and numerous other locations.
He used a similar format in his series, ''In the Footsteps of Churchill'', a documentary on
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
. In this, he travelled across the world, including South Africa, Sudan, Egypt and various locations in the United Kingdom and Europe. He also wrote a book to accompany the series.
[
In 2003 he presented '' Britain's Finest Castles'', part of an eight-part documentary series for Channel 5, produced by Sabine Pusch and directed by Peter Sommer.
]
Personal life
Holmes married Katharine Saxton in 1975, with whom he had two daughters.
Death
Holmes died on 30 April 2011, aged 65, from the effects of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight los ...
.
Bibliography
*''Bir Hacheim: Desert Citadel'' (1971)
*''The Little Field Marshal: A Life of Sir John French'' (1981)
*''Firing Line'' (1985)
*''Acts of War: The Behaviour of Men in Battle'' (1986)
*''Civil War battles in Cornwall, 1642 to 1646'' (Mercia, 1989)
*''World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations That Changed the Course of History''
*''Riding the Retreat: Mons to Marne: 1914 Revisited'' (1995)
*''Battle'' (1997)
*''The Western Front'' (1999)
*''World War II in Photographs'' (2000)
*''Battlefields of the Second World War'' (2001)
*''The First World War in Photographs'' (2001)
*''Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket'' (2001)
*''Wellington: The Iron Duke'' (2002) ; pbk 0-00-713750-8 (2003)
*''The D-Day Experience: From the Invasion to the Liberation of Paris'' (2004)
*''Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front'' (2004)
*''In the Footsteps of Churchill'' (2005)
*''The Napoleonic Wars Experience'' (2006)
*''Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750–1914'' (2005)
*''Dusty Warriors: Modern Soldiers at War'' (2006)
*''Battlefield. Decisive Conflicts in History'' Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, (2006)
*''The World at War: The Landmark Oral History from the Previously Unpublished Archives'' Ebury Press
Ebury Publishing is a division of Penguin Random House, and is a publisher of general non-fiction books in the UK. Ebury was founded in 1961 as a division of Nat Mags and was originally located on Ebury Street in London. It was sold to Century ...
, (2007)
*''Marlborough: England's Fragile Genius'' (2008)
*''Shots from the Front'' (2008)
*''Soldiers: Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors'' (2011)
References
External links
*
The World at War website
Holmes interviewed in ''The Guardian'' (2004)
Obituary in ''The Guardian''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Richard
1946 births
2011 deaths
People from Ropley
20th-century British Army personnel
Academics of Cranfield University
Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Alumni of the University of Reading
British military historians
British military writers
British television presenters
Commanders First Class of the Order of the Dannebrog
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Historians of the Napoleonic Wars
Historians of World War I
People from Aldridge
Queen's Regiment officers
Military personnel from Staffordshire
British Army brigadiers