Air Marshal Sir Richard Carlyle Nelson, (November 13, 1907 – November 5, 2001) was a Canadian-born senior

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

officer who acted as Director-General of the

RAF Medical Services The Royal Air Force Medical Services is the branch of the Royal Air Force that provides health care at home and on deployed operations to RAF service personnel. Medical officers are the doctors of the RAF and have specialist expertise in aviat ...

from 1962 to 1967 and Honorary Physician to the Queen from 1961 until 1967.

Biography

Nelson was born in Ponoka, Alberta, Canada, on November 13, 1907 to Marcus Nelson and Jane Amelia Cartwright. He graduated from the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

with his MD and, In the 1930s, moved to the UK, where in 1934, he joined the RAF. When Nelson retired from the royal air force in 1967, he held the rank of air marshal.

Military service

Nelson joined the RAF in 1934 as a Flying Officer. In 1936 he was promoted to the rank of

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the India ...

which he held until 1940. When the RAF established a field hospital at Fuka in the Western Desert, he was the senior medical Flight Lieutenant in the Middle East and was appointed to command it. As the post was a Wing Commander's post, he went straight from Flight Lieutenant to Wing Commander. He remained in this rank until he was promoted to Group Captain in the 1950s. In 1957, he was promoted to Air Commodore. Two years after, in 1959, he was promoted to the acting rank of Air Vice-Marshal. During Nelson's tenure as Air Vice-Marshal, he was made Honorary Physician to the Queen ( QHP) in 1961. His final promotion in 1962 made him an Air-Marshal and he was created as Director-General

RAF medical services The Royal Air Force Medical Services is the branch of the Royal Air Force that provides health care at home and on deployed operations to RAF service personnel. Medical officers are the doctors of the RAF and have specialist expertise in aviat ...

until his military retirement in 1967.

Honours

Throughout his career, Nelson was a decorated officer. in 1949 He was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire (

OBE 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 ...

). In 1961 he was created Honorary Physician to the Queen ( QHP). One year later, in 1962, he was created Commander of the Order of Bath (CB). In 1963 he was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of Bath ( KCB). This made him Sir Richard Nelson. In 1964, Nelson was made a Commander of the order of Saint John (

CStJ The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

After Service

After his retirement from the RAF in 1967, Nelson joined the Nicholas Research Institute in

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

, as Medical Director and Director of Research until his retirement in October 1972. He died in 2001 at his home in Hampshire, UK.https://www.blatherwick.net/documents/British%20Orders%20to%20Canadians/03%20-%20CB%20Order%20of%20the%20Bath.pdf

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Samuel Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath University of Alberta alumni Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force air marshals Non-British Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Officers of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of St John People from Ponoka, Alberta 1907 births 2001 deaths