General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

Sir John Finlay Willasey Wilsey (18 February 1939 – 25 September 2019) 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 served as

Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces Commander-in-Chief, Land Forces (CINCLAND), was a senior officer in the British Army. CINCLAND commanded HQ Land Forces, an administrative apparatus that had responsibility for all of the army's fighting units in the United Kingdom (excluding Nor ...

Army career

Educated at

Sherborne School (God and My Right) , established = 705 by Aldhelm, re-founded by King Edward VI 1550 , closed = , type = Public school Independent, boarding school , religion = Church of England , president = , chair_label = Chairman of the governors ...

, John Wilsey was commissioned into the

Devonshire and Dorset Regiment The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment (11th, 39th and 54th), usually just known as the Devon and Dorsets, was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1958 by the amalgamation of two county regiments, the Devonshire Regiment and the Dorset ...

in 1959.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He served in

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 ...

between 1976 and 1977 where he was mentioned in despatches. In 1978 he attended the Army Staff College, Camberley. He was Commanding Officer of 1st Bn

from 1979 to 1982. He commanded 1st Infantry Brigade from 1984 to 1986. He was Chief of Staff UK Land Forces from 1988 to 1989 and made Colonel Commandant of the

Army Catering Corps The Army Catering Corps (ACC) was a corps of the British Army, responsible for the feeding of all Army units. It was formed in 1941 and amalgamated into the Royal Logistic Corps in 1993. History In 1938 Leslie Hore-Belisha, the Secretary of ...

in 1990. He was also given the colonelcy of the

in 1990, holding the position until 1998. He went on to become General Officer Commanding

from 1990 to 1993. It was in this capacity that he oversaw the merger between the

Ulster Defence Regiment The Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR) was an infantry regiment of the British Army established in 1970, with a comparatively short existence ending in 1992. Raised through public appeal, newspaper and television advertisements,Potter p25 their offi ...

and the

Royal Irish Rangers The Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th) was a regular infantry regiment of the British Army with a relatively short existence, formed in 1968 and later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the Royal Iris ...

to form the Royal Irish Regiment. He 1993 he was appointed Joint Commander of Operations in the

Former Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...

and relinquished his post over the Army Catering Corps in favour of the position of Colonel Commandant of the

Royal Logistic Corps The Royal Logistic Corps provides logistic support functions to the British Army. It is the largest Corps in the Army. History The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC) was formed on 5 April 1993, by the union of five British Army corps: * Royal Engine ...

. In 1994 he was appointed

Aide de Camp General Aide-de-camp general is a senior honorary appointment for generals in the British Army. The recipient is appointed as an aide-de-camp general to the head of state, currently King Charles III. They are entitled to the post-nominals "ADC (Gen.)". The ...

to the Queen. He served as the last Commander in Chief, UK Land Forces from 1993 to 1995 with the acting rank of General and then the first Commander-in-Chief, Land Command from 1995 to 1996. He was awarded GCB in the 1996 New Year Honours.

Later career

Wilsey was the author of ''H. Jones VC: The Life and Death of an Unusual Hero'' a book about his great friend Lt Colonel

'H'. Jones Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Jones, (14 May 1940 – 28 May 1982), known as H. Jones, was a British Army officer and posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC). He was awarded the VC after being killed in action during the Battle of Goose Gr ...

who was killed in the Falklands War. He also became Chairman of

Western Provident Association WPA, or Western Provident Association, is a not-for-profit private medical insurance firm based in Taunton, Somerset. Its subsidiary, WPA Protocol Plc, administers corporate healthcare trusts. History In 1901, a group of workers founded the Rea ...

and

Vice-Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...

of the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations m ...

. Having settled in southern

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 ...

, in July 1996 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the county. He died on 25 September 2019 at the age of 80.

Army career

Later career

References

Further reading