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. He was co-director of Cranfield University'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 a ...

. In 1995, he became Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield University. 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 battalio ...

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'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'' 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His '' War Walks'' 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 hematological malignancy, blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include lymphadenopathy, enlarged lymph nodes, fever ...

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''

, (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 Centu ...

, (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