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 ...

David Leslie Burden, (born 14 July 1943) is a former

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 Military Secretary from 1997 to 1999.

Military career

Burden was educated at

Portsmouth Grammar School The Portsmouth Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school and is located on Portsmouth High Street. History In 1732, ...

and commissioned into the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

in 1964.''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

2010'',

A & C Black A & C Black is a British book publishing company, owned since 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing. The company is noted for publishing '' Who's Who'' since 1849. It also published popular travel guides and novels. History The firm was founded in 18 ...

, 2010, He was posted to Germany and to Northern Ireland and transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps under the McLeod Reorganisation of Army Logistics in 1965. He attended the Army Staff College in 1975, the National Defence College in 1981 and the

Royal College of Defence Studies The Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS) instructs the most promising senior officers of the British Armed Forces, His Majesty's Diplomatic Service and Civil Service in national defence and international security matters at the highest level ...

in 1988. In the mid to late 1970s Burden twice served in the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and undertook two tours with the Allied Command Mobile Force Land, one in the headquarters and one in command of a logistic company. In 1981 he became Chief Personnel and Logistic Officer for the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus and in 1983 he became

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

of the Ordnance Battalion for 1st Armoured Division. In 1985 he was made Deputy

Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

at Headquarters British Forces Hong Kong and in 1989 he became Assistant Chief of Staff at Headquarters British Army of the Rhine. In 1991 he became Director General Resettlement in the

and in 1992 he became the first Director General of the Royal Logistic Corps. In 1997 he was appointed Military Secretary. On retirement from the Army Burden served as Receiver General of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

from 1998 until 2008.Luncheon: retirement of Major General David Burden, CB, CBE
The Times, 3 November 2008

Family

Burden is married to Susan and they have two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burden, David 1943 births Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies British Army major generals British military personnel of The Troubles (Northern Ireland) Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of the Bath Living people People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School Royal Army Service Corps officers Royal Army Ordnance Corps officers