Nigel Anthony Collett (born 20 October 1952) is a former lieutenant-colonel in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and author of '' The Butcher of Amritsar''. He is a contributor to the ''

Asian Review of Books Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from As ...

'' and to ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' ( zh, s=中国日报, p=Zhōngguó Rìbào) is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any ...

'' and is a moderator for the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, for which he was instrumental in promoting the first event which had a focus on gay and lesbian writing in 2008.

Education and military career

Collett attended the Commonweal School, Swindon, England from 1963 to 1970 and

St Peter's College, Oxford St Peter's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. Located on New Inn Hall Street, Oxford, United Kingdom, it occupies the site of two of the university's academic halls of the Univers ...

, taking a Bachelor of Arts in Modern History in 1973. He served in 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 ...

and in 1974 attended the ''

Royal Military Academy 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 ...

''. In 1983–84 he attended the Army Staff College, Camberley. In 2002 he earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in Biography at the

University of Buckingham The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit private university#United Kingdom, private university in Buckingham, England, and the oldest of the country's six private universities. It was founded as the University College at Buckingham (U ...

. From 1981 to 1982 he served as a company commander with the Western Frontier Regiment on secondment to the Land Forces of the Sultan of Oman. In 1983 he was an instructor with the British Military Advisory Team in Zimbabwe. In 1984 he was promoted to major and transferred to the

6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles The 6th Queen Elizabeth's Own Gurkha Rifles was a rifle regiment of the British Indian Army, before being transferred to the British Army following India's independence. Originally raised in 1817 as part of the army of the British East India Compa ...

, and was posted to Hong Kong, where he served from 1985 to 1992, including tours as brigade major 48 Gurkha Infantry Brigade and brigade major Brigade of Gurkhas. In 1991, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel and was given command of the 6th in Hong Kong and was garrison commander for the British Forces in Brunei from 1992 to 1993. Since 1994, he has been managing director of Gurkha International Manpower Services Ltd and Gurkha International (Hong Kong) Ltd, both in Hong Kong; website www.gurkha.com.hk. He is vice chairman of the Hong Kong and China Branch of the Royal British Legion and vice chairman of the Asia Africa Committee of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce.

Published works

*''A Grammar, Phrase Book and Vocabulary of Baluchi''; . *''A Nepali-English-Nepali Dictionary''; . *'' The Butcher of Amritsar: General Reginald Dyer'' published by Continuum in 2005; . It is a biography of

Reginald Dyer Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, (9 October 186423 July 1927) was a British military officer in the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. His military career began in the regular British Army, but he soon transf ...

, the man responsible for the massacre at

Jallianwala Bagh Jallianwala Bagh () is a historic garden and memorial of national importance close to the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab, India, preserved in the memory of those wounded and killed in the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre that took place on t ...

and was generally well received. *'' Firelight of a Different Colour: The Life and Times of Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing'' published by Signal 8 Press, Hong Kong in 2014; . *''A Death in Hong Kong: The MacLennan Case of 1980 and the Suppression of a Scandal'', published by City University of Hong Kong Press in 2018;

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Collett, Nigel British military writers Devonshire and Dorset Regiment officers Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst Alumni of the University of Buckingham Living people Royal Gurkha Rifles officers Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley 1952 births 20th-century British Army personnel