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Major-General Richard Lewis Clutterbuck (22 November 1917 – 6 January 1998Clutterbuck, Maj.-Gen. Richard Lewis
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014
) was a
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 ...
officer and engineer who later became a pioneer in the study of
political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a State (polity), state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-st ...
.


Career

Clutterbuck attended
Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...
in Oxfordshire and the
Royal Military Academy, Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of Officer (armed forces), commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers o ...
, before graduating with a degree in mechanical sciences (engineering) from
Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...
, in 1939. In August 1937 he was commissioned second lieutenant in the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
. After
Dunkirk Dunkirk ( ; ; ; Picard language, Picard: ''Dunkèke''; ; or ) is a major port city in the Departments of France, department of Nord (French department), Nord in northern France. It lies from the Belgium, Belgian border. It has the third-larg ...
, he went through both the
Western Desert In Egypt, the Western Desert is an area of the Sahara that lies west of the river Nile, up to the Libyan border, and south from the Mediterranean Sea to the border with Sudan. It is named in contrast to the Eastern Desert which extends east fro ...
and Italian campaigns. The army sent Clutterbuck to different hotspots, including
Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
(1947) during the Irgun Zvei Leumi's
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
campaign. In 1956, up against
Chinese communists The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil W ...
, Clutterbuck shed his rank badges to go on patrol as an ordinary soldier. As chief engineer Far East, 1966–68, Brigadier Clutterbuck put into practice in northeast Thailand the counter-terrorist philosophy he was gradually evolving. His next job after Thailand was as Engineer-in-Chief (1968–70) at the Ministry of Defence. While in the Far East he had started to read for a PhD in politics. In 1968, he enrolled at the
University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...
. His last army post was back in the specialisation he had created for himself, as chief army instructor of 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 leve ...
, devoted to
peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities, especially military ones, intended to create conditions that favor lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed w ...
or "low-intensity operations" as they were now termed. His ''Who's Who'' entry gave his recreations as "sailing, canoeing and the study of revolution". On retirement in 1972 he received his PhD, and became a lecturer in political conflict at the
University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...
.
Nicholas Shakespeare Nicholas William Richmond Shakespeare FRSL (born 3 March 1957) is a British novelist and biographer, described by the ''Wall Street Journal'' as "one of the best English novelists of our time". Shakespeare is also known for his charity work. B ...
reports that Clutterbuck's secret visits to Lima, Peru in the early 1990s transformed police and army operations against the
Sendero Luminoso The Shining Path (, SL), self-named the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru, following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the Co ...
when the organisation appeared on the verge of overthrowing the government. His advice that a forensic rather than militaristic approach be taken to
counter-terrorist Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and intelligence agencies use to com ...
operations was successfully applied by police chiefs such as General Antonio Ketin Vidal and led directly to the arrest of Abimael Guzman, leader of the Senderistas, and the winding up of his organisation.


Publications

*''Across the River'' (as Richard Jocelyn), 1957; *''The Long Long War'', 1966; *''Protest and the Urban Guerrilla'', 1973; *''Riot and Revolution in Singapore and Malaya'', 1973; *''Living with Terrorism'', 1975; *''Guerrillas and Terrorists'', 1977; *''Britain in Agony'', 1978, (revised edition 1980); *''Kidnap and Ransom'', 1978; *''The Media and Political Violence'', 1981, (revised edition 1983); *''Industrial Conflict and Democracy'', 1984; *''Conflict and Violence in Singapore and Malaysia'', 1985; *''The Future of Political Violence'', 1986; *''Kidnap, Hijack and Extortion'', 1987; *''Terrorism and Guerrilla Warfare'', 1990; *''Terrorism, Drugs and Crime in Europe after 1992'', 1990; *''International Crisis and Conflict'', 1993; *''Terrorism in an Unstable World'', 1994; *''Drugs, Crime and Corruption'', 1995, *''Public Safety and Civil Liberties'', 1997 *''Families, Drugs and Crime'', 1998 (published posthumously)


References


External links


The Papers of Major General Clutterbuck
at
Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers ...
, Cambridge 1917 births 1998 deaths Alumni of the University of London Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II British Army major generals People educated at Radley College Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Exeter British political scientists Academics of the Royal College of Defence Studies Companions of the Order of the Bath Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century political scientists {{UK-academic-bio-stub