Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Sir Richard Hull Swinburn, (30 October 1937 – 11 October 2017) was a senior

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 who served as Commander of the UK Field Army from 1994 to 1995.

Military career

Educated at Wellington College and the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC) was a United Kingdom, British military academy for training infantry and cavalry Officer (armed forces), officers of the British Army, British and British Indian Army, Indian Armies. It was founded in 1801 at Gre ...

, Swinburn was commissioned into the

17th/21st Lancers The 17th/21st Lancers was a Cavalry regiments of the British Army, cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in England by the amalgamation of the 17th Lancers and the 21st Lancers in 1922 and, after service in the World War II, Second W ...

in 1957. He became

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, 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 give ...

of the 17th/21st Lancers in 1979 and commander of the

7th Armoured Brigade Seventh is the ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 7, seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"T ...

in 1983.Debrett's People of Today 1994 He went on to be

General Officer Commanding General officer commanding (GOC) is the usual title given in the armies of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth (and some other nations, such as Ireland) to a general officer who holds a command appointment. Thus, a general might be the GOC ...

(GOC) 1st Armoured Division in 1987 and Assistant Chief of the General Staff in 1989. He was made GOC South East District in 1990 (which was retitled Southern District in 1992). He was then made Commander UK Field Army in 1994, and retired in 1995. Swinburn was given the colonelcy of the

Queen's Royal Lancers The Queen's Royal Lancers (QRL) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1993 and amalgamated with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) on 2 May 2015 to form the Royal Lancers. History The regiment was formed i ...

from 1995 to 2001.

Family

Swinburn was the son of Major General Henry Robinson Swinburn (1897–1981) and Naomi Hull (1903–1992). His maternal grandfather was Major General Sir Charles Hull and his uncle was Field Marshal Sir Richard Hull. In 1964 he married Jane Elise Brodie, who died in 2001. In September 2012, it was announced that he was engaged to Susan Ferguson (née Deptford), the widow of Major Ronald Ferguson and the stepmother of

Sarah, Duchess of York Sarah, Duchess of York (born Sarah Margaret Ferguson; 15 October 1959), also known by the nickname Fergie, is a British author, philanthropist, television personality, and member of the extended British royal family. She is the former wife of P ...

. They married in December 2012.

Prince Andrew Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960) is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger broth ...

, Sarah, Duchess of York, and their two daughters attended Sir Richard and Lady Swinburn's wedding celebrations.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Swinburn, Richard 1937 births 2017 deaths Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath British Army lieutenant generals 17th/21st Lancers officers People from Dummer, Hampshire 20th-century British Army personnel