Richard Dannatt

Biographical Details
"General Sir Richard Dannatt was commissioned from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst into The Green Howards in 1971. In his early years, he served seven tours of duty in Northern Ireland and also with the UN in Cyprus and for many years in Germany before he commanded 1st Battalion The Green Howards from 1989 to 1991. Amongst appointments on the Staff, as Colonel Higher Command and Staff Course/Doctrine at the Army Staff College, Camberley in 1992-93, he wrote the Army Doctrine Publication “Operations” – a revised operational doctrine appropriate to the post Cold War era. From 1994 to1996 he commanded 4th Armoured Brigade again in Germany and also in Bosnia during the early days of the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

"After heading the Defence Programme Staff during the new Labour Government’s Strategic Defence Review in 1997/98, he took command of 3rd (United Kingdom) Division in January 1999, and also served in Kosovo that year as Commander British Forces. In 2000 he returned to Bosnia as the Deputy Commander Operations of the NATO Stabilisation Force (SFOR). From 2001 to 2002 he was the Assistant Chief of the General Staff in the Ministry of Defence before taking command of NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC). In March 2005 he took over as Commander-in-Chief Land Command, and assumed the appointment of Chief of the General Staff in August 2006, handing over to General Sir David Richards three years later.

"General Sir Richard Dannatt was born on 23rd December 1950 and was educated at Felsted School and St Lawrence College. He and his wife, Philippa, have their permanent home in Norfolk and are both graduates of Durham University. Married in 1977, they have three sons and a daughter. One of their sons has served with the Parachute Regiment in Iraq and with the Grenadier Guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to his main appointments, General Dannatt also served at various times as Colonel Commandant of the Army Air Corps, Colonel of the Green Howards, and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Military Police. He is President of the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association and Vice President of the Armed Forces’ Christian Union.

"General Dannatt is also a Trustee of the Windsor Leadership Trust, a Founder Patron of the Service charity Help for Heroes, a Patron of the war-zone charity, Hope and Homes for Children and of Street Child of Sierra Leone and is a Vice Patron of St Dunstan's, which works with blind and visually impaired ex-servicemen and women. He has an Honorary Doctorate in Civil Law from the Universities of Durham and Kent and in Technology from Anglia Ruskin University. He is an Honorary Fellow of Hatfield College, Durham. He was President of the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association for 2008 and is President of the Norfolk Branch of the Army Benevolent Fund and Patron of The Royal British Legion in Norfolk. In August 2009 he became the 159th Constable of The Tower of London and, as such, is a Trustee of Historic Royal Palaces and The Royal Armouries.


 * Trustee, Windsor Leadership Trust