Christopher Airy

Last updated

Sir Christopher Airy
Born (1934-03-08) 8 March 1934 (age 88)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1954–89
Rank Major General
Service number 433040
Unit Scots Guards
Commands held London District
5th Field Force
1st Battalion Scots Guards
Battles/wars Operation Banner
Awards Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order
Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Major General Sir Christopher John Airy, KCVO , CBE (born 8 March 1934) is a retired British Army officer who served as general officer commanding the London District and Major-General commanding the Household Division from 1986 to 1989.

Contents

Military career

Educated at Marlborough College and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, [1] Airy was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards in 1954. [2]

Airy became personal military assistant to the Secretary of State for War in 1960, deputy assistant adjutant-general and regimental adjutant in 1967 and brigade major of 4th Guards Brigade in 1971. In 1974 he transferred to the Scots Guards in 1974 on appointment as commanding officer of the 1st Battalion of the Scots Guards. [3] Two years later he became Military Assistant to the Master-General of the Ordnance.

In 1979 he became commander of the 5th Field Force, and in 1982 assistant chief of staff at United Kingdom Land Forces.

Promoted to major-general in 1983, he served at the Royal College of Defence Studies, [4] before becoming Major-General commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District in 1986. [5] He retired in 1989. [6] [7] [8]

He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1984, [9] and a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1989. [10]

Family

Airy married Judith Stephenson in 1959 and has one son and two daughters. His daughter-in-law Lucinda is a granddaughter of Edward Clive Bigham, 3rd Viscount Mersey and Katherine Petty-FitzMaurice, Lady Nairne, eldest daughter of the 6th Marquess of Lansdowne. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen</span> 19/20th-century British Army officer

Field Marshal Paul Sanford Methuen, 3rd Baron Methuen, was a British Army officer. He served in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War in 1873 and then in the expedition of Sir Charles Warren to Bechuanaland in the mid-1880s. He took a prominent role as General Officer Commanding the 1st Division in the Second Boer War. He suffered a serious defeat at the Battle of Magersfontein, during which he failed to carry out adequate reconnaissance and accordingly his artillery bombarded the wrong place leading to the Highland Brigade taking heavy casualties. He was later captured by the Boers at Tweebosch. After the war, he became General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in South Africa in 1908, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Natal in 1910 and then Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta in 1915.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Stopford</span> British army officer

Lieutenant General Sir Frederick William Stopford, was a British Army officer, best remembered for commanding the landing at Suvla Bay in August 1915, during the Gallipoli Campaign, where he failed to order an aggressive exploitation of the initially successful landings.

Major-General Sir John Hugh Bevil Acland, KCB, CBE, DL was a senior British Army officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Charles Oakes Marriott</span> British Army general (1895–1978)

Major General Sir John Charles Oakes Marriott, was a senior British Army officer who served during the First World War and again in the Second World War.

Lieutenant-General Vernon Forbes Erskine-Crum, CIE, MC was a British Army officer, who briefly served as general officer commanding in Northern Ireland during the early period of the Troubles.

General Sir Jack Wentworth Harman, was a British Army officer who became Adjutant-General to the Forces. He began his military career in 1940, serving in The Queen's Bays for the majority of his early career and saw service with them during Second World War in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Following the war Harman held various appointments at regimental, divisional and corps level rising to fulfil the role of Adjutant-General to the Forces in 1976. His final position was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, which he held until retirement in 1981. In later life he served as a director of an insurance brokers and vice-chairman of the National Army Museum and The Automobile Association before he died in late December 2009, at the age of 89.

General Sir Richard Erskine Ward, was a British Army officer who served in the Second World War with distinction and later became Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong.

Major General Michael Ian Eldon Scott is a retired British Army officer who took part in the Falklands War, and held the office of the Military Secretary of the British Army.

Major-General Mark Jeremy Strudwick was a British Army officer, who served as General Officer Commanding Scotland from 1997 to 2000.

Major General Sir Francis James Cecil Bowes-Lyon, was a senior British Army officer who served as commandant of the British Sector in Berlin from 1968 to 1970.

Major General Alan Cathcart, 6th Earl Cathcart, styled Lord Greenock until 1927, was a British Army officer who served as Commandant of the British Sector in Berlin from 1970 until his retirement in 1973.

Major General Sir Iain Charles Mackay-Dick, Is a retired British Army officer. He was the Major-General commanding the Household Division and General Officer Commanding London District.

Major General Sir Charles Edward Corkran, was a senior British Army officer who served as Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District from 1928 to 1932.

Major General Walter Patrick Hore-Ruthven, 10th Lord Ruthven of Freeland, 2nd Baron Ruthven of Gowrie,, known as Master of Ruthven from 1870 to 1921, was a senior British Army officer. He served as Major-General commanding the Brigade of Guards and General Officer Commanding London District from 1924 to 1928, and was then Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey until 1934.

Major-General (David) Murray Naylor CB MBE DL is a former British Army officer who commanded 2nd Infantry Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Erskine</span> British Army general (1898–1973)

Major General Ian David Erskine, was a senior British Army officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Robert Gooch, 11th Baronet</span> British Army officer and politician (1903–1978)

Colonel Sir Robert Eric Sherlock Gooch, 11th Baronet was a British Army officer and local politician.

Brigadier Henry Coventry Maitland-Makgill-Crichton, was a Scottish senior officer in the British Army. A graduate of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Maitland served as an officer in the Royal Scots Fusiliers during the Second Boer War and the First World War. He was severely wounded in both conflicts and received multiple mentions in despatches.

Major-General Ralph Younger was a British Army officer.

Major-General Sir John Albert Charles Whitaker, 2nd Baronet (5 March 1897 – 5 October 1957 was a senior British Army officer who served in the First World War and the Second World War.

References

  1. Burke's Peerage
  2. "No. 40133". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 March 1954. p. 1875.
  3. "No. 46403". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 November 1974. p. 11380.
  4. "No. 49619". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 January 1984. p. 685.
  5. "No. 50446". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 March 1986. p. 3086.
  6. "No. 51853". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 August 1989. p. 9950.
  7. "No. 52142". The London Gazette . 18 May 1990. p. 9351.
  8. "No. 52755". The London Gazette . 24 December 1991. p. 19774.
  9. "No. 49583". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1983. p. 5.
  10. "No. 51797". The London Gazette . 30 June 1989. p. 7679.
  11. Burke's Peerage , Volume 2, page 2669
Military offices
Preceded by GOC London District
1986–1989
Succeeded by
Court offices
Preceded by Private Secretary to the Prince of Wales
1990–1991
Succeeded by