The Usher of the Black Rod is an official in the parliaments of several countries of the Commonwealth of Nations. The title is often shortened to the Black Rod, and in some countries, formally known as the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod if male or, Lady Usher of the Black Rod if female. The position originates in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Equivalent positions also exist in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
Field Marshal Peter Anthony Inge, Baron Inge, was a senior British Army officer. He was the Chief of the General Staff, the professional head of the British Army, from 1992 to 1994 and then served as Chief of the Defence Staff before retiring in 1997. Early in his military career he saw action during the Malayan Emergency and Operation Banner in Northern Ireland, and later in his career he provided advice to the British Government during the Bosnian War.
Field Marshal Michael John Dawson Walker, Baron Walker of Aldringham, is a retired British Army officer. Commissioned in 1966, he served in Cyprus, Northern Ireland, and in a variety of staff posts in the United Kingdom until 1984. After being given command of a battalion, he was mentioned in despatches for his service during a second tour of duty in Northern Ireland, this time in Derry, and subsequently served a tour on Gibraltar. He was promoted to brigadier, unusually having never held the rank of colonel, and took command of 20th Armoured Brigade in Germany before becoming I Corps chief of staff.
Sir Michael Alan Willcocks, is a retired officer of the British Army and former Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Lords.
Air Chief Marshal Sir George Holroyd Mills, was a senior Royal Air Force commander. After his retirement from the RAF, Mills served as Black Rod in the Houses of Parliament until 1970. He was also a trustee of the Imperial War Museum.
General Sir Frank Edward Kitson, is a retired British Army officer and writer on military subjects, notably low intensity operations. He rose to be Commander-in-Chief UK Land Forces from 1982 to 1985 and was Aide-de-Camp General to Queen Elizabeth II from 1983 to 1985.
General Sir Nicholas Ralph Parker, is a former British Army officer who served as Commander Land Forces until December 2012.
Lieutenant General Sir David George House was a British Army officer who was General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, and later held the office of Black Rod at the House of Lords from 1978 to 1985.
Sir Frederick Richard Viggers, is a former senior British Army officer who served as Adjutant-General to the Forces immediately prior to his retirement in 2008. He was Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod from 30 April 2009 to 28 October 2010. He also served in Bosnia in the aftermath of the breakup of Yugoslavia, and in the Iraq War.
Lieutenant General Sir Philip Charles Cornwallis Trousdell is a retired senior British Army officer who was General Officer Commanding Northern Ireland and Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commanding officer of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rangers before advancing to high command and in that capacity was deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Major General Graham John Binns, is a retired British Army officer. Binns served as General Officer Commanding 1st (UK) Armoured Division and then Commandant Joint Services Command and Staff College. He had previously commanded the 7th Armoured Brigade during Operation Telic 1 when the brigade took Basra in southern Iraq. He is the Honorary Colonel of The Yorkshire Regiment.
General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue, is a retired British Army officer and former Chief of Defence Materiel. He retired from the service in December 2010, being succeeded as Chief of Defence Materiel by Bernard Gray.
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 Thomas Cecil Hook Pearson, was a senior officer of the British Army who served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe from 1972 to 1974. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living British full general.
Colonel Sir Charles Wyndham Murray, was a British Army officer and politician. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament MP for Bath from 1892 to 1906 and as Gentleman Usher of the Scarlet Rod of the Order of the Bath from 1913 until his death.
General Sir Richard Lawson Barrons, is a retired British Army officer. He was Commander Joint Forces Command from April 2013 until his retirement in April 2016.
Lieutenant General Sir James Jeffrey Corfield Bucknall, is a retired British Army officer and former Commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps.
Lieutenant General Peter Thomas Clayton Pearson, is a former British Army officer who served as Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 2006 to 2007.
Major-General Frederick George Beaumont-Nesbitt was an officer of the British Army from 1912 until 1945. He served as a captain in the First World War, and was Director of Military Intelligence from the start of the Second World War until December 1940.
Major-General Arundell Rea Leakey, was an officer in the British Army. He served in the Royal Tank Regiment in the Second World War, in North Africa, Italy and France. He later served in Korea, in the Arab Legion, and commanded a brigade in the British Army of the Rhine in the 1960s. He served as Director-General of Fighting Vehicles and finally as the commander of British troops in Malta and Libya. He retired in 1966, and became Director of the Wolfson Foundation. An autobiography, Leakey's Luck, was published in 1999.
