This is a list of full generals in the Royal Marines. The rank of general (or full general to distinguish it from the lower general officer ranks) is the highest rank currently achievable by serving officers in the Royal Marines although no dedicated Royal Marines full general posts currently exist, unless they serve in tri-service positions. The Commandant General Royal Marines, a professional post created in 1943, is often –but not exclusively (not 1977 to 2022, see list) –held by a full general, including incumbents of a lower general officer rank promoted to general during their tenure in that post.
Promoted | Name | Born | Died | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
1838 [1] | James Meredyth | 1841 | ||
1854 [2] | Walter Tremenheere | 1761 | 1855 | placed on the Retired List 1855 [3] |
1855 [2] | Edward Nicolls | 1779 | 1865 | promoted while on the Retired List [3] |
1855 [3] | George Jones | 1857 | ||
1855 [3] | George Beatty | 1857 | ||
1857 [4] | Thomas Parke | 1780 | 1858 | |
1857 [5] | Sir Charles Menzies | 1783 | 1866 | |
1858 | John Rawlins Coryton | 1791 | 1867 | |
1862 | Sir Samuel Ellis | 1787 | 1865 | |
1866 [6] | Henry Ivatt Delacombe | 1790 | 1878 | |
1866 | Fortescue Graham | 1794 | 1880 | |
1867 | John Tatton Brown | 1795 | 1880 | |
1870 [7] | Sir Anthony Stransham | 1805 | 1900 | |
1870 | Alexander Anderson | 1807 | 1877 | |
1870 [8] | Thomas Holloway | 1875 | ||
1875 [9] | John Gascoigne | 1811 [10] | 1893 [10] | |
1875 [11] | Henry Carr Tate | |||
1897 [12] | Sir Howard Jones | 1835 | 1912 [13] | placed on the Retired List 1900 [14] |
Frederick Gasper Le Grand | 1837 | 1905 | placed on the Retired List 1901 [15] | |
1900 [14] | Samuel James Graham | |||
1901 [15] | Ardley Henry Falwasser Barnes | 1838 | 1910 | placed on the Retired List 1902 [16] |
1902 [16] | Edward Lee Rose | 1842 | 1903 | |
1912 [17] | Sir William Thompson Adair | 1850 | 1931 [18] | |
1912 [19] | Henry Cecil Eagles | (1855–1927)? | ||
1914 [20] | James Henry Bor | 1857 | 1914 [21] | |
1914 [22] | William Inglefield Eastman | 1856 | 1941 [23] | |
1928 | Sir Lewis Halliday | 1870 | 1966 | Recipient of the Victoria Cross |
1945 [24] | Sir Thomas Hunton | 1885 | 1970 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1943–46 |
1948 | Sir Dallas Brooks | 1896 | 1966 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1946–49 (promoted while in the post), 19th Governor of Victoria 1949–63 |
1951 [24] | Sir Leslie Hollis | 1897 | 1963 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1949–52 |
Sir John Westall | 1901 | 1986 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1952–55 | |
Sir Campbell Hardy | 1906 | 1984 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1955–59 | |
1961 [25] | Sir Ian Riches | 1908 | 1996 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1959–62 |
1964 [26] | Sir Malcolm Cartwright-Taylor | 1911 | 1969 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1962–65 |
1967 [27] | Sir Norman Tailyour | 1914 | 1979 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1965–68 |
1970 [28] | Sir Peter Hellings | 1916 | 1990 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1968–71 (promoted while in the post) |
1973 [29] | Sir Ian Gourlay | 1920 | 2013 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1971–75 (promoted while in the post) |
1977 [30] | Sir Peter Whiteley | 1920 | 2016 | Commandant General Royal Marines 1975–77, Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe 1977–79 |
2016 [31] | Sir Gordon Messenger | 1962 | Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff 2016–19, Rear-Admiral of the United Kingdom since 2021, Constable of the Tower since 2022 | |
2022 [32] | Sir Gwyn Jenkins | Commandant General Royal Marines since 2022, Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff 2022–24 | ||
Lieutenant General Sir Henry Royds Pownall, was a senior British Army officer who held several command and staff positions during the Second World War. In particular, he was chief of staff to the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France and Belgium until the battle of France in May/June 1940. He was later chief of staff to General Sir Archibald Wavell until the fall of Singapore in February 1942, and was then chief of staff to Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten in South East Asia in 1943–1944.
General Sir James Aylmer Lowthorpe Haldane, was a Scottish soldier who rose to high rank in the British Army.
Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Edward Aveling Holland, was a British Army officer and Conservative and Unionist politician.
Field Marshal Sir Arthur Arnold Barrett, was a British officer of the Indian Army. He saw action at the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment in December 1879 and at the Battle of Kandahar in September 1880 during the Second Anglo-Afghan War and went on to serve in the Hunza-Nagar Campaign in 1891. During the First World War he was General Officer Commanding the Poona Division which successfully took Basra in Mesopotamia in November 1914 and then Al-Qurnah in Mesopotamia in December 1914. He spent the rest of the War commanding the Northern Army in which role he took part in operations against the Mahsuds in Spring 1917. He saw action again as the senior British officer on the ground during the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919 before retiring in May 1920.
Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Grice Sturges was a senior Royal Marines officer who fought in both the First World War and Second World War.
General Sir William Godfrey Fothergill Jackson, was a British Army officer, military historian, author and Governor of Gibraltar.
General Sir George Macaulay Kirkpatrick was a Canadian soldier who served with the British Army in South Africa, Canada, India, Australia, and China. He became one of only a handful of Canadians to reach the rank of full General.
General Sir Clive Gerard Liddell, was a senior British Army officer who served as Adjutant-General to the Forces from 1937 to 1939. He was Governor of Gibraltar from 1939 to 1941 during the early stages of the Second World War.
General Sir Webb Gillman, was a British Army general during the First World War.
General Sir John Philip Du Cane, was a British Army officer. He held high rank during the First World War, most notably as Major General Royal Artillery at General Headquarters in 1915 when the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was expanding rapidly, as General Officer Commanding XV Corps 1916–18, then from April 1918 as liaison officer between Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig and the Allied Generalissimo Ferdinand Foch. After the war he was Master-General of the Ordnance.
General Sir William Thwaites, was a British Army officer who served as commander of the British Army of the Rhine.
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.
Major-General Sir Gerald Farrell Boyd, was a senior British Army officer who served as Military Secretary from 1927 to 1930.
Major General Sir William Douglas Smith was a British Army officer who became Lieutenant Governor of Jersey.
Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Eversley Belfield, was a British Army officer who commanded the 4th Division from 1907 to 1911.
Lieutenant General Sir Hugh Sandham Jeudwine, was a British Army officer who served as Director General of the Territorial Army from 1923 to 1927.
General Sir Basil Ian Spencer Gourlay, was a Royal Marines officer who served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 1971 to 1975.
General Sir Peter William Cradock Hellings, was a Royal Marines officer who served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 1968 to 1971.
General Sir John Stuart Mackenzie Shea, was a British officer in the Indian Army. During the First World War, he held senior commands on the Western Front and the Middle Eastern theatre.
Vice Chief of the Defence Staff 2016 to 2019