Sir Robert Magowan | |
---|---|
![]() Magowan in 2022 | |
Born | 12 September 1967 |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | Royal Marines |
Years of service | 1989–present |
Rank | Lieutenant General |
Commands held | Controller of the Navy Commandant General Royal Marines 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group Deputy Commander UK Strategic Command |
Battles/wars | Operation Banner Iraq War Operation Atalanta War in Afghanistan |
Awards | Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States) |
Alma mater | University of Southampton |
Spouse(s) | Charlotte Magowan |
Children | 2 daughters |
Lieutenant General Sir Robert Andrew Magowan, KCB , CBE (born 12 September 1967) is a senior Royal Marines officer who serves as the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Financial and Military Capability) since May 2022. He previously served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 2016 to 2017 and again from 2021 to 2022.
Magowan was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Faversham and the University of Southampton. [1]
Magowan was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1989. [2] He became Plans Officer at Headquarters 3rd Mechanised Division in 2001, in which role he was deployed to Afghanistan, and then became second-in-command of 42 Commando with which he took part in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. [1] He joined the Cabinet Office Assessment Staff in 2003, was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2005 New Year Honours, [3] and posted to the Afghan Drugs Inter-departmental Unit in 2005, before becoming commanding officer of 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group in 2006. He commanded IX Battle Group in Afghanistan in 2007. [4]
Magowan became a Deputy Head in Defence Intelligence in 2009 and Chief of Staff to the National Contingent Commander at the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul in 2012, [1] [5] for which he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the October 2013 Operational Honours. [6] The award recognised "his outstanding contribution in strengthening bonds between British forces and the Afghans". [2] He was appointed Commodore, National Personnel Strategy at Navy Command Headquarters in March 2013, [1] [5] Commandant General Royal Marines in June 2016, and commander of Operation Atalanta in June as well. [7] [8] [9]
Magowan was awarded the United States Commander of the Legion of Merit by General Robert Neller on 10 October 2017. [10] The following month, he was appointed Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Capability) and Controller of the Navy, before becoming Assistant Chief of the Defence Staff (Capability and Force Design) in December 2018. [5] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 2018 Birthday Honours. [11] He became Deputy Commander Joint Forces Command, renamed as Strategic Command in January 2020. [12] [13] Magowan was promoted to lieutenant general on 22 January 2020. [14] [15] In April 2021, he was once more appointed as Commandant General Royal Marines, becoming the first person to hold the position twice, along with being the first person to serve in the position as a lieutenant general since 1996. [16] He became Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Financial and Military Capability) in May 2022. [17]
Magowan was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2024 New Year Honours. [18]
Magowan is married to Charlotte and together they have two young daughters. He is an accomplished mountaineer, a keen reader of European political history and an amateur cook. [19]
The United Kingdom's Strategic Command (StratCom), previously known as Joint Forces Command (JFC), manages allocated joint capabilities from the three armed services.
General John Nicholas Reynolds Houghton, Baron Houghton of Richmond, is a retired senior British Army officer and former Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) of the British Armed Forces. He was appointed CDS in July 2013, following the retirement of General Sir David Richards. He served as Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, the Green Howards in Northern Ireland during The Troubles and later became Commander of the 39th Infantry Brigade in Northern Ireland. He deployed as Senior British Military Representative and Deputy Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq during the Iraq War. Later, he became Chief of Joint Operations at Permanent Joint Headquarters and served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff until assuming the position of CDS. Houghton retired from the British Army in July 2016, and was succeeded as CDS by Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach.
Lieutenant General Sir Robert Alan Fry, served as a Royal Marine for over 30 years and was involved in military operations in Northern Ireland, the Gulf, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. After retirement from military service he went into private business and, in 2007, became CEO of Hewlett Packard's defence and security business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In 2010 he was appointed chairman of McKinney Rogers International and subsequently, in 2011, Albany Associates.
Lieutenant General Sir Robert Henry Gervase Fulton, is a retired British Royal Marines officer who served as Governor of Gibraltar from 2006 to 2009.
General Sir Nicholas Ralph Parker, is a former British Army officer who served as Commander Land Forces until December 2012.
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, is a retired Royal Navy officer. After serving as a submarine commander, he commanded a frigate and then commanded an aircraft carrier on operational patrol off Sierra Leone. He went on to be Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and then Commander-in-Chief Fleet. He served as First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval staff, the professional head of the Royal Navy, from July 2009 to April 2013. In this role he advised the British Government on the deployment of naval forces during operations around Libya. He was succeeded by Admiral Sir George Zambellas in April 2013.
Major General Garry Stuart Robison, is a retired Royal Marines officer who served as Commandant-General Royal Marines and Commander United Kingdom Amphibious Forces from 2006 to 2009.
General Sir Nicholas Patrick Carter, is a Kenyan-born former senior British Army officer who served as Chief of the Defence Staff from June 2018 to November 2021.
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 Benjamin "Jim" Dutton, is a retired Royal Marines officer and former Governor of Gibraltar. He held various staff positions in his early career, before commanding 40 Commando. As a brigadier, he held two high-level staff posts—the first at the Ministry of Defence in London, as Director of NATO policy, and the second as a British liaison to The Pentagon shortly after the September 11 attacks, where he was involved in the planning for the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.
Lieutenant General Sir George Pemberton Ross Norton, is a retired British Army officer. He was the UK Military Representative to NATO from 2016 to 2020, and has served as the Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies since 2020.
Lieutenant General Timothy Paul Evans, is a retired British Army officer, who served as Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 2012 to 2013 and then commander of the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps from 2013 to 2016.
Lieutenant General Edward Grant Martin Davis, is a former senior Royal Marines officer. He was Commandant General Royal Marines from December 2011 to June 2014, and the Deputy Commander of NATO's Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey, from 2014 to 2015. He was Governor of Gibraltar from 2016 to 2020.
Lieutenant General Sir Nicholas Arthur William Pope, is a former senior British Army officer. He served as Master-General of the Ordnance from 2011 to 2013 and Deputy Chief of the General Staff from 2015 to 2019.
Lieutenant General Stuart Richard Skeates, is a retired senior British Army officer. He served as Deputy Commander of JFC Brunssum from December 2018 to December 2021. He also previously served as Standing Joint Force Commander from 2015 to 2018.
Major General Martin Linn Smith, is a former senior Royal Marines officer who served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 2014 to 2016. He was previously commander of 3 Commando Brigade, and before that Commanding Officer of 30 Commando Information Exploitation Group and Deputy Commander of 3 Commando Brigade. Smith is currently a non-executive adviser of Texo Group.
General Sir Patrick Nicholas Yardley Monrad Sanders,, is a senior British Army officer serving as Chief of the General Staff since June 2022.
Lieutenant General Charles Richard Stickland, is a senior Royal Marines officer, who has served as the Chief of Joint Operations since November 2021. He was Commandant General Royal Marines from January 2018 to June 2019.
General Gwyn Jenkins, is the senior Royal Marines officer, serving as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff since August 2022. He was concurrently appointed Commandant General Royal Marines in November 2022.
Major General Matthew John Holmes, was a British senior Royal Marines officer who served for more than three decades in the armed forces. After studying economics at the University of Exeter, he joined the Royal Marines and undertook early tours of duty to Norway, the Far East, Northern Ireland and Zimbabwe. After being deployed to Kosovo and Afghanistan, he commanded 42 Commando Royal Marines from 2006 to 2008 and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his leadership in Afghanistan. Holmes served as Commandant General Royal Marines from 2019 to 2021.
(to be promoted): Lieutenant-General Robert A. Magowan: Deputy Commander, Joint Forces Command, January 2020