General

General (United Kingdom)

General is currently the highest peace-time rank in the British Army and Royal Marines. It is subordinate to the Army rank of Field Marshal, has a NATO-code of OF-9, and is a four-star rank....

 Sir (John Freeguard) Jack Deverell KCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 OBE

Order of the British Empire

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...

 (born 27 April 1945) was Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 Allied Forces Northern Europe.

Military career

Educated at King Edward's School, Bath

King Edward's School, Bath

King Edward's School , Bath, Somerset, England is an independent school providing education for 950 pupils aged 3 to 18.The school is a member of The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference....

 and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst , commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is a British Army officer initial training centre located in Sandhurst, Berkshire, England...

, Jack Deverell was commissioned into the Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry

Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry

The Somerset and Cornwall Light Infantry was an infantry regiment of the British Army.It was formed in 1959 by the merger of two regiments: The Somerset Light Infantry and The Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry...

 in 1966. He was selected as Commanding Officer

Commanding officer

The commanding officer is the officer in command of a military unit. Typically, the commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitude to run the unit as he sees fit, within the bounds of military law...

 of 3rd Bn Light Infantry

Light infantry

Traditionally light infantry were soldiers whose job was to provide a skirmishing screen ahead of the main body of infantry, harassing and delaying the enemy advance. Light infantry was distinct from medium, heavy or line infantry. Heavy infantry were dedicated primarily to fighting in tight...

 in 1984, serving in the UK and in Northern Ireland, before moving on to be Director of Staff at Royal Military College of Science in 1986. He became Commander

Commander

Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...

 of the UK Mobile Force in 1988.

In 1991 he took the post of Director of Army Recruiting, followed, in 1993, by the post of Director-General of Army Manning and Recruiting at the Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)

The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

. In 1995 he became Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

He was made Deputy Commander-in-Chief Land Command

Commander Field Army (United Kingdom)

The Commander Field Army was a senior British Army officer who had command over the Deployable Divisions of the British Army i.e. those divisions on full strength...

 and Inspector General of the Territorial Army in 1997 and deployed as Deputy Commander for Operations of the Stabilisation Force

SFOR

The Stabilisation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the previous force IFOR...

 in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

 in November 1998 after which he returned to his role as Deputy Commander-in-Chief in March 1999. His final appointment was as Commander-in-Chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 Allied Forces Northern Europe in 2001; he retired in 2004.

In retirement he became Chairman of the National Army Museum

National Army Museum

The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, England adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the "Chelsea Pensioners". The National Army Museum is open to the public every day of the year from 10.00am to 5.30pm,...

.