Nigel Bagnall

Field Marshal

Sir Nigel Bagnall
Field Marshal; Sir Nigel Bagnall
	Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall, pictured here in 1989.
Born	10 February 1927; India
Died	8 April 2002 (aged 75)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Years of service	1946–1989
Rank	Field Marshal
Service number	360763
Unit	Green Howards; Parachute Regiment; 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
Commands	Chief of the General Staff; British Army of the Rhine; I Corps; 4th Division; 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards
Battles / wars	Palestine Emergency; Malayan Emergency; Cyprus Emergency; Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation
Awards	Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath; Commander of the Royal Victorian Order; Military Cross & Bar

Field Marshal Sir Nigel Thomas Bagnall, GCB, CVO, MC (10 February 1927 – 8 April 2002) was a career British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine, from 1983 to 1985, and then as Chief of the General Staff (CGS), the professional head of the British Army, from 1985 to 1988. Early in his military career he saw action during the Palestine Emergency, the Malayan Emergency, the Cyprus Emergency and the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, and later in his career he provided advice to the British Government on the future role of Britain's nuclear weapons.

Army career

Born in British India, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Harry Stephen Bagnall and Marjory May Bagnall and educated at Wellington College,^[1] Bagnall undertook National Service for a year^[2] before being commissioned into the Green Howards on 5 January 1946.^[3] Shortly afterwards, however, on 13 February 1946 he transferred to the Parachute Regiment^[4] and was deployed to Palestine where the British Mandate was about to end.^[2] Promoted to lieutenant on 24 September 1949,^[5] he served in Malaya, where as a platoon commander, he was awarded the Military Cross in 1950,^[6] and a bar to the Military Cross in 1952.^[7]

Promoted to captain on 10 February 1954,^[8] he returned to the Green Howards in summer 1954 and then took part in counter-insurgency operations against EOKA units in Cyprus in 1955.^[2] He transferred to the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards on 24 April 1956.^[9] He was promoted to major on 10 February 1961^[10] and appointed Military Assistant to the Vice-Chief of Defence Staff in May 1964 and then became the Senior Staff Officer dealing with intelligence activities for operations in Borneo in March 1966.^[10]

Promoted to lieutenant colonel on 31 December 1966,^[11] he became the Commanding Officer of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards in 1967 and served in that capacity in Omagh in Northern Ireland and Sennelager in Germany.^[10] Promoted to colonel on 31 December 1969,^[12] he became Commander Royal Armoured Corps in 1st (British) Corps in December 1970,^[10] before receiving further promotion to brigadier on 31 December 1970.^[13] He went on to be Secretary of the Chiefs of Staff Committee at the Ministry of Defence in September 1973.^[10] He was appointed General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 4th Division on 21 September 1975^[14] with the substantive rank of major general from 1 November 1975^[15] and Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Policy) at the Ministry of Defence on 7 January 1978.^[16]

He became commander of 1st (British) Corps on 1 November 1980 with the rank of lieutenant general^[17] and, having been appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the New Year Honours 1981,^[18] went on to be Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and Commander of NATO's Northern Army Group with the rank of general on 1 July 1983.^[19] As Commander of the Northern Army Group he grappled with NATO's strategy of forward defence, when he persuaded the Germans that some ground would have to be surrendered to withstand a massive Soviet Army attack.^[20]

After being advanced to a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the Queen's Birthday Honours 1985^[21] and also becoming ADC to the Queen on 30 July 1985,^[22] he was appointed Chief of the General Staff in August 1985^[23] in which capacity he was closely involved in the debate about the future role of Britain's nuclear weapons.^[24] He was promoted to field marshal on 9 September 1988 on his retirement from the British Army.^[23]

He was also appointed Colonel Commandant of the Army Physical Training Corps on 5 February 1981^[25] and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps on 1 August 1985.^[26]

In retirement he became a military historian and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He wrote a history of the Punic wars published in 1990^[27] and, two years after his death, he had a history of the Peloponnesian War published.^[28]

He died on 8 April 2002, at the age of 75.^[29]

Family

In 1959 he married Anna Caroline Church; they had two daughters.^[1]

Historiographical works

Bagnall, Nigel, The Punic Wars: Rome, Carthage and the Struggle for the Mediterranean, London: Hutchinson, 1990, ISBN 0-091-74421-0.
Bagnall, Nigel, The Peloponnesian War: Athens, Sparta and the Struggle for Greece, London: Pimlico, 2004, ISBN 978-0-712-69881-8.

References

^ ^a ^b Debrett's People of Today 1994
^ ^a ^b ^c Heathcote 1999, p. 35.
^ "No. 37467". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 February 1946. p. 954.
^ "No. 37517". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 March 1946. p. 1621.
^ "No. 38720". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 September 1949. p. 4552.
^ "No. 39048". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 October 1950. p. 5292.
^ "No. 39839". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 April 1953. p. 2406.
^ "No. 40094". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 February 1954. p. 848.
^ "No. 40760". The London Gazette (Supplement). 20 April 1956. p. 2393.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Heathcote 1999, p. 36.
^ "No. 44223". The London Gazette (Supplement). 6 January 1967. p. 307.
^ "No. 45013". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 January 1970. p. 215.
^ "No. 45271". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1971. p. 117.
^ "No. 46692". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 September 1975. p. 11931.
^ "No. 46727". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 November 1975. p. 13883.
^ "No. 47437". The London Gazette (Supplement). 16 January 1978. p. 599.
^ "No. 48386". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 December 1980. p. 16704.
^ "No. 48467". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1980. p. 2.
^ "No. 49412". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 July 1983. p. 9145.
^ "Obituary: Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall". The Guardian. 11 April 2002. Retrieved 18 December 2011. and see also Brian Holden Reid; Jeremy Mackenzie, eds. (1989). The British Army and the operational level of war. Tri-Service. ISBN 978-1854880093.
^ "No. 50154". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 1985. p. 2.
^ "No. 50226". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 August 1985. p. 11147.
^ ^a ^b Heathcote 1999, p. 37.
^ "Obituary: Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall". The Guardian. 11 April 2002. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
^ "No. 48614". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 May 1981. p. 6937.
^ "No. 50233". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 August 1985. p. 11483.
^ Bagnall, Nigel The Punic Wars Thomas Dunne Books, 1990, ISBN 978-0-312-34214-2
^ Bagnall, Nigel The Peloponnesian War Thomas Dunne Books, 2004, ISBN 978-0-312-34215-9
^ "Obituary: Field Marshal Sir Nigel Bagnall". The Guardian. 11 April 2002. Retrieved 2 January 2012.

Military offices
Preceded by Michael Gow	GOC 4th Division 1975–1977	Succeeded by Richard Vickers
Preceded by Sir Peter Leng	GOC I Corps 1980–1983	Succeeded by Sir Martin Farndale
Preceded by Sir Michael Gow	Commander-in-chief of the British Army of the Rhine 1983–1985	Succeeded by Sir Martin Farndale
Preceded by Sir John Stanier	Chief of the General Staff 1985–1988	Succeeded by Sir John Chapple

v t e Commanders-in-Chief of the Forces and Chiefs of the General Staff of the British Army
Commanders-in-Chief of the Forces	Duke of Albemarle Duke of Monmouth Earl of Marlborough Duke of Leinster Duke of Marlborough Duke of Ormonde Earl of Stair George Wade Duke of Cumberland Viscount Ligionier Marquess of Granby Lord Amherst Henry Conway Lord Amherst Duke of York Sir David Dundas Duke of York Duke of Wellington Viscount Hill Duke of Wellington Viscount Hardinge Duke of Cambridge Viscount Wolseley Earl Roberts
Chief of the General Staff	Sir Neville Lyttelton
Chiefs of the Imperial General Staff	Sir William Nicholson Sir John French Sir Charles Douglas Sir James Murray Sir Archibald Murray Sir William Robertson Sir Henry Wilson The Earl of Cavan Sir George Milne Sir Archibald Montgomery-Massingberd Sir Cyril Deverell The Viscount Gort Sir Edmund Ironside Sir John Dill Sir Alan Brooke The Viscount Montgomery of Alamein Sir William Slim Sir John Harding Sir Gerald Templer Sir Francis Festing Sir Richard Hull
Chiefs of the General Staff	Sir Richard Hull Sir James Cassels Sir Geoffrey Baker Sir Michael Carver Sir Peter Hunt Sir Roland Gibbs Sir Edwin Bramall Sir John Stanier Sir Nigel Bagnall Sir John Chapple Sir Peter Inge Sir Charles Guthrie Sir Roger Wheeler Sir Michael Walker Sir Mike Jackson Sir Richard Dannatt Sir David Richards Sir Peter Wall Sir Nick Carter Sir Mark Carleton-Smith Sir Patrick Sanders Sir Roland Walker

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Army career

Family

Historiographical works

References

Further reading