Richard Holmes (military historian)

Richard Holmes
Born	Edward Richard Holmes (1946-03-29)29 March 1946 Aldridge, Staffordshire
Died	30 April 2011(2011-04-30) (aged 65)[1] Hampshire
Nationality	British
Alma mater	University of Cambridge Northern Illinois University University of Reading
Occupation	Professor of Military and Security Studies
Employer	Cranfield University
Military career
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army (TA)
Years of service	1964–2000
Rank	Brigadier
Unit	Queen's Regiment
Awards	Commander of the Order of the British Empire Efficiency Decoration Volunteer Reserves Service Medal

Brigadier Edward Richard Holmes, CBE, TD, VR, JP (29 March 1946 – 30 April 2011^[1]), known as Richard Holmes, was a British soldier and noted military historian, particularly well-known through his many television appearances. He was co-director of Cranfield University's Security and Resilience Group from 1989 to 2009 and became the Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield in 1995.

Background and career

Holmes was educated at Forest School in Snaresbrook, northeast London, and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, as well as Northern Illinois University and the University of Reading. In 1964, he enlisted in the Territorial Army, the part-time volunteer reserve of the Army.^[2][3] Two years later he gained his commission,^[4][5] eventually rising to the rank of brigadier. He spent most of his Territorial Army career with the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Queen's Regiment, a NATO-centred infantry battalion.

Between 1969 and 1985, he was a lecturer at the Department of War Studies at the RMA Sandhurst, becoming deputy head of the department in 1984.^[6] He was promoted acting captain in 1972,^[7] substantive captain in 1973,^[8] acting major in 1978,^[9] awarded the Efficiency Decoration (TD) in 1979,^[10] promoted to substantive major in 1980.^[11] In 1983, he transferred to and took command of the 2nd Battalion, The Wessex Regiment.^[12] He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel when he chose to give up full-time service in 1986.^[13] In the 1988 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) (Military Division).^[14] He was promoted colonel on 29 January 1989.^[15]

In June 1991, he was appointed aide-de-camp to the Queen, holding the post until February 1997.^[16][17] In January 1994, he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Southampton University Officer Training Corps,^[18] and in that February, he was appointed brigadier TA at Headquarters Land Command.^[19] In 1995, he became Professor of Military and Security Studies at Cranfield.^[6]

From 1997 until his retirement in 2000, Holmes was Director General, Reserve Forces and Cadets, as well as having the distinguished honour of being Britain's senior serving reservist.^[20] In the 1998 New Year Honours, he was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (Military Division).^[21] From September 1999 to 1 February 2007, he was Colonel of the Regiment of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (successor to The Queen's and Royal Hampshire Regiments).^[22] On 19 September 2000, he was awarded the Volunteer Reserves Service Medal.^[23]

Academic

In 1989, he became co-director of Cranfield University's Security Studies Institute at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham. He became Professor of Military and Security Studies there in 1995, retiring from both positions—although retaining some part-time responsibilities, in 2009.^[24]

Public service

Holmes was also president of the British Commission for Military History and the Battlefields Trust,^[1] patron of the Guild of Battlefield Guides,^[1] chairman of Project Hougoumont, member of the Board of Trustees of the Royal Armouries, Patron of "Soldier On!" and a vice president of the UK National Defence Association. He received the Order of the Dannebrog and held honorary doctorates from the universities of Leicester and Kent.^[25] Holmes lived in Hampshire with his wife and two daughters. In his spare time he sat as a Justice of the Peace for North-East Hampshire.

Publications and television work

Holmes wrote more than a dozen books, including Firing Line and Redcoat, and was also editor in chief of the Oxford University Press' Companion to Military History. His television works included documentary series on the American Revolution such as Rebels and Redcoats in 2003 and Battlefields, a series concentrating on the bloody battles of the Second World War.^[26][27] His War Walks television series has been regularly repeated on British terrestrial and digital television channels, including BBC Two and UKTV History. One of his most noted documentary series was Wellington: The Iron Duke,^[28] in which he chronicled the Duke of Wellington's life, travelling to India, to Waterloo and numerous other locations. In the BBC poll to find the 100 Greatest Britons in 2002, he presented the programme on Oliver Cromwell.

He used a similar format in his series, In the Footsteps of Churchill, a "wide-ranging" documentary on Winston Churchill. In this, he travelled across the world, including South Africa, Sudan, Egypt and various locations in the United Kingdom and Europe. He also wrote a book to accompany the series.^[2] With John Keegan, Holmes also developed the BBC documentary Soldiers: A History of Men in Battle.

Death

Holmes had been suffering from a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma but eventually died of pneumonia^[29] on 30 April 2011, aged 65.^[1]

Bibliography

• Bir Hacheim: Desert Citadel (1971) ISBN 978-0-345-02405-3
• The Little Field Marshal: A Life of Sir John French (1981) ISBN 978-0-224-01575-2
• Firing Line, (1985) ISBN 978-0-224-02043-5
• Acts of War: The Behaviour of Men in Battle, (1986) ISBN 978-0-02-915020-7
• Civil War battles in Cornwall, 1642 to 1646 (Mercia, 1989) ISBN 0-948087-32-3
• World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations That Changed the Course of History ISBN 978-0-670-81967-6
• Riding the Retreat: Mons to Marne: 1914 Revisited, (1995) ISBN 978-0-224-03762-4
• Battle, (1997) ISBN 978-0-7513-6057-8
• The Western Front, (1999) ISBN 978-1-57500-147-0
• World War II in Photographs, (2000) ISBN 978-1-84222-073-3
• Battlefields of the Second World War, (2001) ISBN 978-0-563-53782-3
• The First World War in Photographs, (2001) ISBN 978-1-84222-319-2
• Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket, (2001) ISBN 978-0-00-257097-8
• Wellington: The Iron Duke, (2002) ISBN 978-0-00-713748-0
• The D-Day Experience: From the Invasion to the Liberation of Paris, (2004) ISBN 978-1-84442-805-2
• Tommy: The British Soldier on the Western Front, (2004) ISBN 978-0-00-713751-0
• In the Footsteps of Churchill, (2005) ISBN 978-0-563-52176-1
• The Napoleonic Wars Experience (2006) ISBN 978-0-233-00198-2
• Sahib: The British Soldier in India 1750–1914, (2005) ISBN 978-0-00-713753-4
• Dusty Warriors: Modern Soldiers at War, (2006) ISBN 978-0-00-721284-2
• Battlefield. Decisive Conflicts in History, Oxford University Press, (2006) ISBN 978-84-344-1335-1
• The World at War: The Landmark Oral History from the Previously Unpublished Archives, Ebury Press, (2007) ISBN 978-0-09-191751-7
• Marlborough: England's Fragile Genius, (2008) ISBN 978-0-00-722571-2
• Soldiers: Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors, (2011) ISBN 978-0-00-722569-9

References

External links

• Richard Holmes at the Internet Movie Database
• The World at War website
• Holmes interviewed in The Guardian (2004)
• Obituary in The Guardian
• Obituary in The Independent