Nigel Bagnall

Field Marshal Sir Nigel Thomas Bagnall GCB, CVO, MC & Bar (10 February 1927 – 8 April 2002) was Chief of the General Staff, 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

Bagnall served in Palestine in the late 1940s

Born 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] 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 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 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]

Bagnall commanded the British Army of the Rhine in the mid 1980s

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 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.^[20] 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^[24] and Colonel Commandant of the Royal Armoured Corps on 1 August 1985.^[25]

In retirement he became a military historian and fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He wrote a history of the Punic wars published by Pimlico in 1990^[26] and two months before his death, he had a book on the Peloponnesian War published.^[27] He died on 8 April 2002.^[28]

Family

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

References

Further reading

• Heathcote, Tony (1999). The British Field Marshals 1736–1997. Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword. ISBN 0-85052-696-5. 
• Mackenzie, J. J. G. (1989). The British Army and the operational level of war. Tri-Service. ISBN 978-1854880093. 

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