General the Lord Guthrie
of Craigiebank. GCB. LVO. OBE.

A Brief Profile

On 2nd July 2002 a delegation of Suez Canal Zone Veterans, with four supportive MPs, met with Sir Richard Wilson, Chairman of the Honours and Decorations Committee to discuss the case for a medal for Egypt in the period 1951 to 1954.  After this meeting, it was decided the HD Committee should appoint a sub-committee to look into and review the case for a medal for those who served in the Suez Canal Zone during that time.  This sub-committee was to be under the Chairmanship of General Lord Guthrie.  It is possible many of you asked, “Who is General Lord Guthrie?”  The following brief profile should shed some light on this distinguished soldier and his military career.

Educated at Harrow and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, he began his professional career as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Welsh Guards, rising to Captain. He was later a Captain in the 22nd Special Air Service Regiment, Lieutenant General 1 (BR) Corps, and Commander in Chief British Army of the Rhine. With the SAS he served in Aden, the Gulf, Malaysia and East Africa and with the Welsh Guards served in Cyprus, Germany and Northern Ireland.

He became Chief of the General Staff in 1994. From 1997 to 2001 he was Chief of the Defence Staff, the role he held during the Kosovo conflict. As Chief of the Defence Staff he played a high profile role in Britain’s withdrawal from Hong Kong in 1997.

He was appointed Aide-de-Camp General to Her Majesty the Queen in 1993.  Colonel of the Life Guards and Gold Stick to the Queen in 1999, and Colonel Commandant of the SAS in 2000. He became Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank in June 2001.

Lord Guthrie was awarded an OBE in 1980, was knighted in 1990, awarded the GCB in 1994 and the LVO in 1997.  He is a Freeman of the City of London, a Knight of Malta, and a Commander, Legion of Merit USA.

He is currently President of the Army Benevolent Fund, The Federation of London Youth Clubs, and Action Research, and has recently taken on the position of Chairman of the Trustees of the Liddle Hart Archive and is a Visiting Professor in the Department of War Studies.  On 12th February 2001, three days before his retirement, he delivered to a packed auditorium at King’s College Strand Campus, the Annual Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives Lecture, ‘The New British Way in Warfare’.

There you have it lads and lasses, having studied in some detail this Old Soldier’s Military career, we at this website feel the review of our Service to Crown and Country is in good hands, and that this Review Committee is being Chaired by a person we feel will deal with every aspect of our Active Service in the Canal Zone in a fair and honest manner.

This being said, we think we should let this Committee get on with their work. We have waited 50 years and are sure it won’t be too long before the Committee makes its report to Parliament which reassembles later this month, (October.)  Meanwhile, as veterans of the Suez Canal Zone we should now write and thank those MPs who came onto our side and gave support, especially when going against the wishes of some of the higher ups in Ministerial positions.  When we take into consideration the fact that a great majority of MPs who support us were not even born during our sojourn in the Canal Zone, and at the beginning of the campaign had no idea of the actions that took place there in the early 50’s, it is much to their credit they came forward and gave us full support. So please show your appreciation, write to them and thank them for helping us in the campaign.

Aye, Jock Marrs, Richard (Dick) Woolley
and the Veterans of the Suez Canal Zone.