Richard Vickers

{{Short description|British Army general (1928–2024)}} {{EngvarB|date=November 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox military person | honorific_prefix = Lieutenant-General | name = Sir Richard Vickers | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|CVO|OBE}} | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{birth date|1928|8|21|df=yes}} | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|2|6|1928|8|21|df=yes}} | burial_label = | burial_place = | birth_place = | death_place = | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagicon|United Kingdom}} United Kingdom | branch = 23px British Army | service_years = 1948–1983 | service_number = 400100 | rank = Lieutenant-General | unit = | commands = The Royal Dragoons Blues and Royals 11th Armoured Brigade 4th Armoured Division RMA Sandhurst | battles = | awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Officer of the Order of the British Empire | relations = | other_work = }}

Lieutenant-General '''Sir Richard Maurice Hilton Vickers''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|KCB|CVO|OBE}} (21 August 1928 – 6 February 2024) was a British Army officer who served as Director-General of Army Training from 1982 until 1983.

== Military career == Educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst,<ref name="burkes"/> Vickers was commissioned into the Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) in 1948, and served with the 1st Battalion of the RTR in the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR), Korea, and the Middle East until 1954.<ref name="kcl-lhcma"/> He was temporary Equerry to the Queen from 1956 until 1959<ref name="gh-02jul1958"/> and brigade major of 7th Armoured Brigade from 1962 until 1964.<ref name="gh-02jul1958"/> He served with the 4th Battalion of the RTR in Borneo and Malaysia from 1964 until 1966 and was Commanding Officer of The Royal Dragoons from 1967 until 1968<ref name="gh-02jul1958"/> when he became commanding officer of the Blues and Royals. Vickers was the Commander of the 11th Armoured Brigade from 1972 until 1974 and Deputy Director of Army Training 1975 until 1977.<ref name="gh-02jul1958"/> He was appointed GOC 4th Armoured Division in 1977 and then Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 1979 until 1982 before he retired in 1983.<ref name="gh-02jul1958"/>

== Later life and death == In retirement Vickers was a Gentleman Usher to the Queen from 1986 until 1998<ref name="lg-27oct1998"/> and Director-General of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust from 1983 to 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.churchillfellowship.org/news-views/news/lt-general-sir-richard-vickers-kcb-cvo-obe-former-director-general-of-the-churchill-fellowship/|title= Lt-General Sir Richard Vickers KCB CVO OBE Former director general of the Churchill fellowship|publisher=The Churchill Fellowship|access-date=1 March 2024}}</ref>

Vickers died on 6 February 2024, at the age of 95.<ref>{{cite news |title=Lt General Sir Richard Vickers KCB, CVO, OBE |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/bmds-feb12-b5swxnbml |access-date=12 February 2024 |work=The Times |date=12 February 2024}}</ref>

== Awards and honours == Vickers was made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO) in 1959<ref name="burkes"/><ref name="lg-27oct1998"/> and a Commander of the Order (CVO) in 1998.<ref name="burkes"/> He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1964,<ref name="burkes"/> promoted to an Officer of the Order (OBE) in 1970,<ref name="burkes"/><ref name="lg-5jun1970"/> and to a Knight Commander of the Order (KCB) in 1983.<ref name="burkes"/><ref name="lg-27oct1998"/>

== References == {{reflist|2|refs= <ref name="gh-02jul1958">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gBY1AAAAIBAJ&sjid=-qULAAAAIBAJ&pg=4805,320340&dq=richard-vickers+general&hl=en |title=The Court |work=Glasgow Herald |publisher=Newsquest |date=2 July 1958 |page=6 |quote=In attendance... Captain Richard Vickers (Equerry-in-waiting) |accessdate=7 May 2010}}</ref> <ref name="kcl-lhcma">{{cite web |url=http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/VICKERS.shtml |title=VICKERS, Sir Richard (Maurice Hilton) (born 1928), Lieutenant General |work=Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives |publisher=King's College London |accessdate=7 May 2010}}</ref> <ref name="lg-27oct1998">{{London Gazette |issue=55293 |date=27 October 1998 |page=11615 }}</ref> <ref name="lg-5jun1970">{{London Gazette |issue=45117 |date=5 June 1970 |page=6370 }}</ref> <ref name="burkes">{{cite web |url=http://www.burkespeerage.com/familyhomepage.aspx?FID=0&FN=VICKERSRICHARD |title=VICKERS |publisher=Burke's Peerage |accessdate=7 May 2010}}</ref> }}

{{s-start}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Nigel Bagnall}} {{s-ttl|title=General Officer Commanding the 4th Armoured Division|years=1977–1979}} {{s-aft|after=John Akehurst}} |- {{s-bef|before=Philip Ward}} {{s-ttl|title=Commandant of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst|years=1979–1982}} {{s-aft|after=Geoffrey Howlett}} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vickers, Richard}} Category:1928 births Category:2024 deaths Category:British Army lieutenant generals Category:Free Foresters cricketers Category:Royal Tank Regiment officers Category:1st The Royal Dragoons officers Category:Equerries Category:People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College Category:Commandants of Sandhurst Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Gentlemen Ushers Category:British Army personnel of the Korean War