Page 128 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2017
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126 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
 Staff Duties 2, during the Falklands conflict, and after that, to command 7th Armoured Brigade in Germany.
Soldiering under Richard was never dull. Units would be turned out with five minutes warning, into the pitch darkness of a night exercise. Tasked to delay the leading Warsaw Pact echelon, he caused some consternation among his more cautious superiors by ordering map coverage of Eastern Germany as far as the River Elbe, so as to study the feasibility of an offensive flanking ma- noeuvre against the enemy. This was not just some gung-ho in- clination on his part, but a way of stimulating fresh thinking and confidence among his younger subordinates.
Following a course at the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1985, where he was notable for asking distinguished lecturers embarrassingly awkward questions, he was appointed to the post of Director of Army Plans at the MoD. Returning to Germa- ny, he took command of the 1st Armoured Division as a major general. Positioned to face the obvious axis of advance across the North German Plain of any Soviet Union led attack on the NATO Central Front, command of this division was given to the most promising young general of the day. In 1989 he returned to the MoD as Assistant Chief of the General Staff.
A man of unswerving principle, he never hesitated to speak his mind. In a war he would have been a first rate front line com- mander. In peacetime his superiors sometimes found him dif- ficult, and this may have cost him four star rank. After the out- break of the Gulf War he wrote a sharp minute to civil servants, who had been pressing for further cut backs in Army manpower and equipment, reminding them that they had insisted that the conflict would never take place.
One of those who served with him when he was ACGS at the time of the first gulf war described how “...we lesser mortals at meetings looked forward to his being there. Always up to speed, he enjoyed a bit of an argument, especially with the Royal Navy or RAF. He was never frightened to say what he thought, and could say in two minutes what it normally took others at least ten. He was usually right, whilst accepting, always with good grace and humour, when on occasion the argument went against him”.
Promoted to Lieutenant General in 1990, he became GOC South East District and, subsequently, Southern District. He was knighted in 1991. His final appointments before retiring were those of Deputy Commander in Chief Land Forces and Com- mander UK Field Army.
He was Colonel of the Queen’s Royal Lancers from 1994 to 2001. His wise counsel and support to no less than three Command- ing Officers was outstanding. It is of note that one was a fu- ture brigadier, the second a future major general and the third a future general. Richard regarded the selection of future offic- ers, the “life blood” as the single most important duty of the Colonel of the Regiment. Too soon to tell perhaps but two have earned DSOs so far... He was, in retirement, also Chairman of the Cavalry Colonels and Vice Patron of the Combined Cavalry Old Comrades Association.
Disarmingly deceptive in character, Swinburn was seldom with- out a half smile and a readiness not to take the situation – what- ever it happened to be – too seriously. He was a man of strong principle, and insistence on the highest standards of military competence, good manners and behaviour. He was a master of the pertinent question or comment, as well as, on occasion, the impertinent one. He once loudly - ever so politely - explained at dinner to a young civil servant with an Oxbridge double first, who was visiting his division in Germany, that he should real- ise that he and his ilk “were regarded by most soldiers with the gravest suspicion.” Yet he respected intellectual ability –“he’s
got a good brain” – he often used to say, he himself having a clear, logical and highly numerate mind and exacting standards.
Time came when Swinburn decided to leave the army. Mi- chael Tillotson, writing his obituary in The Times, said that, in a shrinking army, there was just no job in a higher rank avail- able for him at that time. There was certainly something in that. Charles Owen, in the Telegraph, who had done his National Ser- vice in the 17th/21st Lancers, but who had left before Richard arrived, felt that Richard’s patent honesty and straight speaking had not made him too many friends in the high political arena. Richard would have certainly always given the right answer, but it may not always have been the answer that was expected or wanted.
He eventually retired to Stone, his Exmoor farm, with a new family of horses, lurchers, and 800 or so ewes. Life was perfect. Then, in 2001, Janey died. Richard farmed on, but living on his own on the now distant Exmoor became a lonely existence, so he returned to Hampshire, where he had lived with Janey, first at Lower Froyle, and then at Bentley, and finally at Wellesley House in Aldershot. And there his life was once again to change, when he met, and shortly after, married Sue Ferguson. Having no children of his own, his happiness was finally to be complete. With Sue he at last had a family, with his much loved step-chil- dren Andrew, Alice and Eliza.
So what was it that was so special, that Richard Swinburn brought to all those around him? To so many, he was just one of the very best of friends with friendships that lasted for over 60 years. But for him, as a professional, it was always his soldiers, and above all the members of the 17th/21st Lancers and The Queen’s Royal Lancers that came first. A past Commanding Of- ficer spoke of him as ‘the father of the regiment, in every way. He led, loved and lived for us’. His was an unswerving loyalty and his friendships were forged with steel. But what made him stand head and shoulders above so many around him, was his unimpeachable honesty, never, ever to compromise the truth, and his courage always to speak out and stand up for what he believed to be right, whatever the consequence to personal am- bition and professional advancement. For Richard, doing the right thing was always the right thing to do.
RSL
PJS Lumsden CBE
Son of Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden, CB, DSO*, MC and younger brother of Michael, Peter was born on the 20th Feb- ruary 1929. All three served at various times in the 12th Royal Lancers.
Peter was commissioned to the 12th Lancers as a National ser- vice officer in April 1948. After completing his service, he re- tained his connections with the Regiment and qualified as an accountant before joining the London Stock Exchange. On re- tirement he took up farming near Dover.
In the late 50s and early 60s he enjoyed considerable success in motor sport. He initially raced Lotus cars before moving onto E types for the longer races of Le Mans and the Nürbergring 1000K. In the later race he was lucky to escape with his life after crashing the E type heavily.
He was a Trustee and Treasurer of the Chest, Heart and Stroke Association for many years, for which work he was awarded the CBE.
Peter died on 15th October 2017.
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