Andrew Ridgway

Sir Andrew Ridgway

Sir Andrew Ridgway in June 2010
Born 1950
Teddington, Middlesex
Allegiance United Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Rank Lieutenant-General
Commands held 3rd Royal Tank Regiment
7th Armoured Brigade
Battles/wars Bosnian War
Kosovo War
Awards Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Lieutenant-General Sir Andrew Peter Ridgway KBE CB (born 1950) is a former Lieutenant Governor of Jersey. He was appointed to the role for a 5-year term on 14 June 2006 after a long military career.

Military career

Lt Gen. Sir Andrew Ridgway (left) fulfilling duties as Lieutenant Governor of Jersey, alongside Sir Philip Bailhache, Bailiff of Jersey (right), at Liberation Day celebrations 9 May 2008

He was educated at Hele's School, Exeter, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and St John's College, Cambridge.[1]

In 1970 he was commissioned into the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, serving in Germany and Ireland as a Troop Leader. In 1975 he qualified as a helicopter pilot, and was given command of the 1st Royal Tank Regiment Air Squadron, operating in Central America and Northern Ireland. In 1982 he attended the Army Staff College at Camberley, before taking command of the 3rd Royal Tank Regiment in 1991[2] and the 7th Armoured Brigade (the 'Desert Rats') in 1993. In 1994 he was appointed UN Commander in Central Bosnia and Herzegovina,[3] and became Chief of Staff for the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps for NATO's entry into the Kosovo War in 1999.[3] For 2003 to 2006, he was Chief of Defence Intelligence,[4] although he was not directly involved in producing the controversial intelligence reports that led to 2003 invasion of Iraq and Operation Telic. He is also Colonel of the Royal Tank Regiment (appointed in 1999), Honorary Colonel of Cambridge University Officer Training Corps and the Westminster Dragoons.[5]

Other jobs in his career have included running the Army budget as Colonel Army Programmes and posts as First Director of Operational Capability, First Director of Training and Education and Chief of Joint Force Operations.[1]

Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey

From 2006 until 2011 Ridgway was Lieutenant-Governor of Jersey,[6] in the Channel Islands, where he acted as the Queen's representative. Though largely a symbolic and ceremonial appointment, the post of Lieutenant-Governor is the essential link between Jersey and the Crown, as the Channel Islands are not part of the United Kingdom.

Honours and decorations

He was appointed CBE in 1995 and CB in 2001, as well as receiving the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service and the US Defense Intelligence Agency Award in 2005. Ridgway was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2011.[7]

References

Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Joe French
Chief of Defence Intelligence
20032006
Succeeded by
Sir Stuart Peach
Government offices
Preceded by
Sir John Cheshire
Lieutenant Governor of Jersey
2006 2011
Succeeded by
Sir John McColl

External links

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