The Queen’s York Rangers affiliate Green Howard Officer Appointed Field Marshal
/The Queen’s York Rangers affiliate Green Howard Officer Appointed Field Marshal
Green Howard Officer Appointed Field Marshal
Lord Houghton of Richmond is one of two British officers appointed to the rank of Field Marshal last year. Lord Richards of Herstmonceux was the other. Both Field Marshals recently paraded at Windsor Castle on 17 February 2026 and were presented their Field Marshal Batons by HM The King. The moment was shared on Facebook by Catherine, Princess of Wales. Field Marshal Houghton is seen on the right side of the photo next to His Majesty. Lord Richards should be known to many Canadians as he commanded the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) in Afghanistan from 2005-2007. OPERATION MEDUSA was conducted in 2006 and was a Canadian-led mission, sometimes called the Second Battle of Panjwaii. Members of The Queen’s York Rangers were on this operation.
Lord Houghton may be less known to Canadians but his career in our British Allied Regiment, The Green Howards, was exceptional. He had extensive service with the British Army of the Rhine, multiple tours in Northern Ireland and in all British campaigns of the 1970s-1990s. He was Chief of Staff of the ARRC, later Deputy Commanding General Multinational Forces Iraq and Chief of Joint Operations at the Permanent Joint Headquarters – the British Pentagon. His final posting was Chief of the Defence Staff. FM Houghton is one of three Green Howard officers to advance to Field Marshal in the last 40 years, the others being Sir Nigel Bagnall (1988) and Lord Inge (1994). No other modern British regiment has seen so many officers elevated to this rank. The Green Howards have since been amalgamated into the Royal Yorkshire Regiment and their 2nd Battalion perpetuates The Green Howards. Since the rank of Field Marshal was created in 1736 there have only been 143 men appointed to this level. No Canadian officers have ever been appointed to Field Marshal rank but Australian and South African officers have.
A Ranger Field Marshal
Despite there being no Canadian Field Marshals, there has been a Queen’s Ranger officer who rose to this rank. In 1799, a 15 year old Ensign started his military career with a commission in The Queen’s Rangers. Young Henry Hardinge left boarding school in Kent to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to join his new regiment for duties in York (now Toronto). Hardinge later left the Rangers and saw promotions with units fighting in the Peninsular Wars. He was one of the first officers sent to the newly formed Staff College in High Wycombe and would reach the rank of Lt Col within 12 years of his first joining the Rangers. He was wounded in several battles. He commanded a Portuguese brigade for a time and later during the Hundred Days Campaign while attached to the Prussian Army he led an action against the French where he lost his left hand. This wound prevented him from being at the Battle of Waterloo which was fought only two days later. By 1830 he was a Major-General. He served time as a Member of Parliament, was later Chief Secretary for Ireland and later still the Governor-General of India 1844-1848. In 1852 he succeeded the Duke of Wellington as Commander in Chief of the British Army and he was the commander during the Crimean War. He was promoted to Field Marshal on 2nd October 1855. It was while he was delivering a briefing on the lessons learned from the Crimean campaign to Queen Victoria that he suffered a stroke and collapsed, paralysed on his left side. He composed himself, determined that he could still speak and so apologised to the Queen and resumed his briefing in full. He would resign from the Army in July 1856 due to ill health. He died three months later and by this time was 1 st Viscount Hardinge. Celer et Audax!
