Allegiance United Kingdom Name Edwin Beckett | Rank Major-general | |
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Commands held 1st Bn Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire1st Infantry Brigade Awards Order of the Bath, Order of the British Empire | ||
Major General Edwin Horace Alexander Beckett CB, MBE (born 16 May 1937) is a former British Army officer who became Head of the British Defence Staff in Washington, D.C.
Military career
Educated at the Henry Fanshawe School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Beckett was commissioned into the West Yorkshire Regiment in 1957. As a junior officer he saw active service during the Aden Emergency. He became commanding officer of 1st Battalion Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire in 1976, a member of the directing staff at the Staff College, Camberley in 1979 and Commander of 1st Infantry Brigade in 1982. He went on to be Chief of Staff at Headquarters British Army of the Rhine in 1985 and Head of the British Defence Staff and Defence Attaché in Washington, D.C. in 1988 before retiring in 1991.
Beckett is Chairman of the British Brands Group.