Barney White-Spunner

Lieutenant General Sir Barnabas William Benjamin "Barney" White-Spunner, KCB, CBE (born 1957) is a former British Army officer, who was subsequently Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance until 2016. He is an author, a Director of Burstock Ltd. and was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Board of UK Fisheries Ltd in October 2018.

Sir Barney White-Spunner
Lieutenant General White-Spunner in 2011
Born1957 (age 63–64)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1979–2011
RankLieutenant General
Commands heldHousehold Cavalry
Kabul Multinational Brigade
3rd Mechanised Division
Multinational Division (South East)
Field Army
Battles/warsBosnian War
Macedonia
Iraq War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Officer of the Legion of Merit (United States)
Other workExecutive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and Director of the Countryside Alliance Foundation. Chairman, Advisory Board, UK Fisheries Ltd

Military career

Educated at Eton College and the University of St Andrews, Barney White-Spunner was commissioned into the Blues and Royals in 1979.[1] He was appointed Commanding Officer of the Household Cavalry in 1996 and in that capacity was deployed to Bosnia.[1] In 1998, he was promoted to colonel[2] and became Deputy Director of Defence Policy in the Ministry of Defence during the Strategic Defence and Security Review and in 2001 he took charge of Operation Essential Harvest, which was aimed at disarming Albanian insurgents in Macedonia.[1]

He became Commander of 16 Air Assault Brigade in December 2000[1] and was given command of the Kabul Multinational Brigade in 2002 before becoming Chief of Joint Force Operations for the national contingent in the Middle East in 2003.[1]

By 2005 he was Chief of Staff at Land Command[3] and in 2007 he was appointed General Officer Commanding 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division.[4] In February 2008 he deployed with elements of 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division to Iraq where those elements formed HQ Multinational Division (South East).[1] He went on to be Commander of the Field Army in 2009.[5]

He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2002[6] and Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 2011 Birthday Honours.[7][8]

On 7 January 2010, White-Spunner gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry regarding the Battle of Basra.[9]

He retired from the British Army in December 2011[10][11] and was appointed Executive Chairman of the Countryside Alliance and Director of the Countryside Alliance Foundation in January 2012.[10][11]

He retired from The Countryside Alliance in 2016.[12] He subsequently became a Director of Burstock Ltd.[13] He was appointed Chairman of the Advisory Board of UK Fisheries in October 2018.[14]

Authorship

White-Spunner first wrote articles for The Field magazine in 1992.[1] Publications (chronological order):

  • Baily's Hunting Companion, Cambridge, England: Baily's, 1994, OCLC 49733085 co-authored with British Field Sports Society.
  • Our Countryside, Cambridge, England: Baily's, 1996, OCLC 38474081 co-authored with Simon Everett
  • Great Days, Cambridge, England: Baily's, 1997, OCLC 51743648 — Contains extracts from past editions of Baily's hunting directory.
  • Horse Guards, London: Macmillan, 2006, OCLC 61302547
  • Of Living Valour : the Story of the Soldiers of Waterloo, London: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2015, OCLC 904549365
  • Partition: The Story of Indian Independence and the Creation of Pakistan in 1947, London: Simon & Schuster, 2017, OCLC 1023209355

References
  1. Barney White-Spunner: the very model of a modern Major General The Independent, 3 August 2008
  2. "No. 55365". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 January 1999. p. 53.
  3. "No. 57641". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 May 2005. p. 6409.
  4. "No. 58497". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 October 2007. p. 15669.
  5. "No. 59120". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 July 2009. p. 11615.
  6. "No. 56735". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 October 2002. p. 7.
  7. "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 2.
  8. Queen's Birthday Honours List 2011 Archived 30 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Oral Evidence The Iraq Inquiry, 7 January 2010
  10. Top soldier is Countryside Alliance's new boss Archived 19 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine Horse and Hound, 19 January 2012
  11. Former Head of UK Field Army Appointed to lead Countryside Alliance Countryside Alliance, 19 January 2012
  12. "Simon Hart MP returns to the Countryside Alliance". Countryside Alliance. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  13. "About us". Burstock. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  14. "UK Fisheries appoints Sir Barney White-Spunner to chair Advisory Board". UK Fisheries. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
Military offices
Preceded by
Richard Shirreff		 General Officer Commanding the 3rd (UK) Mechanised Division
2007–2009		 Succeeded by
James Everard
Preceded by
Graham Binns		 General Officer Commanding
Multi-National Division (South East), Iraq
February 2008 – August 2008		 Succeeded by
Andy Salmon
Preceded by
Sir Graeme Lamb		 Commander Field Army
2009–2011		 Succeeded by
Post disbanded
Preceded by
Sir Timothy Granville-Chapman		 Colonel Commandant and President, Honourable Artillery Company
2010–2013		 Succeeded by
Sir Richard Barrons
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