Lieutenant General

A Lieutenant General, abbreviated to Lt-Gen (and formerly more commonly Lieutenant-General), is a senior rank in the British Army and the Royal Marines. It is the equivalent of a multinational three-star rank; some British lieutenant generals sometimes wear three-star insignia, in addition to their standard insignia, when on multinational operations.

Lieutenant general ranks above that of Major General but is subordinate to a (full) General. It is equivalent to a Vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and an Air Marshal in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the air forces of many Commonwealth of Nations. The rank insignia for both the Army and the Royal Marines is a crown over a crossed sabre and baton. Since the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the St Edward's Crown, commonly known as the Queen's Crown, has been depicted. Prior to 1953, the Tudor Crown, commonly known as the King's Crown was used.

Ordinarily, Lieutenant General is the rank held by the officer in command of an entire battlefield corps. The General Officer Commanding NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps is a British lieutenant general. Historically, I Corps and II Corps were commanded by British lieutenant generals. Additionally, three lieutenant general appointments also exist within the extant British Army's Headquarters. They are the Commander Field Army, the Commander Home Command and the Chief of Materiel (Land) in Defence Equipment and Support.

References

Compendium: This compendium entry is part of the knowledge base relative to the specific analysis of the Lonsdale Battalion and the wider Border Regiment, predominantly in connection with their actions and the places they were known to have been stationed or fought during the 1914-1918 period. Much of this information has come from primary sources including, but not limited to, the Lonsdale records and the Border Regiment War Diaries. Please feel free to expand and improve this resource.