Patrick Cordingley

Major General Patrick Anthony John Cordingley, DSO, OBE, FRGS (born 6 October 1944) is a retired British Army officer who commanded the 2nd Division from 1995 to 1996.

Cordingley was born on 6 October 1944. He was educated at Sherborne School, an all-boys public school (i.e. independent boarding school).¹ His father was Major-General John Cordingley, the son of Air Vice-Marshal Sir John Cordingley.²

Cordingley trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (Intake 35), where he was Senior Under-Officer of Waterloo Company. He was commissioned into 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards in June 1965.³ He was given command of the 7th Armoured Brigade (Desert Rats) in 1988 and, in 1991, led the brigade during the Gulf War.⁴ He became General Officer Commanding Eastern District in 1992, General Officer Commanding 2nd Division in 1995 and Senior British Loan Services Officer to Oman in 1996, before he retired in 2000.⁵

In 1996 Cordingley published a book detailing his leading the troops into Iraq titled In The Eye of the Storm: Commanding 7th Armoured Brigade in the Gulf War, which rose to the top of the non-fictional bestseller lists.⁶ He was opposed to the Iraq War and has frequently spoken out against it citing his concern that many thousands of civilians would die unnecessarily.⁷ Cordingley has also spoken out against Britain renewing its Trident nuclear deterrent.⁸

Cordingley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to the National Memorial Arboretum.⁹