Director General and Master of the Armouries
Lieutenant-General Jonathon Riley CB DSO PhD MA
Dr Jonathon Riley was appointed Director-General and Master of the Armouries in April 2009 after 36 years in the Army, latterly as Deputy Commander of NATO ISAF in Afghanistan.
During his military career, he has served in Britain, the USA, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Kenya and Cyprus and taught at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst and the Army Staff College, Camberley. He is also a former Deputy Commandant of the Joint Services Staff College.
Jonathon’s operational duties have included six tours in Northern Ireland, one in Central America, five in the Balkans, one in Sierra Leone, two years in Iraq and a year in Afghanistan. He was Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion The Royal Welch Fusiliers in Goražde, where he was awarded the DSO for bravery and distinguished conduct.
In Iraq, he was Deputy Commanding General, Coalition Military Advisory and Training Team, before being promoted to Commanding General, Multi-national Division (South-East) and General Officer Commanding British Forces. He is one of a small number of British Officers to have commanded a tri-service Joint Task Force on operations, which he did in Sierra Leone in 2000–2001.
After leaving Iraq, Jonathon became Senior British Military Adviser to United States Central Command before being appointed Deputy Commander of NATO ISAF.
He was made an Officer of the Legion of Merit of the United States of America in 2004 and a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in the New Year’s Honours, 2008.Jonathon holds the degrees of BA (Geography) from University College London; MA (History) from the University of Leeds; and PhD (Modern History) from Cranfield University. He is a visiting fellow in Modern History at the University of Birmingham, a member of the Council of the Royal United Services Institute, a member of the Council of the Army Records Society, an honorary fellow of the Centre for Defence and International Security Studies, a member of the Catholic Record Society and the Chairman of the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum and Archive Trust.
He has a number of published works including several military histories:
- Soldiers of the Queen (1993)
- White Dragon (1995)
- The Royal Welch Fusiliers, 1945 – 2000 (2001)
- That Astonishing Infantry (2008)
and four studies of command including:
- From Pole to Pole (1987)
- Napoleon and the World War – 1813 (2000)
- The Campaigns of General Hughie Stockwell (2006)
- Napoleon as a General (2007)