Richard Craddock
{{Short description|British Army general (1910–1977)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix = Lieutenant-General
| name = Sir Richard Craddock
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Richard Walter Craddock
| birth_date = 3 August 1910England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007
| death_date = 14 February 1977 (aged 66)
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial =
| birth_place = Calcutta, British India1911 England Census
| death_place = Andover, Hampshire, England
| placeofburial_coordinates =
| nickname =
| allegiance = {{flag|United Kingdom}}
| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
| servicenumber = 47540
| serviceyears = 1930−1966
| rank = Lieutenant-General
| unit = Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
| commands = 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers
1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment
Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong
Western Command
| battles = World War II
| awards = Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Companion of the Order of the Bath
Distinguished Service Order
| relations =
| laterwork =
}}
Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Walter Craddock KBE CB DSO (3 August 1910 – 14 February 1977) was a senior officer of the British Army who achieved high office in the 1960s.
Military career
Educated at Charterhouse School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst,[http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/colonels/082.html Queen's Royal Surreys] Richard Craddock was commissioned into the Royal East Kent Regiment (Buffs) in 1930.[http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/CRADDOCK.shtml Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]
He served in the Second World War, initially in the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in the Battle of France; in 1943 he was a member of the Prime Minister Winston Churchill's delegation to Washington, D.C., Quebec, and Cairo. In 1944 he became Commanding Officer of the 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers, fighting in North West Europe, in which capacity he earned a DSO, before moving on to be Commanding Officer of the 1st Battalion, Suffolk Regiment, which was also serving in North West Europe, later that year. He was wounded in action several times, losing one foot and part of a leg.
After the War he remained in the Army and in 1949 became Military Assistant to the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, moving on to a posting as Director of Plans at the War Office in 1951.
He was appointed Major General in charge of Administration for the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in West Germany in 1957 and became Director of Military Operations at the War Office in 1959. He served as Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong from 1963 to 1964, when he became GOC Western Command; he retired in 1966.
In 1965 he was made Colonel of the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, becoming colonel of the Queen's Regiment in 1966 after amalgamation, a position he held until 1973.{{cite web|url=http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/002queens.htm|title=The Queen's Regiment|publisher=regiments.org|accessdate=18 October 2016|url-status=bot: unknown|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103051910/http://www.regiments.org/regiments/uk/inf/002queens.htm|archivedate=3 January 2007}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{succession box | before=Sir Reginald Hewetson | title=Commander of British Forces in Hong Kong | years=1963–1964 | after=Sir Denis O'Connor}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=Sir Edward Howard-Vyse}}
{{s-ttl|title=GOC-in-C Western Command|years=1964−1966}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir Antony Read}}
{{end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craddock, Richard}}
Category:People educated at Charterhouse School
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath
Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order
Category:Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) officers
Category:South Wales Borderers officers
Category:Suffolk Regiment officers
Category:British Army personnel of World War II
Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst