Richard Trant General Sir Richard ( " Dick " ) Brooking Trant , KCB , DL ( 30 March 1928 – 3 October 2007 ) was an officer in the British Army . He was Land Deputy Commander in the Falklands War , and served as Quartermaster - General to the Forces from 1983 to 1986 . Military career . Trant was born in Thurlestone in south Devon and educated at Newquay Grammar School . He attended the Bangalore Officer Training School in 1947 , receiving an emergency commission in the Duke of Cornwall ' s Light Infantry . He transferred to a regular commission in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1949 , and served with anti - aircraft units in the United Kingdom . He joined the 32nd Medium Regiment in Hong Kong in 1952 , and served in the Korean War with 74th Medium Battery in 1953 . He returned to Europe in 1957 , joining A Battery ( The Chestnut Troop ) of the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery , serving with the British Army of the Rhine . He was posted back to India in 1961 , to study at the Indian Army Staff College in Wellington Cantonment , and then served as GSO 2 to the Federal Regular Army in Aden Protectorate . He returned to England in 1964 , to study at the Joint Services Staff College . He commanded C Battery of 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery , and then became an instructor at the Staff College , Camberley . He took command of 3RHA , and after another year at Camberley as Colonel GS of the Staff College Division , he became commander of the 5th Airportable Brigade in 1972 , when the unit was temporarily sent to Northern Ireland , to reinforce British forces at the height of the Troubles . He was Deputy Military Secretary in the Ministry of Defence for two - year before being promoted to Major General and taking command of land forces in Northern Ireland in 1977 . He was appointed CB in 1979 . Earl Mountbatten of Burma was killed just after Trant left to become Director Army Staff Duties in the Ministry of Defence . During this period , the Army , in common with the other British armed forces , faced significant cuts in funding following the Defence Review conducted by Secretary of State for Defence John Nott in 1981 . He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1982 , and became GOC South East District , taking charge of the British Army ' s rapid reaction forces for operations outside the NATO area shortly before Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands . He succeeded Royal Marines Major General Jeremy Moore as adviser to the overall commander , Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse , based at Northwood , when Moore flew south to become overall commander of British land forces in theatre . He was advanced to KCB in 1982 . Trant became Quartermaster - General in 1983 , succeeding Sir Paul Travers , and joined the Army Board . He became a Freeman of the City of London in 1984 , and retired from the Army in 1986 . He became a senior military adviser to Belfast aircraft manufacturer Short Brothers , later joining the boards of Hunting Engineering and Wilson Hogg Robinson . He was vice - president of the Defence Manufacturers ' Association from 1989 to 1996 . He was colonel commandant of the Royal Army Educational Corps from 1979 to 1982 , of the Royal Regiment of Artillery from 1982 to 1987 , of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps from 1984 to 1989 , and of Honourable Artillery Company , and also honorary colonel of 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery . He was also a commissioner at the Royal Hospital Chelsea for 6 years . He served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall from 1997 , and was also a Cornish bard , Chairman of the Cornwall Heritage Trust for 14 years , chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Historic Society , Patron of St Bartholomew ' s church in Lostwithiel , and president of the Royal Cornwall Show in 2004 . Trant married his wife , Diana Clare Zachary ( known as " Tink " ) , in 1957 . They had a son and two daughters . He was survived by his wife and their three children .