Richard Anderson (British Army officer)

Lieutenant-General Sir Richard Neville Anderson KCB CBE DSO (28 September 1907 – 4 September 1979) was a senior officer of the British Army who achieved high office in the 1960s.

Born the son of Colonel Sir Neville Anderson CBE, Richard Anderson was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster) in 1927. He was deployed to Palestine between 1938 and 1939.

He served in World War II as Deputy Assistant Military Secretary at the War Office and then as Commanding Officer (CO) of the 1st Battalion, King's Own Royal Regiment (Lancaster), commanding it in the Italian Campaign where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for leading an attack on the village of Montone, which was successfully taken with only 28 casualties (including 5 KIA) compared to 105 Germans (20 KIA, the rest taken prisoner). Later, he was promoted to brigadier and became commander of 2nd Infantry Brigade, part of the British 1st Infantry Division, in the Italian Campaign.

After the Second World War he returned to Palestine and then became General Officer Commanding (GOC) 17th Gurkha Division in 1955. He was General Officer Commanding Overseas Forces in Malaya in 1957 and then Vice Adjutant General at the War Office from 1958. He was appointed General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Middle East Land Forces in 1960 and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Ireland Command in 1963; he retired in 1965.

He lived at Tarrant Keynston House near Blandford in Dorset.

In 1942, he married Dorrie Norah Wybergh. The couple had two sons.

• Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath 10 June 1961 (CB 1 January 1957)
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire 7 January 1949
• Distinguished Service Order 7 December 1944, 28 June 1945
• Mentioned in Despatches 15 September 1939
• Honorary Fellow, Institute of Civil Defence, 1966